Lithuania 2012 (II): visiting Klaipėda and Curonian Spit

We continue our journey through Lithuania. Today we moved the camp and went to Klaipėda.

August 1st

Klaipėda is Lithuania’s third most populous city and the country’s main seaport, located on the Baltic Sea coast.

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Brief history of Klaipėda

The town was founded in 1252 by the Teutonic Order and is called Castrum Memele (in German Memelburg) and the whole area was Christianised. The Peace of the Melno Sea in 1422 fixed the brotherhood between the province of Prussia and Lithuania. Memel was included in Prussia and the border remained unchanged until 1919. It was one of the longest unchanged borders in Europe.

At the beginning of 1474 Memel was governed by the Culm Law of the Prussian towns. In 1525, the Duchy of Memel adopted Lutheranism under the reign of Albert of Prussia. It was the beginning of a long period of prosperity for the city and the port, as the Duchy of Prussia was a Polish fiefdom and later part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. That prosperity came to an end when, between 1629 and 1635, Memel was attacked and occupied by Sweden.

With the creation of the unified German state in 1871, Memel became the most northeastern town in Germany. After the Treaty of Versailles, the territory surrounding Memel was separated from Germany and given autonomy under French occupation. In 1923 Lithuanian troops under Colonel Budrys attacked the town and the French withdrew.

Klaipeda

Memel was reabsorbed by the German Reich on 22 March 1939, after the annexation of Austria, the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia. In January 1945 the town was captured by the Red Army and handed over to Lithuania.

At 11.35 the bus left Vilnius station. During the journey, something happened that left a deep impression on me. At a certain point on the motorway, we overtook an old car that was being towed by a Seat Ibiza with a normal rope tied to the bumper. In Spain you get caught and you get a packet of shit.

A little less than 4 hours later we arrived at Klaipėda station. From here we walked to our hotel, the National Hotel. A 4-star hotel, very centrally located and quite cheap.

We left our things and went for a walk through the old part of the city, the central part of which looks like a typical German village. The central part of the district looks like a typical German village – have we changed countries without realising it?

The most central place is Aikštė Theater, the Theatre Square. This is the central square of Klaipeda’s old town. Originally, part of the castle moats were located here. After being filled in 1819, a market was opened here. This market evolved and grew over the years.

Aikštė Theater

The most notable building on the square is (obviously) the theatre. The time of construction of the first building is unknown, but according to 18th-century city plans, a square building called “Komedijų namais” (Comedy House), which was formerly a military building, was located here.

The new boom of theatrical life in Klaipėda began after 1818, when the German Ulbrich arrived here. A forestry trading company allowed him free use of a temporary wooden building, where he set up a 200-seat hall and opened a theatre.

At the end of the 19th century, the construction of a new two-storey brick theatre in Classicist style with an attic was completed on the site of the present theatre. In 1854 the theatre burned down during a fire in the city but was rebuilt in 1857.

In 1935 the Šiauliai Theatre was moved to Klaipeda, a town 170 km to the west, and functioned as the Klaipeda State Theatre until 1939.

Unfortunately, during our visit it was completely covered up as it was undergoing restoration work and we were unable to see it.

Another notable feature of the square is the monument to Simon Dach, a poet born in 1605 in Klaipeda when it was officially called Memel and belonged to Germany. It is a fountain installed in 1912 whose sculpture represents the barefoot girl, one of the characters created by the poet.

monument to Simon Dach

In 1939 the sculpture was removed from the square and it is said that the idea was to replace it with one of Adolf Hitler. In 1989 a replica of the original sculpture was reinstalled.

From here we went to the banks of the Danish river. We crossed the river on the Biržos Bridge. Until the 18th century, the then wooden bridge was used not only for crossing the river, but also to collect tribute from all the ships that wanted to pass over it.

In 1877, construction began on a new steel bridge designed by the Wiesbaden engineer Bernstein, which was opened in 1879. In 1904, the upper part of the bridge was redesigned so that the new trams of the city could travel over it. During the reconstruction, the bridge was decorated with two openwork Art Nouveau metal portals, to which street lamps were attached.

