What is "zarasai"

Zarasai is a city in northeastern Lithuania, surrounded by many lakes and rivers: to the southwest of the city is Lake Zarasas, to the north – Lake Zarasaitis, to the southeast – Lake Baltas, and the east – Lake Griežtas. Lakes Zarasaitis and Griežtas are connected by the River Laukesa.

In Polish, the town was known since the first third of the 16th century as Jeziorosy, from jezioro meaning lake . In 1836, the town was renamed to Novoalexandrovsk in honor of Tsar Nicholas I's son Alexander. This name was maintained until 1918. From 1919 to 1929, in the newly independent Lithuania, the town was called Ežerėnai, from ežeras, the Lithuanian word for lake. The Yiddish name Ezherene is derived from Ežerėnai. The current Lithuanian name Zarasai was adopted only in 1929.

Zarasai holds the record for the highest recorded daytime temperature in Lithuania of 38.5 °C (2014).

A few music festivals are held in Zarasai in summer. Such as: Mėnuo Juodaragis, Roko naktys.