Palūšė – like little Nida: the concert space was discovered by chance, and the business even moved from the coast | Deal

A.Barniškis-Blėka has been known and famous in the world of Lithuanian music. He and his colleagues have been hosting Blues Nights, and the Galapagos Festival has had its listener for many years. Now Algirdas is looking for the same thing in Palūšė, Palūšė’s ship: the bar has become a concert stage. So far small, but it is planned to accelerate from mid-July.

Promises great concerts

I just passed, I looked for a place for Galapagos and I saw this place. As I say, here is a mini Nida.

Palūšė residents and guests could already hear “White Gull”, Šarūnas Mačiulis, at this venue. And since this year the Galapagos will not be a big regular festival, there will be many small concerts, Blėka promises. “I can’t say yet,” Algirdas suggests naming future artists, revealing just that: These will be the most famous names in Lithuanian music.

He admits something else: Two years ago, Palūšė became a true discovery for him: “I just drove around the country, looked for a place for the Galapagos, and saw this place. As I say, here is a mini Nida. We try to smell that little Nida and support her now. We came with a festival, and we are trying to make this boat an object of culture and events. On Saturdays, concerts and events are held, we plan to do not only musical events, but also educational events and workshops. Last year there were concerts here, it was one of the Galapagos stages, the smallest, but the most popular. “

The quarantine, according to Algirdas, gave some people time to carry out new activities, but it hit the event organizers hard. There will be no Galapagos this year, but big concerts are planned every weekend under the banner of this festival.

Summer in Lithuania, as well as in the Ignalina region, is not long. Algirdas admits that he thinks of autumn and winter, but at least so far he has no ingenious thoughts on what can be done to make the Palūšė boat full.

“We need to attract more people to come. After all, there are as many locations as there are, they won’t increase. But Vilnius is very close, only 100 km, not like 300 km from the coast or 400 km from Nida. Here, 100 km from Vilnius, nature is inferior to that of Nida, not only the sea, but the lake. They need to be forced to come here. In the summer, it is clear what needs to be done, but in the winter I still don’t have many thoughts, because we need a better infrastructure, “said Blėka.

The most frequent visitors are from Vilnius, Kaunas, Panevėžys. “He comes and screams, then he sends me pictures of Nida, saying he’s going, just like you. Day comes, afternoon, night returns. There are many rural tourism farms around here, here a weekend friends, musicians, managers wrote, looking for where to stay. Apparently everything is completely full. This quarantine may have benefited the local business, because no one will go anywhere, “said the owner of the old ship in Palūšė.

I lost my job but got support

The quarantine also significantly changed the life of Eglė Šilinikaitė, the girl who worked in the field of tourism lost her job, but at the same time learned that together with her father, Rolandas Šilinikas, she had received support to make her old dream come true. Now they are already receiving the first guests in the Asalnai camp.

“I always had the idea that I would like to participate in tourism in these countries, to be a park guide. I had to volunteer a bit in the Aukštaitija National Park, then I did an internship and wrote a master’s thesis on this land, I created a map.

I worked in tourism in Vilnius, but I lost my job due to a coronavirus. But it was all very beneficial to me because it all came together here. They confirmed that I had won the European Union project, so I managed to implement my idea with EU funds, ”said Eglė.

I worked in tourism in Vilnius, but I lost my job due to a coronavirus. But it was all very beneficial to me because it all came together here.

The Asalnai campsite is located about four kilometers from Palūšė in Meironys. “We have renovated the camp and you can come with tents. We have several Native American tents where people can stay as well. We want to create such a calm and welcoming place where people come to relax, read a book, rent a bicycle or a paddle board. We favor large companies, although we can accept them. We also organize walks, we have a boat, all tourist activities, “said Eglė.

According to Eglė, they rented the camp territory because they had been swimming here since childhood and had been burned by the trees.

“The weekend was full of people, so everyone settled comfortably, there were many light bulbs, candles and a guitar,” he says dreamily, without hiding that his goal is an ecological place: There would be as little consumerism and garbage as possible. People have given us dishes, we have built a car wash where you can wash, we try to prevent people from using fairies, just a garden. We are for nature and ecology. “

About eight companies can stay in the camp at the same time: Eglė does not name the exact number, because it depends on the size of those companies.

