A red-brick island castle on a lake
Trakai, the medieval capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, lies among lakes half an hour from Vilnius. Its red-brick Island Castle, reached by wooden footbridges across Lake Galvė, was rebuilt in the 20th century and now houses a museum of Lithuanian history. The town is also home to the Karaim, a Turkic-speaking community settled here in the Middle Ages, whose wooden houses with three street-facing windows line the main road. Sample their kibinai, savoury pastries, and hire a boat on the lake.