Places to visit

Laiviai (Erlėnai) Hillfort

Laiviai (Erlėnai) hillfort called as castle mound (Pilalė) was built at the confluence of the rivers Salantas and Bubinas. The hillfort dates back to the 13th century. The hillfort is overgrown with a forest of deciduous trees. There is no annotation mark. It is told that in antiquity the river Salantas running through the hillfort was a large and watery river in which warships and merchant ships used to navigate and the ships used to be berthed to a high oak which was growing near the hillfort and had a long branch above the valley of the river used for unloading and loading goods from the ships. The ship stop-over place was allegedly called Laiviai and later the name stuck to the whole village. Other legends tell about the manor which sank in the hillfort and the treasures buried in the hillfort the path to which passed though the underground caves. Most probably in the first part of the 20th century these legends brought credulous treasure hunters to the hillfort after which all that remained was several large pits. Laiviai stone also known as Lauma stone (Laumės kūlis) is about 200 m to the south-east from the hillfort and Laiviai grave field is about 350 m to the south-east from the hillfort, on the opposite bank of the rivulet Bubinas.