Just another town on the Baltic coast. What does Klaipeda have to offer besides some sand and water? Lets take a look around. Just outside of town is this long dock and tourist area. Calm waters, nice sandy beaches and tourist attractions like the ferris wheel you can see in the distance. Back on land is a nice little canal system lined with hotels, restaurants and cafes. Just down the road, is the main river that passes through Klaipeda, the Smiltele river. This also happens to be the Northern most ice-free port on the Baltic coast. So the entire coastline is filled with large ships moving cargo. The Meridianas sail boat was built in 1948 and was used as a training ship to teach people how to sail large vessels. In 1968, the ship was decommissioned and eventually turned into a floating restaurant where you can pay 28 Euros for octopus with vegetables. Founded in 1252, there was a large castle on the banks of the river in Klaipeda. The castle was first built with wood, but burnt down. It was rebuilt with stone and brick but was mostly removed when it was no longer useful. However, the tunnels under the castle remained and have now been turned into a museum that shows how klaipeda has changed over the years. Since I’m on top of the castle, or what is left of it, I decide this counts for a traditional summit selfie. The water behind me is what was the moat around the castle. Now it is used as a marina for parking boats.Klaipeda is walkable and has little streets lined with cafes and outdoor restaurants. Not only are the streets lined with cafes and outdoor restaurants, the canals are too. It was while sitting at one of these cafes on the canal that Sian got an email from back home offering her a new job. Better celebrate with a glass of wine. Made somewhat famous by reddit, this statue is one of the most popular attractions in Klaipeda. It is called Juodasis Vaiduoklis, which means black ghost. The legend is that sometime in the 16th century, a guard was walking the castle perimeter when a shadowy hooded person asked the guard if the city had enough supplies. The mysterious ghost warned the guard the supplies would soon be depleted. Seeing how listening to a ghost is the only reasonable course of action, the castle built up their food supplies further and avoided catastrophe when a famine followed shortly after. The back of the creepy ghost statue. At the other end of the creepy art spectrum is Stebuklingas Peliukas, which means Magical Mouse. They say if you whisper your wish into the mouses ear it will come true. More Klaipeda public art. This piece is called childhood dream. It is supposed to give good luck to sailors. Under the dogs paw reads “Love, Believe, Wait”.This mermaid was a gift to the city from the maritime academy. The entire tail of the mermaid is made from melted down old Lithuanian coins. The legend is that if you rub her snake bracelet, it will make your wish come true. I’m beginning to think this town must just be full of people who have their wishes come true. It just seems too easy.
I couldn’t find any information about this artwork. If anybody knows anything, let me know.
And some bonus Lithuanian tech. This bus has a TV monitor on the back of it displaying a camera from the front of the bus. If you are stuck behind the bus on a single lane road, you can see what is ahead before you pull out into oncoming traffic. Genius!
And more bonus tech. If you place an order at a restaurant, they have this display with your order number, name and a little progress bar for your order. They really struggled with my name as I guess it isn’t common here, I eventually, was called Shon.And if that doesn’t impress you, how about a public X’s and O’s board. What a great idea. With that, on to the next stop, the capital city of Lithuania.
Bonus advertisement. I have no idea what it is for, but I bought 3 of them.
1 Comment
Teditor · December 7, 2023 at 9:04 pm
Loved the black ghost statue, really cool!