Klaipėda

Klaipėda Drama Threater

Klaipėda (Memel in German) is a 157,350 inhabitants city on the Baltic Sea coast (crossed by Danė river), being the 3rd largest city in Lithuania and its main port. This city has a very important heritage from Germany (in fact, the buildings and structure seem German or Danish) and is part of the ethnographic region of Lithuania Minor. There are popular seaside resorts close to the city like Palanga or Nida.

How do I arrive to Klaipėda?

  Klaipėda is an important seaside city so there are many ways to arrive there from all over Lithuania and the neighbouring countries. 

• Plane: there are some international flights to Palanga Airport, located 40 km north. To go from the airport to Klaipėda there are buses every hour (even in the early hours).
• Boat: there are ferries to Klaipėda from Germany or Sweden.
• Train: there are train routes to Kretinga (aprox. 30 minutes), Vilnius (aprox. 4 hours) and to Šiauliai (aprox. 2-3 hours).
• Bus: there are buses from Klaipėda to Palanga (aprox. 30 minutes), frequent buses to Kaunas (aprox. 3 hours) and at least 15 buses per day to Vilnius (aprox. 5 hours 30 minutes). As an important cities it has connections with other countries like Kaliningrad (1 bus, aprox. 3.5 hours) or Riga (8 buses, aprox. 5 hours) in Latvia.
• Car: if you rented a car, from Klaipeda can easily reached places like Palanga (aprox. 30 minutes), Curonian Spit National Park (aprox. 40 minutes), Šilutė (aprox. 50 minutes) in Nemunas Delta Regional Park, Plungė (aprox. 50 minutes) in Žemaitija National Park, Tauragë (aprox. 1 hour 20 minutes), Šiauliai (aprox. 2 hours 5 minutes), Kaunas (aprox. 2 hours 15 minutes) or Vilnius (aprox. 3 hours 20 minutes). Klaipėda can also be arrived coming from Kaliningrad, Russia. Some of the possible destinations here are Sovetsk (aprox. 1 hour 35 minutes) or Kaliningrad (aprox. 3 hours 15 minutes).

History

A settlement of Baltic tribes were said to inhabit Klaipėda region. The city was founded by the Teutonic Knights in 1252, with the name of Memelburg, earning the city rights in 1254. The crusade of the Teutonic Knights was to make Baltic tribes Cristians. The city was placed in Prussia and the border remained unchanged till 1919 (one of the borders without changes more time in Europe). Memel Ducade adopted Evangelic Luteranism under Albert of Prussia in 1525, having a very important growth due to its strategic position and its position as Lithuanian port. In the 17th century Memel was attacked by Sweden and its importance declined. Less than 100 years before most of its population died due to a plague. With the German unification in 1871, Memel became the northest city in Germany. After WWI, Memel region was splitted from Germany and got an autonomy under French occupation, which ended in 1923 when the Lithuanian army leaded by colonel Budrys. During WW2 Germany occupied it in 1939 and it was retaken and given to Lithuania by the Soviet Union in 1945. Most of the German inhabitants were exiliated to Germany or sent to Siberia. Currently the city has a small but important Russian population.
 

What can I visit in Klaipėda?

Klaipėda is a very nice city and has a very nice walk around Teatro aikštė with a fountaine in Simon Dach's honor and Ännchen von Tharau and around the street Liepų gatvė. All over the city there are reconstructions or original buildings that keep the traditional German architecture style of half-timbering (Fachwerkhaus in German).

These are Klaipėda's main attractions:

