Biržai – Rokiškis

1 day

We leave Vilnius, drive through Ukmergė. We come to Upytė – Linen Museum, located in an old windmill, the only one in Lithuania, we will listen to the history of flax, inspect the tools of flax processing and try to flax ourselves.

We continue to Biržai. This city has been mentioned since 1450. Until the 19th century. Biržai belonged to the Radvila dukes at the beginning of the 17th century, therefore we will make the first stop in the city near the Radvilas in the 17th century a bastion fortress was built, which houses a large and rich museum. Here you will learn the whole history of Biržai region. After the tour of the history of Biržai, we will start the “Beer Road” tour. In one hall of the museum, you will see all the tools used for brewing. The museum guide will visually tell you all the subtleties of brewing. The participating folk ensemble “Siaudela” will sing Biržai songs about beer, shake hands, blow horns and jump with you. You will have a great opportunity to taste Biržai beer, homemade bread and cheese, learn the Biržai beer anthem.

We continue our trip to Lake Širvėna, which is the oldest artificial lake in Lithuania, formed in 1575. You have the opportunity to walk the 525 m long pedestrian bridge over this lake. On the other side of the lake we will reach the manor of Counts Tiškevičiai, which Tiškevičiai bought in 1811. from the Radvils.
After inspecting the manor buildings and walking around the park, we will drive to the edge of the lake towards Rinkuškiai. We will visit the Rinkuškės brewery, which ranks 5th in terms of beer sales in Lithuania. Here we will visit the brewery, the professionals will show you and tell you how to make real Biržai beer, and then we will taste a special rich Biržiečių beer.

Day 2

We are going to Independence Square in Rokiškis Old Town, which is the most expressive and valuable urban monument of the Classicist era in Lithuania. Rokiškis St. St. Matthew the Evangelist Church is the most beautiful neo-Gothic ensemble in Lithuania with a 56.5 m high square tower and St. Chapel of Joseph. In the church you can admire very valuable wooden products from Belgium, stained glass and bronze sculptures from Austria, bronze gilded altar from France, etc. A crypt of the founders was installed after the presbytery. Dukes Krošinskis, Counts Tyzenhaus and Pšezdeckis rest there. Later we go to Rokiškis manor house. Built in 1801 in the Classicist style according to a project by an unknown architect. Since 1952, the manor house has housed the Rokiškis Regional Museum, which houses about 60 thousand. exhibits. The museum has manor household, unique woodwork by L.Šepka, art expositions, etc.

After getting acquainted with the city of Rokiškis and its most famous objects, we go to the factory of AB “Rokiškio sūris”. Here you will be introduced to the Cheese Road program. During the entertainment-cognitive program, we will introduce the origin of the name of the cheese, its history in interwar Lithuania, ethnographic dishes of milk fermentation, butter beatings, cheese pressing. you will see footage about the technological processes of fermented cheeses produced in AB “Rokiškio sūris” factory. Returning home.