Šiame darbe pateikiama Merkio baseino geografinė analizė, apžvelgiamas teritorijos kultūrinis potencialas, nurodomi vandens turizmui tinkami maršrutai. Gal būt skaitytoją sudomins krištolinės Merkio versmės ir kils noras pakeliauti po žilą senovę menančią Dainavos šalį... / Tourism becoming more and more popular, increasing chances to travel have inspired to analyse one type of active tourism – water tourism. The Merkys river pool is one of the best suitable places for environment, great cultural heritage and dietary peculiarities of the rivers. The Merkys and its affluents – the Visinčia, the Grūda, the Šalčia, the Ūla, the Varėnė are some of the most beautiful and cleanest rivers in Lithuania. Picturesque country – side pineries, steep slopes, banks, deep pools, sandy coastlines and many well – equipped camping places make the Merkys attractive for tourists. This work covers a detailed gydrological anglysis of the Merkys river pool, provides segments of privers suitable for water tourism, describes prominent sightseeing places. The Merkys river pool is in the southeast of Lithuania. The Merkys river system includes 810 rivers and serams of different sizes whose total lenght is 2413km. There are 175 lakes of different size, occupying 39,7km2. Their bigger part is in the Dzūkija Eminence. Privers and pouds make up the base of hydrographic net in the other part of the Merkys river pool. Woodlands take up about 50% of the territory: 4 natural reserves, the national park of Dzūkija and 28 reservations of different purposes. The Merky‘s pool is one of the oldest living places in Lithuania. People living for a long time in the territory created and ledt many material and spiritual values which make up our large cultural urbanized. The majority... [to full text]