• Klaipėda Drama Threater (12-18 Tue-Sat): fine Neoclassic threater built in 1857 where Hitler proclaimed the annexation Memel to Germany in 1939, prior to WW2.
• Klaipėda Castle (also known as Memelburg) (10-18 Tue-Sat; 1.74€/ 0.87€ adults/ students and kids): archeological site of a 13th century castle built by the Teutonic Knights, being an important outpost in the orders and pagan Lithuanians and Samogitians. It was demolished in the 19th century, archaeological works began in the 20th century and nowadays it's home of a museum.
• History Museum of Lithuania Minor (10-18 Tue-Sat; 1.45€/ 0.72€  adults/ students and kids): museum, placed in an 18th century building, that host an exposition of objects, maps, photographies, old postcards and coins of Lithuania Minor (Kleinlituaen in German), the historic region of East Prussia in which Klaipėda region is located. There's a ticket for Klaipėda Castle Museum, History Museum of Lithuania Minor and Blacksmith Museum (2.90€/ 1.45€  adults/ kids).
• Museum of Clocks (10-18 Tue-Sat, 10-17 Sun; 1.74€/ 0.86€  adults/ students and kids): museum that shows the time meassure history and the clocks evolution, focusing on the 2nd floor in the change of their designs, from Renaissance to nowadays. It has a nice sundial park located in the courtyard.
• Klaipėda Post Office: Art-Nouveau building that is the former residence of Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander and monarchs of Prussia in Memel. After WW2 it was turnt into a post office.
• Pranas Domšaitis Gallery (10-18 Tue-Sat, 10-17 Sun; 1.73€/ 0.87€  adults/ students and kids): art gallery that has paintings of the German-Lithuanian painter and others exiled painters.
• Blacksmith Museum (10-18 Tue-Sat; 1.45€/ 0.72€  adults/ students and kids): museum which is home to iron ornamental objects like old crosses of Klaipėda's graveyard or the unique iron-wrought weathercocks.
• Švyturys Brewery (10-16 Mon-Fri; 10€): Lithuania's oldest bier brewery that has been elaborating its bier since 1784.
• Marijos Taikos Karalienės Catholic Church (11-18 daily): only Catholic church built in the Baltic countries during the Soviet Union, with one of the highest towers in the city. 
• Near Klaipėda, 1 km north can be found the municipality of Melnrangė, a popular destination for Klaipėda local people to watch the sunset and nice beaches like Giruliai Beach. Another kilometer north, in Karklė, there's an unusual stone beach where sometimes amber can be found and a 24 m high bluff, Dutchman Cap.

Klaipėda's port

Dutchmann Cap (Olando Kepurė)

Palanga Amber Museum

Going 30 km north it can be found the 15,449 inhabitantstown of Palanga (Połąga in Polish, Polangen in German), the most popular seaside resort in all over Lithuania, popular for its sand beaches and dunes and for being one of the best places to buy amber jewery. The most popular places in Palanga are Palanga beach, a 10 km beach with sand dunes and aromatic pines and Palanga pier. For those interested in amber they'll love Palanga Amber Museum (10-20 Wed-Sat, 11-19 Sun from Jun to Aug; 10-17 Tue-Sat, 10-16 Sun from Sep to May; 3€/ free  adults/ students and kids), a museum located in Tiškevičiai Palace and surrounded by the beautiful Palanga Botanical Garden which hosts 28,000 pieces of amber, including the 3rd largest in the world (Amber Sun). Visiting Amber Processing Gallery (10-18 Tue-Sat; free), the last amber shop (dates back to the 19th century) in Palanga and Antano Mončy House-Museum (11-18 Wed-Sun; 1.16€/ 0.58€  adults/ kids), museum with wooden sculptures and collages from the exiliated artist Antano Mončy.

What and where can I buy in Klaipėda?

Probably Klapeda is the best place to buy amber objects, specially around Teatro aikštė. But not only can you buy that but also works of art. There are many shops like Parko (Turgaus gatvė 9) or Pėda (Turgaus gatvė 9).

Where can I eat in Klaipėda?

The gastronomic offer is quite important in Klaipėda because of being one of the largest cities in Lithuania. In low budget circunstances the franchise Katpėdėlė can be a very nice solution. Otherwise there are more international food restaurants you can try. Another choice for a medium price could be Keltiniko Namas (Žvejų gatvė 10) or Senoji Hansa (Kurpių gatvė 4). With a high budget the best choice is Stora Antis (Tiltų gatvė 6), located in a 19th century basement. 
Klaipėda has also a vast pubs and clubbing offer.
Most of Palanga's restaurants are at Basanavičiaus gatvė. There are many kinds of restaurants, from fast food like Chief City (Vytauto gatvė 39a) or Armenian food at Armėniška virtuvė (Basanavičiaus gatvė 17) with low price, to Russian food at Čagino (Basanavičiaus gatvė 14a) or 1925 Baras (Basanavičiaus gatvė 4), a nice Lithuanian tavern with tasty food, both with medium price.

Posted in: Europe,Lithuania