Free buses to the Castle shopping center: schedule and first impressions. How to get to Bran Castle from Bucharest? The Legend of Trakai Castle

We decided to walk to Loket Castle from Karlovy Vary. To do this, we are at the bus station (we came here from Prague with) got on bus number 6 Doubi and reached the final stop new, rather nondescript place. After getting off the bus, we asked the locals how to get to the Svatosha Rocks (Svatosski skaly). You need to walk a little back in the direction of the bus and exit the main road by turning left.

After some time we came to the Ohře River, nearby there are cafes and boarding houses.

But the most important thing about this place is the Svatosha rocks. To get closer to them you need to cross a narrow suspension bridge.

This place is also called a “petrified wedding” because it resembles a wedding procession: the bride and groom, parents, priest, friends, musicians. Legend says that a guy named Jan Svatos lived in these places and he fell in love with a river nymph. They swore eternal love for each other. But after some time, Ian fell in love with a real girl and they decided to get married in the place where he once swore an oath to the nymph. For this betrayal, the river nymph cursed the entire wedding procession. The water overflowed its banks and turned the bride and groom and everyone invited into rocky blocks.

Having crossed the bridge to the other side, we walked along the river to Loket Castle, which is located in the city of Loket. As a result, we walked about ten kilometers from the final stop of bus No. 6 to the castle. The first thing you did was go to a cafe to have lunch. Here they told us how to get back to Karlovy Vary. We had two hours to spare and headed to the castle.

Loket Castle is primarily a defensive fortress, built in the 13th century on a high cliff. There was a time when the fortress served as the residence of kings. And from the 19th to the mid-20th century it was used as a prison, there were torture chambers here. Now this is a museum, it is so gloomy and ominous, with the screams and moans of the condemned, that many are afraid to enter it; we did not raise our hands to photograph anything there.

Inside the castle there is neither rich decoration nor anything that we remember.

In the castle courtyard there is a large stone of meteorite origin. But the most interesting thing is the local wish granter Gottstein, the gnome of the castle.

Then we crossed the bridge and walked to the bus stop to catch the bus to Karlovy Vary.

60 km from Moscow, in the village of the Herzen Sanatorium (Vasilievskoye village) you can see a real castle. It once belonged to the princes Shcherbatov, and today there is a sanatorium here, where you can come even with compulsory medical insurance. I got to the territory as part of an excursion group, and thanks to the guide I learned the history of the unusual estate. So, what kind of castle is this and what condition it is in, I’ll tell you in the review.

What we don’t have in our Moscow region: estates and museums, amazing landscapes. There are also castles in the Moscow region, although most of them are not accessible to visitors - they contain sanatoriums, holiday homes and even the Reception House of the President of the Russian Federation. Having seen a message on the Internet that it was possible to take a tour to the Castle of the Shcherbatov Princes in Vasilyevsky, I could not pass it up. I had to get to the place on my own, so early in the morning I set off on a difficult journey.

How to get to the Castle in Vasilievsky:

By train: from the Belorussky station you need to take the electric train (or the Rex train), get to the Kubinka 1 station. Then transfer to bus or minibus No. 28 and go to the Herzen Sanatorium stop. If you coordinate your schedule, the entire journey will take no more than 2 hours.
Since I don’t often travel by train near Moscow, I didn’t know that the Rex train has a separate ticket office at the station. A ticket at the box office costs 150 rubles. If you issue a ticket from a ticket inspector, the ticket will cost 100 rubles more.

Upon arrival at the Kubinka 1 station, I also asked the locals where bus stop 28 was - I had to cross the pedestrian bridge, walk a little, and there was a stop there.

Castle in Vasilyevskoye

At the appointed time, the group gathered and we headed towards the Castle.

The castle was built according to the design of the architect P.S. Boytsov in 1881 for the princes Shcherbatov. And two years before that, a wedding took place - representatives of two ancient families united their destinies - Prince Alexander Grigorievich Shcherbatov and Olga Alexandrovna Stroganova. Chronicles of those times write that “This was not only a truly secular marriage of descendants of two ancient families, but also a meeting of two kindred souls,” which, you see, was not a common thing in those days. The style of the castle can be described as Victorian. The Shcherbatovs were avid travelers, so they wanted to build a house on their country estate that would be both functional and reminiscent of distant countries.