Destroyed during World War II, it was rebuilt to the same design in 1948 and restored in 2007.

Biržos Bridge

The city must have been in a festive mood. In the park by the river there were several little food and craft stalls. There we sat down to have some refreshments and eat kepta duona, a kind of fried bread strips with cheese, which is delicious.

Next to the bridge is Arka, a monument built by sculptor Arūnas Sakalauskas in 2003 to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the Tilsit Law and the 80th anniversary of the Klaipėda uprising. The smaller red column is made of red granite and symbolises Lithuania Minor and its cultural heritage, while the grey part symbolises Lithuania proper. The grey part at the top appears to have been broken off and represents the Kaliningrad Oblast, now part of Russia.

The inscription at the top reads: ‘Esame viena tauta, viena žemė, viena Lietuva’ (‘We are one nation, one land, one Lithuania’) in the words of the Lithuanian writer Ieva Simonaitytė.

Arka Klaipeda

From here we went to rest for a while but, on the way, we stopped at a supermarket to buy some dinner. For 18.84 Litas (5.45€) we bought a lot of things.

After the break we had a short evening stroll but went to bed early as we had to get up very early. The next day was going to be hard, very hard.

August 2nd

We got up very early, no, very early. Today we visited the Curonian Spit, a sandy spit that separates the Baltic Sea from the Curonian Lagoon. It is 98 km long, of which 52 km belong to Lithuania and the rest to the Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia.

According to Baltic mythology, the spit was formed by a very strong girl called Neringa who was playing on the beach.

Curonian Lagoon
Curonian Lagoon

The entire Lithuanian part belongs to the municipality of Neringa. Until the reform of the Lithuanian municipality in 2000, it was known as the town of Neringa, although there was never a real “town” there. It became a city in the Soviet Union in 1961 by formally combining 4 settlements into one administrative unit.

At 7.20 in the morning we were taking the ferry from Klaipeda to Smiltynés. The trip cost us 2.90 Litas (0.85€) and takes about 20 minutes to cross the lagoon. From here we took a bus to Nida. The journey cost us 11 Litas (3.20€) and takes just over an hour.

Nida is the administrative capital of the municipality of Neringa and is well known as a tourist destination and for the Nida artists’ colony, an important artistic movement in East Prussia that began around 1890 and ended with the outbreak of World War II.

Nida is the westernmost point of Lithuania and the Baltic states, near the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad Oblast, and has a population of about 2,300.

Nida

Here we bought a snack for the road and went to a bike rental point that I had already booked. The bikes cost us 30 Litas (8.70€) each and we could return them at any of the points along the isthmus.

With the bikes we headed to the first point we wanted to see, the Parnidžio kopa, the Parnidis Dune or the Great Dune of Nida. A 52-metre high moving sand dune and it is believed that its name, Parnidis, comes from the phrase meaning “it passed by Nida” because this wind-blown dune has passed by the village of Nida several times.

It is possible to climb to the top but only along the marked paths. It is strictly forbidden to leave these paths to ensure their preservation.

Parnidžio kopa, the Parnidis Dune

We park the bikes and climb the stairs through the lush forest to the top and admire the breathtaking views.

Parnidžio kopa, the Parnidis Dune

At the top of the dune is Saulės laikrodis, a granite sundial built in 1995. In 2011 it had to be restored as it was destroyed during a storm. The sundial is a 13.8-metre-high stone pillar weighing 36 tons. From an astronomical point of view, the Parnidis dune is an ideal place for the sundial in Lithuania.

Saulės laikrodis

After admiring the spectacular views we set off northwards towards the ferry, although we were not going to get that far. Practically the whole way we were able to cycle along the cycle path. It’s great because you don’t run into traffic and you don’t put yourself in danger.

