Route: Novogrudok – Valivka – Lake. Svityaz – Novogrudok
The length of the route: 22 km. one way
The length of the cycle: 2 km. one way
Time of the route: 1 day
Description: This route is noteworthy in that it does not require special orientation skills in unfamiliar terrain. There are no difficult obstacles on the way. In addition, the route runs along the P5 highway. Ideal for beginners.
Having chosen this route, you will see the special pride of Novogrudok – Lake Svityaz. On the way there is an opportunity to visit the Valevsky folk history and local lore tourism, the park-arboretum, the Orthodox Peter and Paul Church, as well as the ecological and information center on Svitiaz Lake.
At 18 km to the south of Novogrudok Svitiaz is located. The Svitiazan Landscape Reserve is located in the lake. Scientists have about thirty different types of forest near the lake. The lake itself is clean – you can see the smallest stones on the bottom. Here there are rare plants. Tetradinium jawaicum grows only in Java and Indonesia, the coastal lake (Litorellf lacustris) and the lake half-lake (Izoetes lacustris) occurs in the lakes of Poland. But the most important of the plants is water lobelia (Lobelia dortmani). Adam Mickiewicz, who sang them in the ballad “Svityaz”, saw the white flowers above the surface of the water. And how not to believe the legend of his appearance, told in a poetic form by Adam Mickiewicz?
Svityaz was once a mighty and beautiful city, owned by Prince Tugan. One day a messenger rushed from Mindovg and called for help to besieged Novogrudok.
The squad left, leaving only women, children and the elderly. And at night, enemy troops came here. The besieged inhabitants of Svityazi understood that the gates of the city would soon collapse. They set fire to the house, preferring death to captivity. And suddenly they felt that the ground was running out from under your feet. On the site of the city appeared a lake, and the inhabitants turned into flowers. When the enemies touched them, they immediately died. So the inhabitants of Svityazi preferred death to captivity.
The village of Valivka is on the way to Svityaz lake. In the vicinity of it, a parking lot of the Mesolithic era was discovered. In the Valevskaya school there is an interesting local history museum, where a number of rare documents are collected and where you can learn about the history of the region and its people. On the territory of the school you can also visit the park-arboretum. The park was laid in 1960. Today in the park grows about a hundred species of trees and shrubs.
In the village there is an Orthodox Peter and Paul Church (until 1830 – a church). In the temple there are several ancient icons, and the two-tier wooden iconostasis is decorated with carvings with gilding.
Near Valivka there is a mountain Radogoshcha. An ancient settlement, dating back to the early Iron Age and the era of Kievan Rus, rises 20 meters above the river Neuveda. Until 1939. nearby was the manor of Chomber – the birthplace of Adam Mickiewicz’s mother. A chapel of the last owners of Karpovichi has survived.
