Having seen Kretinga‘s sights, you can choose the second route, too. It first takes you to Raguviškiai, which is located in the picturesque valley of the Minija River. From there, it is not far to Budriai, and from there it is a quiet road to the nearby Abakai. There stands the Abakai Lourdes. It was built in 1921 by Kazimieras Navirauskas, in thanksgiving for returning alive from the First World War. A spring reputed to have healing properties flows alongside the grotto and chapel.
Abakai is located near Kartena. And it is well-known for the Kartena hill-fort. If you can believe legends, this hill-fort was built up by stubborn Samogitians who were at war with the Swedes and the Russians. Based on archaeological digs, a castle on the Kartena hill-fort was built in the 8th–9th centuries not by the Samogitians, but by the Curonians. Those who make the effort to climb to the top of the hill-fort are rewarded with a marvellous panoramic view of the Kartena vicinity.
From Kartena, the road takes you to Kūlupėnai, known for its strawberries, and next comes Nasrėnai, with the museum of the birthplace of Bishop Motiejus Valančius. An 18th century barn is preserved there. An ethnographic exhibition acquaints visitors with the housewife‘s working area, the room where a girl would sleep, a storage room for household items, and the grain storage area. In the farmhouse, you can get an idea of how Bishop Valančius himself lived. Events at the museum include readings of Samogitian texts and theatre performances, and, oddly enough, here you can see perhaps not the only, but at least one of the first sculptures in Lithuania dedicated to the humble potato.
The road winding past the museum shows you the way, past scenic Skaudaliai, and from there you have to go to Kalnalis. The Church of Saint Lawrence, where the future Bishop Valančius was baptised, is located in the small village, as is an observation tower. From Kalnalis, a cyclist-pedestrian path takes you to Imbarė hill-fort. The Curonian castle that stood there in the 10th–13th centuries was an administrative and economic centre of the land of Ceklis. How the hill-fort may have looked when buildings stood on it is visualised in the Kretinga Museum. The Imbarė castle was so important that it even competed with Apuolė castle, and the system of streets discovered in the settlement at the foot of the castle suggests that in the Middle Ages the Imbarė site had the characteristics associated with a town.
From the hill-fort, you can go toward Salantai. There, a visitor simply must see the Church of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and the Salantai city park, or, put another way, manor park. Only basements remain from the manor house, but the park built in the 19th century enchants with its beauty even today. The romantic-minded are drawn by the winding paths and tree-shaded benches, while nature-lovers may be drawn to a chestnut tree growing in the park, with the largest trunk in Lithuania, boasting a girth of almost 5 metres. On summer evenings, you can see bats maneuvering in the air as they hunt. The manor park is their home.