Temple of Alexander Nevsky in Vasilievsky

On the way we saw a small temple of Alexander Nevsky - this is a manor church built by Princess Shcherbatova in 1915-1917. The grave of Prince Shcherbatov is also located here - he died before the revolution, in 1915, and was buried here. For a long time, his grave was considered lost; the burial place was found by accident in 1994.
The temple itself was recently restored. But we are running past, we must be on time at the appointed time.

There is a gate at the entrance to the sanatorium, there is also a checkpoint, but since they were waiting for us, they let us in without any problems.

Sanatorium named after Herzen

Along the way we see a Soviet building with two figures of pioneers - a nice greeting from the Soviet past.

Because of the autumn foliage, it appears - a castle made of red brick. The area around is well-groomed, all the paths are neatly laid out. Local historians remember with a shudder what this place was like twenty years ago: everything was shabby, the interiors of the castle were in terrible condition, the luxurious chandelier was stolen in the 90s. In 2014, the castle reopened after restoration. What a miracle it is that such beautiful objects continue to delight the eyes of visitors to the sanatorium.

The village of Vasilyevskoye has a long and interesting history. I will not tell it here, so as not to distract from our main object - the castle of the Shcherbatov princes.

In general, visiting such places, you learn a lot of new things about people previously unknown to you and their contribution to the history and economy of the Russian Empire. For example, the Shcherbatovs were patriots of their fatherland. The prince, Alexander Grigorievich, left a mark on the development of horse breeding in Russia, bringing 15 purebred Arabian horses to Russia. The prince devoted a lot of time to the development of agriculture - even some peasants from the village of Vasilyevskoye were sent to England to learn the intricacies of agriculture.

Interiors of the castle of princes Shcherbatov

Time is scheduled minute by minute - lunch will be at the sanatorium soon. Therefore, we rush inside to have time to quietly look at the interiors.
First of all, we find ourselves in a huge hall.

The wide wooden staircase to the second floor attracts attention.

Here you can also see a marble fireplace, and on the fireplace are restored photographs of the owners of the hall.

We were not shown the second floor - there are guest rooms for “important persons”. Well, we must be content with what they “give.”
Next we went to the living room. Here we should note the luxurious wooden fireplace. According to the guide, it was once decorated with paintings scorched by the princess herself. The fireplace is, as they would say today, “built-in furniture,” so it could not be stolen, like the rest of the furniture from the castle.

The window offers a beautiful view of the lawn. The princes' estate once had luxurious greenhouses, where rare species of trees and plants were grown and then planted in the garden.

We were also allowed to see the wood-panelled dining room. The beauty of the ceiling is amazing.

Again an amazing fireplace.

On the ground floor we also examined another room, without windows. Now there is a library here.

By the way, the Shcherbatov princes had about 25 thousand books on their estate. Naturally, after the revolution, the books were distributed among the funds.

In one of the rooms, a small fragment of wallpaper from those times was miraculously preserved. Based on this fragment, the wallpaper pattern was restored and the entire room was covered with it. Although architecture experts are not sure that it was exactly like this under the owners - the color was too dark.

This ended our tour inside, and we went for a walk to the Moscow River.

Between the first and second part of the tour we had some time to admire the castle from all sides. The castle is so cute that I walked around it at least 3 times.

On the building itself you can see two memorial plaques: one of which states that V.I. himself visited this place. Lenin, and the second - that the revolutionary Herzen lived in the village of Vasilyevskoye.

Suspension Bridge and Moscow River

We continued our walk along the forest path, admiring the hundred-year-old trees. Not far from the castle there is a spring with mineral water.
The landscapes of the Moscow region are good - at least take an easel and paint a picture.

But our goal was a 100-meter suspension bridge over the Moscow River. Crossing the river on it is quite an attraction - it rocks quite well.

On the other side of the Moscow River is the village of Vasilyevskoye. And next to the bridge there is a small church from the 17th century. By the way, it was here, in the village of Vasilyevskoye, that Herzen spent his youth.

On the territory of the village of Vasilyevskoye, ancient linden alleys have been preserved - they divided the possessions of the five atamans, to whom the village of Vasilievskoye was granted. One of the attractions of Vasilievsky is also the quarries, which are located about 40 minutes on foot from the bridge.

The Herzen Sanatorium and the village of Vasilyevskoye are a place of amazing beauty and energy. I would love to come here again, admire the beautiful scenery of the Moscow River, and breathe fresh air. And if you're lucky, take a walk around the castle.

