Klaipėda, Lithuania

Feet in the marsh

The city that is now called Klaipėda was founded in 1252 as Memel. The old name was based on the German word for the local Neman river; the new name Klaipėda honors the river as descriptively, if not as appreciatively. Klaipėda apparently translates to "feet going down into the marsh."

Place the cursor on any thumbnail
to view each photo and its description.
Click a thumbnail to lock the photo for a longer look.

Our marina was modest, to say the least, but they made us feel welcome every day by flying our country's flag. Apparently our tiny marina was hosting a miniature international forum, with representatives from Germany, Latvia, Finland and us.

The Arch Monument is the largest granite monument in the country and commemorates the unification of the Klaipėda region with the rest of Lithuania.

The main square in Klaipėda is vast and nearly empty, other than a statue of a young woman who was the object of unrequited love and then the object of a poem. But amber vendors are ubiquitous in the Baltic region and this square is no exception.

In Lithuania (and we saw this in Latvia too), the citizenry must be pretty particular about the freshness of its fish. This isn't an aquarium; it's a pantry of sorts, in the supermarket. You can choose your dinner before it even leaves the sea.

It's not everywhere that you will find a fake chimney sweep cleaning a fake chimney. This one has a lucky button that will bring you luck if you press on it. Alas, the button is on his coat, impossible to reach. Enterprising souls have pasted a replica of the button lower on the building for the superstitious.