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The Saidė is a short but remarkably lively stream in the Trakai district of Lithuania — just 5 km long, yet draining the entire historic Trakai lake system, whose surplus waters it carries down to the Neris River. Fed along the way by springs bursting from its steep banks, the stream rushes through a narrow, boulder-strewn canyon shaded by oaks over 200 years old, before cascading over a final stretch of stones into the Neris. The scenery around the confluence, with its mossy boulders and canyon-like slopes, is often said to feel more Scandinavian than Lithuanian.
The lower reaches of the Saidė are protected as a hydrographic reserve within Neris Regional Park. Right beside the confluence stand the Stirniai hillfort and a large glacial boulder known as the Saidė Stone, and in the Neris itself roars the Saidė Rift — historically one of the most feared rapids on the river, which timber rafters were relieved to survive; it is said to remain unfrozen even in the hardest winters. The Neris itself, often called the mother of Lithuanian rivers, is the country's second-largest river. Rising in Belarus, it flows some 510 km through Vilnius before joining the Nemunas at Kaunas, and its stony middle course, dotted with named rapids like this one, forms the scenic heart of Neris Regional Park.
