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Keri's Travel Blog
After visiting Gdynia and Gdansk our next port was Klaipeda in the Baltic state of Lithuania. It is the third largest city in Lithuania but only has a population of around 150,000. Like other regions in the Baltic, Klaipeda has had a checkered history having been under German rule, and then part of the communist Eastern bloc.
Of the places we've visited thus far in the Baltic, Klaipeda felt the most austere. There was something of a 'down at heel’ atmosphere in some parts of the town. May be our impressions were tempered by the overcast weather at the time. Nonetheless we wandered from the ship into the town close by and took in the sights, of which there weren’t too many – at least compared to other places we’ve been to so far. That said, there was a definite quaintness to the older parts of the town. And it’s been the only place where we’ve had a local band playing on the dockside for our arrival.
During the summer Klaipeda hosts a tall ships regatta, and I’m sure the town comes more to life then. We learnt later that the region was famed for being the location of one of the primary Soviet nuclear missile sites. The silo and launch site have been mothballed now, but preserved for posterity and those wishing to visit it.
There was a great looking watch and clock museum that we wanted to visit but unfortunately it was a public holiday so it was closed. Shame. I think that might have been the highlight of the visit. But not all was lost – we stumbled on a superb restaurant serving local cuisine – so settled in for a lunch of beetroot soup with sour cream, and crumbed mushroom balls; fried garlic bread; and a beautiful dish of minced pork baked in cabbage leaves – served with roast potatoes and a mountain of pickled gherkins. The food was well prepared, extremely flavorsome and cheap! With drinks the whole meal was around AUD$30.
A small craft market was operating in the town square and I was pleased to see the traders were doing steady business with the tourists – as were the horse and carriage operators. All up a quiet-ish visit but enjoyable nonetheless. The chances of us paying a visit to Lithuania would have been zero had Klaipeda not been on the itinerary.
And so, some 6 hours after arriving we set sail for Riga, Latvia our next port of call.
Ciao
Keri
Of the places we've visited thus far in the Baltic, Klaipeda felt the most austere. There was something of a 'down at heel’ atmosphere in some parts of the town. May be our impressions were tempered by the overcast weather at the time. Nonetheless we wandered from the ship into the town close by and took in the sights, of which there weren’t too many – at least compared to other places we’ve been to so far. That said, there was a definite quaintness to the older parts of the town. And it’s been the only place where we’ve had a local band playing on the dockside for our arrival.
During the summer Klaipeda hosts a tall ships regatta, and I’m sure the town comes more to life then. We learnt later that the region was famed for being the location of one of the primary Soviet nuclear missile sites. The silo and launch site have been mothballed now, but preserved for posterity and those wishing to visit it.
There was a great looking watch and clock museum that we wanted to visit but unfortunately it was a public holiday so it was closed. Shame. I think that might have been the highlight of the visit. But not all was lost – we stumbled on a superb restaurant serving local cuisine – so settled in for a lunch of beetroot soup with sour cream, and crumbed mushroom balls; fried garlic bread; and a beautiful dish of minced pork baked in cabbage leaves – served with roast potatoes and a mountain of pickled gherkins. The food was well prepared, extremely flavorsome and cheap! With drinks the whole meal was around AUD$30.
A small craft market was operating in the town square and I was pleased to see the traders were doing steady business with the tourists – as were the horse and carriage operators. All up a quiet-ish visit but enjoyable nonetheless. The chances of us paying a visit to Lithuania would have been zero had Klaipeda not been on the itinerary.
And so, some 6 hours after arriving we set sail for Riga, Latvia our next port of call.
Ciao
Keri
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