Baltics pt. II | Klaipėda, etc.
After finishing up in Vilnius, we drove a few hours northwest to the Lithuanian port city of Klaipėda. A former German city known as Memel, Klaipėda is situated on the mouth of the Danė River, which flows into the Baltic Sea. Before making our way out to the harbor, we took time to explore the castle ruins. Out by the water, the harbor provides an awesome view looking out onto the Curonian Spit. (We had plans to make it to Nida on the Spit, but unfortunately, we didn’t end up fitting the trip into our schedule. Next time!)
We encountered two of the many mythical figures who reside in Klaipėda: the faceless Black Ghost statue (Juodasis Vaiduoklis) and the Old Town Cat with “the face of a gentleman”. The latter is said to be magical – rub the gentlemanly cat‘s tail, and your wishes will come true.
We took a quick pit stop at Olando kepure (Dutchman’s Cap) near the town of Karklė. Dutchman’s Cap is a hill with a 24.4 meter high bluff within Lithuania's Seaside Regional Park. Beautiful weather, beautiful water, and almost no other people in sight.
A little less impressive was our lunch at the renowned HBH Palanga. After hearing the dish talked up repeatedly, I decided to sample Lithuanian cepelinai, a type of dumpling made from grated and boiled potatoes. Since I’m a meat-shy eater, I ordered two cepelinai filled with cheese curd. Overall, it’s a pretty bland dish that I can’t say I would go for again, but it was interesting to try out. Perhaps HBH should stick to brewing beer.
We spent one night in the northern Lithuanian town of Biržai, a village community with a population of around 15,000. Our friend’s father is the town’s head meteorologist, and their house doubles as Biržai’s meteorology station. Below is a selection of the devices used to measure various aspects of the outside weather and atmosphere.
During our evening in Biržai, we attended a beer tasting that showcased different cultural aspects of the region. The women leading the event sported traditional folk outfits (complete with stoles) – they sang a medley of traditional songs, we sampled various appetizers native to northern Lithuania, and throughout the whole evening, we didn’t understand a word of what was being said. Sometimes, you have to ask yourself how you end up in certain places in this world. :)