Term: 2 Days, 1 night
Day 1: From Utena, we will
travel to the southeast through the small towns of Tauragnai and Kirdeikiai to Antalksne.
From Antalksne we will go to the village of Salų II. The first recorded mention of this
settlement was in 1783. Two villages were called Salos, both were established near the
same spring. In historical sources in 1847 they had been designated as part of the village
Antalksnė. During this time there were two homesteads in Salos I and one homestead in
Salos II. Jurgis Kudaba, who lived for 100 years, established Salos II. It (Salos II) is
sometimes called Kudabiškės. The number of inhabitants in these little villages didnt
grow. The list of settlements of Vilnius province published in 1905 mentioned only 11
people living in Salos II: 7 men and 4 women and in Salos I, 24 people: 12 men and 12
women. Salos has a lot of interesting architecture from the 19th and 20th centuries. The
people of the village were wealthy. They rented the lake to make extra money. They built
spacious two-part houses. One of these cottages that was repaired many times and altered
to fit the changing needs of its inhabitants is still standing in the first homestead. In
the second homestead, part of one of the cottages that was built in 1875 and a barn, which
was built at approximately the same time, are still standing and have changed little over
the years. Old stack yards are arranged by the edge of the nearby marsh. The houses of the
village are built in separate little groups with no central street. This is called a
disconnected village. Over the years buildings were rebuilt and the area of villages
enlarged, but the structure remained the same. The village has never had a lot of people.
There are now 5 houses in Salos II four of them are habitable. Maybe this is because of
the location of the village. It is situated in a rather isolated region.
After seeing the houses of Salos II
village, we will go to Šuminai. We will pass through beautiful areas of the national park
with plenty of lakes and we will pass through the villages of Ginučiai and Trainiškis.
Near Šuminai on the southern edge of
Ažvinčiai forest, on the shore of beautiful lake Baluošas, we will see the village of
Pabaluošės. Pabaluošės was first mentioned in written sources 440 years ago. The first
information about it is found in 1554 in the Vilnius province inventory of the small rural
district of Linkmenyst. During the times of the Great Dukedom of Lithuania, the village
belonged to the Ažvinčiai estate. The village had several different names during the
centuries, Pabaluošė, Smaldiškės, Smalgiškės and Užubaluošė.
The village of Šuminai was established in
the first part of XVII century. It was named after its first inhabitant A.Šuminas. Near
the end of the XVIII century the forests of Lithuania were divided into the small sections
and the guards of the forests were strengthened. Maybe this is why the family of the
woodsman A.Šuminas came from the nearest village, Lauksteniai, and established Šuminai
by the lake. Historical documents say they settled here sometime between 1732-1784. Apart
from Antanas Šuminas, the brothers, Benediktas and Andrius lived here. According to data
from 1830, 16 people lived in this place. In 1851 Šuminai was described as a village with
21 inhabitants. At the end of the century, rapid enlargement of the village was seen. In
the central part of the village more cottages were built and in the outer areas barns and
stables were built. The stack yards were established well removed from other structures.
The bathhouses were built on the bank of the lake and the construction of the village was
over. Later the cottages were rebuilt as the village grew and by 1903 58 people were
living there. Today, Šuminai has small structures from XIX century and the former cottage
of Veronika Rukienė built by A. Šuminas. The forests and the water were the things that
attracted people to these places, many of these people later became farmers. The residents
fished, worked in the forest and rafted. Also it is told that people of the Šuminai area
made pitch and tar from coal. The great rafting road from Ažvinčiai forest to the river
Neris passed by Šuminai.
After looking at the homesteads of the
village of Šuminai, where now only about 15 people live, we will go to Strazdai.
It is the village of the former Ažvinčiai
forest guards. Information about the inhabitants of Strazdai village can be found in the
1798 inventory of the Ažvinčiai estate. Almost every house in the village Strazdai had a
loom the pretty textiles still decorate the cottages of this village. The people had to
work hard and experienced shortages of many things during and after WW II. All the
property of the residents of the village was confiscated and they were forced to live and
work on a collective farm and later were assigned to work in the wood industry. They were
left with nothing.
After Lithuanian independence, the people
of Strazdai needed to reclaim their former land, buildings, implements and horses. The
land was not returned. Additionally, the land was replanted with trees in a soviet
reforestation plan. .
After touring the homesteads of the
Strazdai Ethnographic village we will go to Vaišnoriškės.
Vaišnoriškės' was founded along the old
Tauragnai-Breslauja road, where the road crosses the Būka River. There was an old inn
standing on the right bank of the Būka River crossing as early as 1765. The first
homestead was established in Vaišnoriškės in 1830, and later four more homesteads were
established. For various reasons the buildings of the homesteads were destroyed or fell
into disrepair and required rebuilding, the rebuilding was completed by 1913. Recently,
two cottages, a stack yard, two stables and bathhouse were reconstructed in the old XIX
century style with wooden walls and thatched roofs. Now it looks much as it did when the
village was first built. The settlement of Vaišnoriškės is hidden in the forests. It is
also the village of old beekeepers famous for linden honey. The big linden tree in the
village is even now full of humming honeybees in the time of making honey. There are now
five homesteads in Vaišnoriškės. Two of them have been commercially restored and a
Kaunas Botanical Garden resort is established in one of them. We will sleep in this one.
Utena Salos II Šuminai
Strazdai Vaišnoriškės: 54 km.
Day 2: We will return to
Utena across Daunoriai (we can to travel through Minčia), Tauragnai.
Vaišnoriškės Daunoriai (or Minčia)
Tauragnai Utena: 38 km.
Total length of itinerary: about 92 km. |
