Elektrėnai Tourism Information Center

Zabarija Hills

The most valuable part of the Neris Valley and its most picturesque landscape located in the Neris Regional Park are under state protection. Zabarija Hills that you can see before your eyes are some of the most impressive natural objects in the entire regional park.

The hills are a remnant of a powerful river preceding the Neris. The river was known to be as many as several kilometers in width. We are now standing at the bottom of this once powerful river and the hills stretching far and wide in the horizon are the shores of the river formed by the melting glaciers. The Neris crosses the Baltic Highlands made by the last glacier below Vilnius City, within the territory of the Neris Regional Park, and divides the highlands into two parts, separating Trakai and Sudervė Hill Ridges. The river had its work cut out for it until it managed to widen and deepen its bed. The best proof of that are the valley slopes rising as high as 70-80 meters on both sides of the river bed. The old Neris Valley stretches for more than 40 km and is 3-5 km in width. Compared to the present-day river, more powerful watercourses flowed from the wide proglacial lagoons. This means that a much wider river with high flow of water formed by the melting glacial used to run in the spot of the present-day Neris. This river formed the ancient valley that we can see now. At that time, the glacial was blocking the course of the river towards the Baltic Sea and, hence, it flowed in the opposite direction, i.e., to the southeast! Moreover, the precursor of the Neris was not as winding or loopy as the present-day river. It formed the upper (IV-VII) terraces of the Neris Valley, as proven by the eroded hollows made by the melted ice that had been buried under the surface of the earth. As the glacials and proglacial lagoons moved away, the dead valley terraces and slopes were gradually covered in soil. Many years passed before the Neris and its affluent river valleys gained life in the form of green forests. The variety of the forest stands was impacted by the different formations of surface sediments. The coniferous woods prevalent in the valley are spotted with deciduous trees that showcase different shades of green in the spring and turn bright yellow, brown and red in autumn. This is the time when the valley landscape seems to gain new life. The variety of the low-growing plants is much higher than that of stands due to the differing levels of soil dampness (the terraces, especially the bottomlands, are flooded due to excess water levels).

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