Free buses to the Castle shopping center: schedule and first impressions

The Minsk City Executive Committee announced the launch of free bus routes to the Castle shopping center. Let us remind you that after a high-profile accident, when a child crossed a zebra crossing at a pedestrian crossing near a shopping center under the wheels of a truck, and the bus stop was removed. Many Minsk residents perceived this negatively: it became more difficult to get to the “Castle” by public transport. Special bus routes are an attempt to solve this problem.

Traffic schedule

Pushkinskaya metro station - Castle shopping center

The bus from the Pushkinskaya metro station follows Pushkin Avenue and Orlovskaya Street to Pobediteley Avenue, where the Castle shopping center is located. Also, when moving from Pushkinskaya to the shopping center, stops are provided: “Matusevicha”, “Olshevsky Street”, “Chigladze Street”. The bus will go back straight to the metro station.

The bus route interval from the Pushkinskaya metro station to the Zamok shopping center will be 40 minutes.

On weekdays, the first bus will depart from Pushkinskaya at 11:00, and on weekends - at 10:20. According to the schedule, the last bus in this direction on any day of the week will depart at 20:20.

In the opposite direction - from the Castle shopping center to the metro station - the bus departure is scheduled for 11:20 on weekdays and at 10:40 on weekends. And the last bus will go towards Pushkinskaya at 20:40.

GUM - shopping center "Castle"

The first bus to the Zamok shopping center from the Lenina Street (GUM) stop starts at 11:00, and on weekends and holidays - at 10:15. The last bus in the same direction leaves at 20:45.

The traffic interval is every 45 minutes.

The bus follows the route: “Lenin Street” (GUM) - “Romanovskaya Sloboda” - “Gvardeiskaya Street” - “Komsomolskoye Lake” - “State Flag Square” (TC “Castle”). In the opposite direction, the bus goes straight to the final stop “Ulitsa Lenina” (GUM).

From the Castle shopping center in the direction of the Lenina Street (GUM) stop, the first transport leaves at 11:30 (on weekends and holidays - at 10:45), the last - at 21:15.

There may be time deviations in the free transport schedule due to traffic loads.

First impressions

The first thing that surprises you is that there are minibuses. Will there be enough seating for everyone who wants to go shopping?

- We are still analyzing passenger flow. If necessary, larger capacity buses will be sent to the routes - Onliner.by correspondent was assured at the information center of the Castle shopping center.

So far there are really very few passengers: on one of the first buses from the Pushkinskaya metro station to the shopping center, only one person arrived. Perhaps the factor of weekdays and working hours plays a role.

If you decide to visit Bran Castle from Bucharest, then first you need to get to the capital of Transylvania, Brasov. The distance from Bucharest to Brasov is about 180 km and can be covered by a rented car or by train. Trains run frequently and travel is very convenient. There are different trains running from Bucharest towards Brasov, and the most convenient of them are IC and InterCity, and the slowest are Personal (like our electric trains). There are also many international trains traveling here.

Brasov itself is a very interesting city, which has preserved all the attributes of a medieval city. You can come here for 2-3 days and explore the city itself, Bran Castle and the nearby Peles Castle.

To get to Bran Castle you need to take a bus to the Castelul Bran station. The distance is short and in 40 minutes you will reach the castle. This castle is very popular among tourists and there are almost always a lot of people here. Although Bran Castle has nothing to do with Vlad the Impaler, who was the prototype of Count Dracula. According to one version, he lived here for one day, and according to another, he spent two months in captivity. The castle itself consists of 57 rooms that resemble a labyrinth. Here you can see an ancient interior, medieval weapons, armor and antique furniture. In some rooms you can see furnishings from the times of King Ferdinand and Queen Mary. There is also a museum of history and medieval art dedicated to Dracula. For a fee, you can view exhibitions of medieval instruments of torture. This place is gloomy, but a large number of tourists smoothes out the unpleasant impression.

If you stay in Brasov, be sure to take the funicular up and admire the beautiful scenery, and I also recommend you visit Peles Castle. You can get there from the Brasov train station to Sinaia. By Personal train you will reach Sinaia in 1 hour, the distance is short - only 45 km. Then to get to the castle you need to walk 30-40 minutes uphill, but your efforts will be rewarded by the beauty and grandeur of Peles Castle. Near the castle there are terraces, a beautiful garden, fountains and statues. Here you can see the world's best collections of weapons, armor, equipment for knights and their horses. The castle has 160 rooms, each of which is unique. You can visit it from Wednesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 18:00.

