I’ve posted about Trakai before and mentioned the cornish-pasty like dish called a kibinas. These were introduced into Lithuania by the Karaims
The Lithuanian Karaims (Karaites) are believed to have come from Crimea near the Black Sea to serve as the Grand Duke’s elite bodyguard in the 14c. (Click here for more historical background).
There is still a small community in Trakai and a row of their tradition wooden houses with 3 downstairs windows on the main street as you can see from these pictures, taken on my first trip there in 2006.
The story is that one window was for God, one for their ruler Vytautas the Great, and one for themselves.
There is also a kenesa or synagogue nearby. There were several of these kenesas built in Lithuania in the 14c but now there are only two; this one and one in Vilnius across the river from the parliament buildings on Liubarte street (not far from the Orthodox church).
