Sejny Off The Beaten Path Tips by evaanna

Gawieniance - poor but charming

We visited Gawieniance encouraged by our guidebook, expecting a village of 19th century
wooden cottages and farms, where time seems to have stopped. But in the 14 years since the book was published the place must have changed for we saw only two or three of them: charming, with high sloping thatched roofs and wooden fences against the background of sunflowers looking into the cottages through the tiny windows. They are still inhabited and only there because their owners have been poor, unlike the others who could afford new houses. It is amazing that nothing seems to have been done to keep the houses as they used to be and create an open air museum. Anyway, you must hurry if you want to see what has been left for they are likely to disappear soon.