Grutas Travel Guide

  MEMORIAL TO SOVIET KOMSOMOL (KAUNAS ...
by matcrazy1
 
  • MEMORIAL  TO  SOVIET  KOMSOMOL  (KAUNAS  1979)
      MEMORIAL TO SOVIET KOMSOMOL (KAUNAS ...
    by matcrazy1
  •   Grutas
    by spanishguy
  • Statue at Gruto Park
      Statue at Gruto Park
    by niamey00
  • KRYZKALNIS'  MOTHER  ON  THE  ISLAND
      KRYZKALNIS' MOTHER ON THE ISLAND
    by matcrazy1
  • FOR  YOUR  KIDS
      FOR YOUR KIDS
    by matcrazy1
 

Explore Grutas

Things to Do  

Small museum of Soviet stuff

Small museum of Soviet stuff, Grutas

 Raimix Says:  In this museum I got opportunity to see such Soviet stuff as banknotes of roubles with heads of Lenin, the various medals (of being very good worker (proletarian) or very good fire-fighter or soldier). I believe and I have heard that people wanted to get some extra money for... 

Sculptures at Grutas park

Sculptures at Grutas park, Grutas

 Raimix Says:  The main exposition of Grutas park is, of course, Soviet sculptures. It consists of sculptures of such famous people as Lenin, Stalin, Marx, but also there are sculptures of people, who helped for soviet propaganda, actions of sending people to Siberia and so on in occupied... 

Grutas park picture gallery

Grutas park picture gallery, Grutas

 Raimix Says:  Soviet pictures, as I have seen in that gallery, were based on putting here Stalin, Lenin, Marx ... and of showing promotion of Soviet Union - new factories appearing, people working in fields and more.I have found very strange thing in pictures - Lenin was showed standing... 

Example of soviet library

Example of soviet library, Grutas

 Raimix Says:  At Soviet style library it could be possible to see what kind of books people were "allowed" to read that time. Most of them is associated with communism ideology (Karl Marx) and books how Russian soldiers were good at Second World War. When I was smaller I have read one... 

Restaurants  

Kavine: The only restaurant

Kavine: The only restaurant, Grutas

 matcrazy1 Says:  There was the only restaurant I found in the Grutas Park - local monopolist, I could say. It was called just kavine (cafe) and offered wooden tables and benches in quite nice, a little bit dark interior. Our waitress was... rather slow, very serious (well, maybe she was... 

Picnic area: With own food

Picnic area: With own food, Grutas

 matcrazy1 Says:  Well, it's not at all restaurant... but small picnic area with wooden, roofed benches and tables put just outside local restaurant/cafe in the Grutas Park. My suggestion, for driving a car visitors especially, is to buy some food in local grocery for example in Lazdijai and... 

Transportation  

Grutas - Druskininkai bus

Grutas - Druskininkai bus, Grutas

 Raimix Says:  Grutas - Druskininkai bus can take you near the gates of Grutas park. There is a bus stop as well, served by local (not Vilnius) bus companies. Bus Grutas-Druskininkai cost about 0,3 Euro. The schedule is not so comfortable, but I think it is possible to stop a bus Vilnius -... 

Vilnius - Grutas bus

Vilnius - Grutas bus, Grutas

 Raimix Says:  Vilnius - Grutas bus is actually the same as Vilnius - Druskininkai bus, because you pay money till Druskininkai (about 5,50 euros one way), but you ask to stop at Grutas station. When you have to walk about 1 kilometre through Grutas village to Grutas park. Grutas is about... 

Where is it?

Where is it?, Grutas

 matcrazy1 Says:  GRUTASGrutas is a village in southeastern Lithuania close to both Belarus and Poland. The village itself is located along main highway A1 from Vilnius, Lithuania to Hrodna (Grodno), Belarus and only 12 km from Druskininkai, the best European balneology resort! (chosen by... 

Shopping  

Grutas park shops: Some kvass and water ;)

Grutas park shops: Some kvass and water ;), Grutas

 Raimix Says:  Grutas park is not only for sculptures waching, but also for other Sovietic stuff that makes special feelings. You can buy water from special water machine and to buy kvass (in Lithuanian - gira) from...kinda strange looking cisterns. I haven't seen such equipments before,... 

At the ticket office: Vodka, tea and the Soviet Union...

At the ticket office: Vodka, tea and the Soviet Union..., Grutas

 matcrazy1 Says:  There were glasses and mugs with various writings and pictures from the Soviet era put on them offered at the Grutas Park ticket office. A mug with comerade Nikita Khrushchev or Lenin or with flags of great family of Soviet republics. There was an inscription in Russian... 