The campsite already has it, it is full on weekends. Eglė does not hide that he would like to receive foreigners, but this is the plan for next year, this year the focus is on local Lithuanians and only on another foreigner, the most common of which are Latvian and Estonian neighbors.

Interest in ships is high

The lakes, which are connected to Palūšė by many Rimvydas Grušnius, the owner of Aukštaitijos laivų, who sail by boat, are also expecting as many local tourists as possible this year.

“For the fourth season, we are sailing with motor boats in Palūšė on these lakes after obtaining the permits. We started asking about them and planned about seven years ago, it took us a while to make it possible to buy and prepare the boats. Now it has started the fourth summer, “says Rimvydas.

Speaking about shipping in Palūšė, Rimvydas mentions himself and a colleague, they are both captains, they have two ships each, they offer another ship for the guests to sail alone as it does not require a pilot certificate.

However, these ships and sailing on them are not yet the activities from which Rimvydas would eat bread. The main job is kayak rental, he is also involved in rural tourism.

“It just came to our attention then. We wanted to start in May, but unfortunately we were cold, we removed the snow from the boats,” the captain joked about the start of the season this year.

We sail with the “Kajsa” boat from Rimvydas, which offers various routes, the most popular being about two hours to Ladakalnis, where you can stop and climb the mountain. We choose the shortest, we only kindly observe the coasts, established by new and old houses, on the steps to the lake. In one place, Rimvydas advises turning his head towards the peninsula, there we can see something interesting among the trees.

And in fact, several cows drink water calmly from a fenced drinking fountain. It turns out that ten Angus cows, grazed here on June 2, graze on the wild Pabiržė peninsula. They will graze here all summer and do environmental work, helping to restore the natural habitats of flowering meadows and wooded meadows, to which terns and cornflakes should return later.

It will be hot, there will be work. If it was raining, you couldn’t think of much, Rimvydas said.

Last summer Rimvydas sailed for anyone he wanted and on regular trips: Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, the hours were set when a person who had paid six euros could get on a boat and swim. However, this year it was abandoned, as the captain says, due to the coronavirus, only charter swimming remained.

“It will be hot, there will be work. If it’s raining, you can’t think of much,” Rimvydas said of the importance of the weather.

Changed the beach to Palūšė

Valdas Kuprys also claims that Palūšė lacks charm, the town fascinated him when he participated in the Stintelė festival for several years, and last year he met Rolandas Šilinikas and decided to leave the beach and smoke fish here. At least for now, as he says, he has no regrets: “Calm down here. And more beautiful than in Palanga, less sand ”.

A smokehouse and a fishmonger are located next to the “Palūšės piratai” shops and cafes that have been operating here since ancient times. The store, as Valdas says, operates on its own, and his wife took over the coffee.

“I saw a sign on the fence saying it was for rent. But quarantine, if not quarantine, is to blame for everything. We actively toured the events, and now it is very good here, since we live in the event, ”says Valdas.

The family rented an apartment in Palūšė in the summer and moved to live here, the wife, like his Valdas, is already talking about buying a house in these countries, but they are hampered by the fact that he will not have a job in winter.

In the summer, Valdas is not short of buyers, we are convinced of that, because we are talking on Monday afternoon, in Palūšė it is quite empty, but during the 10 minutes of the conversation, Valdas even apologizes several times and rushes to to serve the clients. They like mackerel and heat better.

On weekends, as Valdas says, there are so many buyers who have to work “under the sweat”; He was surprised that there is more work here than in Šventoji or Palanga.

He himself lacks more interesting activities in Palūšė. “We crossed the entire coast with the child. If you wish, you can stay on the beach, take a boat ride. And then what? It’s a few hours and there’s nothing to do, “said the man who moved his business from the coast here.

However, people here are happier and calmer than in Palanga or Šventoji, Valdas is convinced. “Everyone lives here at their own pace,” he smiles.