The next stop was Vecekrugo kopa, the Vecekrugo dune about 8 km from Nida. This is the highest dune on the Curonian isthmus at 67 metres high and you can also climb it along the marked path to admire the views, but they are less impressive than those of Parnidis Dune.

Vecekrugo kopa

Here we took the opportunity to rest in the shade and eat what we had bought in Nida. After the rest we returned to the road. After kilometres of spectacular scenery combining forest and coast, we reached the town of Pervalka, about 8 km from Vecekrugo kopa.

Pervalka is a (very) small town of about 200 inhabitants. Most of the houses are small fishermen’s buildings from the late 19th and early 20th century and most of them are located on both sides of the main street along the shores of the Curlandia lagoon.

The village is really charming. If one day I win the lottery, I’ll buy a holiday cottage here.

Pervalka

Here we buy something to eat in a little shop, a light snack to keep on pedalling. We continue riding until we reach the coast of the Baltic Sea. Specifically to Juodkrantės bendras paplūdimys, Juodkrantės beach, about 17 km from Pervalka. A spectacular beach of fine, white sand where you felt like taking your clothes off and jumping into the sea, as it was very hot that day.

Juodkrantės bendras paplūdimys, Juodkrantės beach

From here we head to Juodkrantė (literally black coast), a tourist village with about 700 inhabitants. Located in the territory of the former Prussia, it was for centuries a fishing village called Schwarzort, which experienced a tourist boom in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Here we returned the bikes to the town’s quay and got on the bus to go to the ferry. We arrived at the hotel around 7 p.m. and rested for a while before going to get some dinner.

The break got a bit out of hand and we were running a bit late. I had booked a place for dinner on the internet and we set off. After a long walk we arrived in Soviet Klaipeda: wide avenues and huge blocks of flats. There was nothing on that road and the lighting was not very bright. As we couldn’t find the place we decided to turn around and look for something in the old town. With such bad luck that it had become too late and we were no longer allowed to enter any restaurants (they close at 22.00). So we decided to buy some ready-made food in a supermarket and eat it quietly in the hotel.

what to do in Klaipeda

August 3rd

Last hours in Klaipeda. We strolled through the old town until we reached the ruins of the castle, Klaipėdos Pilis. Klaipeda Castle also known as Memelburg or Memel Castle was built by the Teutonic Knights. The year of its construction is unknown but it was first mentioned in written sources in 1252 and underwent numerous destructions and reconstructions in the following centuries.

During the 19th century, having lost its strategic importance, the castle was demolished. Archaeological work was carried out on the site during the 20th century, and in 2002 a museum was established under one of its bastions. The castle is currently being restored.

It must be said that we did not have time to visit the museum.

On the quay is the most… strange or disturbing sculpture I remember seeing: Klaipėdos Juodasis vaiduoklis or the black ghost of Klaipeda, a hooded ghostly figure climbs out of the water, holding a lantern in his hand.

This disturbing sculpture is linked to a legend dating back to 1595 when Hans von Heidi, one of the Klaipėda castle guards, was making his nightly rounds near the harbour.

Out of nowhere, a hooded figure appeared near the water’s edge. Instead of attacking the startled guard, he asked him how the city’s grain and timber supplies were holding up. Von Heidi informed the ghost that the city had sufficient supplies, but the ghost warned him that it would not be enough. At that point, the apparition vanished.

In the old days, of course, people were inclined to believe the words of ghosts, witches, goblins and giants. And so Hans von Heidi dutifully reported his ghostly encounter to his superiors, and the town set about increasing its supplies of wood and grain. Then followed a few bleak years of famine and scarcity, which the people of Klaipėda only survived thanks to the ghost’s warning.

The sculpture, by Svajunas Jurkus and Sergejus Plotnikovas, was installed in 2010 and pays homage to the city’s saviour ghost.

Klaipeda

This is the end of our visit to Klaipeda and Neringa. It was time to go back to the station to take the bus to a new destination: Kaunas.

what to do in Klaipeda / Lithuania

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