Three years ago we were in Romania and visited both castles, so Peles Castle made a greater impression on us than Bran Castle, which is why I recommend that you visit both castles. You can stay in a hotel or hostel in Brasov, just make a reservation in advance.

Surrounded on all sides by lakes. Numerous tourists come here to admire the beauty of the castle and Lake Galve.

How to get to Trakai Castle

• By bus from Vilnius bus station, st. Soda 22. Buses depart up to 50 times a day on weekdays and 40 trips are performed on weekends. Platforms No. 6, 7 and 8, 28 and 29; bus schedules can be found on the website www.autobusustotis.lt/ru.

In Trakai, the walk from the bus station to the castle will take at least 20-25 minutes

• By train from the railway station located at st. Geležinkalö 16, train schedules can be found on the website www.litrail.lt

Trakai Castle address

Kestučio Str. 4, LT-21104, Trakai

Opening hours of Trakai Castle in 2019

• From May to September daily from 10:00 to 19:00
• In October from 10:00 to 18:00, Monday - day off
• From November to February from 9:00 to 17:00, Monday - day off
• From March to April from 10:00 to 18:00, closed on Mondays
• The ticket office closes half an hour before the stated time.
• The museum closes an hour earlier on days preceding national holidays

Ticket prices to Trakai Castle in 2019

• For adults - 8 euros
• For students and pensioners - 4 euros
• Last Sunday of the month admission is free for all categories of visitors

From the history

The first settlement on the site of modern Trakai appeared in the 13th century, when battles with the crusaders took place here. According to legend, Grand Duke Gediminas hunted in these places and he liked the picturesque place with deep lakes and dense forests so much that he ordered the construction of a castle-fortress capable of blocking the path of the crusaders.

The construction of the fortress began, including the erection of two large castles - Ostrovnoy and Peninsular.

Trakai Castle on the island

The construction of the Island Castle was completed under the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas at the beginning of the 15th century.

The island castle was practically inaccessible to enemies. There were often fierce battles for the Peninsula Castle. But even when the crusaders managed to break into the castle, they could not hold it.

Due to the inaccessibility of the fortress to enemies, the Grand Duke of Lithuania used Trakai as his residence and thus the city served as the capital of Lithuania.

Receptions of foreign ambassadors and numerous gentlemen took place here. The castle surprised guests with its external appearance and the beauty of its interior decoration.

At the beginning of the 15th century, after the Battle of Grunwald, in which the crusaders suffered a crushing defeat, the fortress lost its defensive significance. From the 16th century, Lithuanian princes began to live in Vilnius, and Trakai became an ordinary provincial town.

At the same time, the buildings and decorations were kept in good condition all these years. Foreign guests were received here and important documents were signed.

The year 1665 became tragic, when the fortress was taken and partially plundered by the troops of the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The soldiers tried to find valuables, but all the wealth was taken out in advance or hidden in forests, basements and at the bottom of the lake. Therefore, all searches for values ​​were in vain.

Over time, Trakai Castle was destroyed and by the beginning of the 20th century it was a ruin with the remains of frescoes from which artists made sketches.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the buildings were mothballed. In the 30s of the last century, the restoration of the Island Castle began. But the main restoration work was carried out only after the Second World War. In the 80s it was completely restored - it became the same as it was in the 15th century.

Currently, there is a historical museum on its territory, the exhibits of which tell about the history of the region. Here you will see kitchen utensils and hunting trophies, antique glass and ceramic items.

During restoration and archaeological excavations, treasures were found, 25 of which are included in the museum’s exhibition. In total, the museum collections contain more than 100 thousand original exhibits.

According to experts, the treasures found are just a small part of the valuables that were hidden in the ground and in the lake, forests and basements of the castle.

Currently, Trakai Castle has become a place for receiving delegations, heads of government, as well as a place for signing agreements and treaties. Monarchs, presidents and prime ministers of many countries have visited here.

The Legend of Trakai Castle

According to legend, if on a full moon from the opposite shore of the lake, standing opposite the southwestern tower, you continuously look at the castle wall, then shortly before dawn you may see the ghost of the Lithuanian prince Vytautas. If you manage to see a ghost, then throughout the year you will experience good luck and great prosperity.

Official website of the Trakai Castle Museum

Currently, the castle in Trakai is the only island castle in Eastern Europe and the largest castle in Lithuania.