Country: Lithuania
Region: Vilniaus apskritis
Places: Margio Krantas – Trakai – Vilnius
Time: From 27th of March to 2th of April
In a sentence: amazing places, amazing people, amazing vibes.
Wake up at 5a.m. to catch the first bus to Vilnius, tired but excited for things that will happen the next week. The plan was this: 3 days in the “On-arrival training” (a training for volunteers) and then 3 nights in 3 different houses with 3 different couchsurfer. The cherry on top? I will go for the easter in a Lithuanian family to pass a typical Lithuanian easter.
SPOILER: the plan changed, in positive 😀
For more details about Couchsurfing check here: The definitive guide to Couchsurfing
Trakai
My final destination of today is a place called Margio Krantas, never heard. Arrived at Trakai after a bus change; I have two free hours before another bus will catch me (and other volunteers) to the on-arrival training place. Backpack on shoulders and walk through all town to reach the famous Castle. The bus station is in the southern part, the Castle in the northern.
The city of Trakai is a narrow little town between two lakes, I noticed several luxury houses and a lot of merchants souvenirs and restaurants. Yep, I was in one of the most touristic places of Lithuania, you can feel it wandering around. I was in Lithuania for more than two weeks and I saw a lot of lakes, but until now the only sport that I saw playing on, was fishing. Finally, someone is skating on ice! I would like to ice-skating again, but I didn’t see a place to rent it and anyway I didn’t have time. It was time to reach the castle!
Okay, it was even better than in pictures, maybe because it was a perfect sunny day. This castle on the island, in the middle of the lake, is something special. Architecturally classic it is located in a perfect place to defend itself. After two Woodbridge (perfect to take pictures) I was in front of the Castle, I expected it was huge but I walked all around in a pair of minutes.
Margio Krantas
The clock was ticking, time to return to the bus station, I went to the other road (there are only two main roads in Trakai). Arrived at the station I saw a group of young people and I understood that they must be the other volunteers. Presentations and firstly awkward silences. The first impression was good, and usually, people tell “the first impression is the most important”. Our bus took us straight to the place and… wow!! It’s amazing, a brand new hotel on the shores of a beautiful lake. We chose someone completely casualty to sleep together and we entered the room… another wow!! When you open the door the view is directly on the lake with a huge window.
We started with a good lunch and after with the training. Most of the training consisted in talking all together in a big room and sincerely I don’t want to talk about it, I’ll say only a few things about all four days. It was really interesting with very personal moments with other volunteers. It permitted us to know each other at the best and quickly. And they give us the capacity to reflect deep in the things and not catch an early conclusion. Now I’ll talk only about other tasks and free time during the training.
The first night we had a hard task: cook all together three Lithuanian dishes. It was funny and interesting because we understood better the local cuisine culture and at the same time we started to know each other a bit. And surprisingly, against every expectation, the dinner was really good.
On the second day our trainers, very nice guys, gave us a lot of challenges to do in the Trakai city and it was simply one of the funniest days of my life…
Always curious, keep exploring, Wo/a\nder
Francesco
An Italian Wanderer 