Local Customs  

50 mln killed in Soviet Gulags?

50 mln killed in Soviet Gulags?, Grutas

 matcrazy1 Says:  This wooden, green watchtower is put by a river in the Grutas Park. There are two loudspeakers fixed it and... no explanation what is that. Well, it should have been a watchtower of Soviet concentration camp somewhere in deep Russia (nowhere), I thought. Loudspeakers were... 

Shack of Soviet prisoner?

Shack of Soviet prisoner?, Grutas

 matcrazy1 Says:  This shack or better to say a shelter was put by a river in the Grutas Park. It was a house of a prisoner of Soviet concentration camp called Gulag, I thought. Well, it looked a little bit idyllic, unnatural as for such terrible place... REAL MOVING STORYWell, I got to know... 

Soviet propaganda in a forest?

Soviet propaganda in a forest?, Grutas

 matcrazy1 Says:  I found this wooden structure, on my picture, at the edge of forest in the Grutas Park. There was a stage for communist propagandists, I thought. The stage was decorated with a quotation from Lenin - a slogan which I couldn't understand at it was in Lithuanian language.... 

Soviet lottery

Soviet lottery, Grutas

 matcrazy1 Says:  I found this logo of the Soviet lottery put on the top of an old rail car placed by western walkway loop of the Grutas Park. Did it mean that lottery came as a kind of entertainment to deep Russia including numerous Gulags located there. Hmm... I doubt... although who knows.... 

Warnings Or Dangers  

Do NOT lose it !

Do NOT lose it !, Grutas

 matcrazy1 Says:  They gave me a small piece of paper in the ticket office to Grutas park - a permission to take pictures (5.00 Lt). There was a camera picture, a stamp (with date written) and a pin to fix it to a cloth, just in case of park staff check-up. I pinned it to my jacket and... 

Tourist Traps  

Fake Soviet items and good laugh...

Fake Soviet items and good laugh..., Grutas

 matcrazy1 Says:  The ticket office (closed when I was going back, on my picture) offered limited choice of post-Soviet items. I could find more choice around the parking lot earlier. But there were NO authentic post-Soviet items. Instead there were a lot of copies of Soviet pictures,... 

Off The Beaten Path  

Birds and Dzukija National Park

Birds and Dzukija National Park, Grutas

 matcrazy1 Says:  Grutas village was located by Grutas lake where I could easy find some swimming (catching fish) and flying birds like white storks, grey herons and others, excuse, I didn't know the names. There were some smaller and colorful birds among pine trees of Grutas Park as well.No... 

V.I. Lenin

V.I. Lenin, Grutas

 matcrazy1 Says:  This statue of Vladimir Ilich Lenin, on my picture, was created by sculptor Jakubonis and stood at Lenin's Square (presently Laisves Square) in Panavezys from 1983 till 1990.Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 - 1924) was a Russian revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party,... 

Favorites  

Feelings when walking at Grutas park

Feelings when walking at Grutas park, Grutas

 Raimix Says:  When walking in Grutas park I have seen the part of history of Lithuania, that for some people was good (especially who had friends in high positions of communistic parties, other institutions or those, who agreed with ideology), and for some was bad - here mostly people,... 

The Place

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The People

 
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 This dark green and old rail car is put together with a part of railway track along western walking loop of the Grutas Park. There are no written explanations... 

 

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Top Grutas Writers

1

Learn the truth about the Soviet Union

matcrazy1 profile photo

 This page is dedicated to Grutas Park located in a village of Grutas, very close to Druskininkai, the best European balneology resort! (chosen by Eurepean edition of "Newsweek" magazine). The Soviet... 

2

Grutas park - look into communism and Soviet Union

Raimix profile photo

  When coming to Druskininkai I have decided to visit Grutas park as well, it is only 7 kilometres from Druskininkai and comfortably reachable from Vilnius. Grutas park official name is "Museum of... 

3

GRUTAS PARKAS

Avieira67 profile photo

 Grutas Park, located in one of the most beautiful Lithuanian countryside, is considered to be the unique one for the quantity of the sculptures with an ideological content. All memorial Soviet statues... 

4

Grutas, Lithuania

niamey00 profile photo

 I've got some interesting experiences in Grutas. I'd love to share with you the 0 tips I've written, the 1 photo uploaded, and 0 travelogues I've created. 

5

Gruto Parkas

spanishguy profile photo

 I've got some interesting experiences in Grutas. I'd love to share with you the 0 tips I've written, the 1 photo uploaded, and 0 travelogues I've created. 

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