Metravel city quest
City Braslav: free walking route “quest: a town between two lakes” along the sights. 8 points. Approximately 2 h 10 min. Quests and legends - straight from
This town has two birthdays — one historical and one legendary, and both are tied to water.
Braslav's first recorded mention is generally dated to 1065: a later chronicle tradition tells how the Lithuanian princely brothers Kernus and Gimbut attacked a fortified settlement on a hill between two lakes. People had lived here earlier — Balts and Krivichs were already settling on this hill in the IX–X centuries. According to one account, the mighty wooden fortress was built under the Polotsk prince Bryachislav Izyaslavich, who turned a border settlement into his principality's western outpost in the first half of the XI century. Historians still debate the origin of the town's name: perhaps it comes from the Baltic word “brasla”, meaning “ford, shallow water” (the town really did grow beside a natural crossing between the lakes), or perhaps from Bryachislav's own name.
But there is another story — the kind told around a campfire rather than in a chronicle. Once there lived Prince Dvina and his wife Druyka, with a daughter named Driva, so remarkable that three brothers — Snud, Bras and Nov — began competing for her hand. Their rivalry ended in tragedy: Snud and Nov killed each other, the inconsolable Driva drowned herself in the lake, and the surviving Bras then became the fair ruler of the little town on the hill between the waters. Today, life-size wooden figures stand on Castle Hill — the whole family looks out at the lakes, which have borne the names of the legend's characters ever since: Drivyaty, Novyaty and Snudy.
Today you will walk through the heart of this town between two lakes — from the old market square beside two churches, across the hillfort overlooking two stretches of water, past the rural district hospital that treated the whole county, to the old mill now housing a crafts museum. Then you will continue to the lakeside promenade and a quiet neighbourhood of interwar buildings, with a panoramic view of this entire lake country.
This walking route covers about two and a half kilometres through the town centre. We begin at the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God — the Catholic church is just a stone's throw away, placing you right in the heart of old Braslav.
The route points in order — what these places are and why they are interesting. Tasks and answers stay inside the quest.
Documents mention an Orthodox church in Braslav as early as the beginning of the XV century. In the XVI century, the Church of St Barbara stood on Castle Hill itself, alongside a convent said to have been founded by Princess Elena, wife of Grand Duke Alexander.
From the Orthodox church, walk just a hundred metres uphill — the square between the two churches was once the whole town's central market square. The Catholic church stands on it.
From the square, climb the hill behind the churches — this is Castle Hill, a narrow strip of land between Lakes Drivyaty and Novyaty, where a fortress stood a thousand years ago. Walk to the top and look around: large Lake Drivyaty glitters on one side, little Lake Novyaty on the other.
A boulder with a commemorative plaque stands on Castle Hill. It recalls that this hill is considered the place where the town was founded, and the town's coat of arms appears above the text.
Head north down from the hillfort — after a few minutes' walk, a low red-brick building on a foundation of dressed stone will appear. More than a hundred years ago, this was a hospital rather than a convent.
From the convent, head back down to the water — your route now leads west, to the shore of Lake Drivyaty, where flour was once milled in an old building from the beginning of the XX century.
Opening hours: Tue–Sun 10:00–19:00; closed Monday · Ticket: adult 3 rubles 27 kopecks, student 2 rubles 26 kopecks, child 1 ruble 74 kopecks
From the museum, continue along the shore — the promenade begins here, a favourite spot for Braslav's residents and visitors: cafés, gazebos overlooking the water, and paths right along the edge of the largest of the Braslav Lakes (Drivyaty is also one of the largest lakes in Belarus, with more than 36 square kilometres of water).
Climb from the promenade towards Sovetskaya Street on the hill — our route ends here, in a neighbourhood built for Braslav during the interwar years by Juliusz Kłos, a professor at Vilnius University, architect and historian. In the 1920s, Braslav became part of Poland and a county town.
This route is part of Metravel city quests. Below are the other quests in this city and cities with quests nearby.