Simnas: The Town

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We took a day trip from Vilnius to Simnas, a small rural community 26km southwest of the district capital of Alytus that dates back at least to the 1300s, in a flat expanse with many lakes not too far from the Polish border. (For tourist information on the Alytus district, go to https://www.alytusinfo.lt/en/, where there is also a page on Simnas at https://www.alytusinfo.lt/en/sightseeing-places/simnas/. The town, with a population of about 2,000, is surrounded by hundreds of farms and has elementary and secondary schools that service the area, as well as a modern gas station at the entrance on the road from Alytus (Route 131). It contains mostly small, modern houses but also many older wooden structures as well as a few old brick houses dating from the early 20th century. There is one large church (top right in the third picture) and, as will be shown later, one former synagogue. Most of the inhabitants drive modern cars but, as can be seen, we spotted one horse-drawn carriage.