As the name indi­cates, this mag­nif­i­cent cas­tle is set upon a small island with the sparkling waters of Lake Galve sur­round­ing it. Locat­ed just out­side of Vil­nius, the impos­ing red brick for­ti­fi­ca­tion was once of the utmost strate­gic impor­tance to the Grand Duchy of Lithua­nia. First erect­ed in the sec­ond half of the 14th cen­tu­ry, the cas­tle and its mag­nif­i­cent Ducal palace were restored to their orig­i­nal look and style in the 1960s. The Goth­ic and Romanesque fea­tures of Trakai Island Cas­tle look par­tic­u­lar­ly arrest­ing when viewed from across the shim­mer­ing waters of the lake.