KLAIPEDA, LITHUANIA, TIŠKEVIČIAI PALACE, AND MORE AMBER!

Monday, August 10, 2026
Klaipeda, Lithuania
65F with sun, clouds, rain in the afternoon

 

Gardens outside the estate

at Palanga

We have only stopped in two ports so far and we are tired! Going to bed after 11 p.m., turning the clock ahead an hour so now we are Eastern European Summer Time (so it was really midnight), then getting up at 6:00 or 6:30 a.m. for tours is already wearing us out!  Add over 10,000 steps a day and you have two tired cruisers!  From August 9 to August 15, we have 7 straight ports to play in!  That is only keeping us young and fit, right?

Today’s port is Klaipeda, Lithuania. Klaipėda is Lithuania’s third-largest city and its only major seaport. Situated on the Baltic coast, it is famous for its distinct German-influenced, half-timbered architecture, the bustling Old Town, and as the primary ferry gateway to the pristine beaches and pine forests of the Curonian Spit. The city’s population is 160,082 residents. 

Among Lithuanian cities with a population greater than 100,000, Klaipėda has the highest percentage of people whose native language is Russian.  Lithuania’s population is about 2.8 million.

As it turned out, the Klaipeda ORC (Offshore Racing Congress) European Championship 2026  Klaipeda officially opened today, bringing leading offshore yacht racing teams from across Europe to Lithuania’s port city. This has added a bit more excitement to the port area.

Our tour guide today, Ema, provided some information about Lithuania. The first humans arrived in the territory of modern Lithuania around 10,000 years ago, after the last Ice Age, as traveling hunters from regions including the Jutland Peninsula and present-day Poland.

Following the partitions of Poland in 1795, Lithuania came under Russian Empire control. The 19th century saw several uprisings, notably in 1831 and 1863, as Lithuanians resisted foreign domination.

Lithuania declared independence on 16 February 1918, establishing a democratic state. After Soviet occupation during and after World War II, Lithuania restored its sovereignty on 11 March 1990, becoming the first Soviet republic to break away. Its independence was internationally recognized in 1991. Lithuania joined NATO in 2015 and the European Union in 2004, solidifying its place in modern Europe.  Euro is the currency. Lithuania is considered a Parliamentary Democratic Republic.

Ema said, “Humanism and love came back to our country.”  That is an astounding statement to me.

The theme seems to be the same in the two countries we have visited so far, Germans under Hitler occupied the country, then the Communists. Now they are returning to their own culture.  Ema said during one period every town and city had to have a statue of Lenin. Then Hitler.

Again, as in Poland, students are mainly studying English as their foreign language. 

Ema also talked about how there are two religions in Lithuania, Catholicism and Basketball.  Actually, every religion is represented in this country, but we did notice very tall people!

We headed to Palanga, a resort town, to visit the neo-Renaissance Tiškevičiai Palace, built in 1897, which is now an Amber Museum.  A beautifully maintained park surrounds the palace. Along the way, the land was flat, with woods and fields.  Ema said that if there is a hill 90 feet high, they call it a mountain. 

From the bus it was a 20 minute walk to the estate.

This beautiful statue was along the way.

Amber! Soon I will know everything there is to know about amber and so might you if you are still with me on this amber journey! My excuse: I am learning all about this interesting gem for my brother who makes beautiful necklaces out of quartz, lapis, jade, and many other “rocks.”  In other words, I am going with "my brother made me do it."

The estate at Palanga

Raw amber as found

Raw amber

Lizard in amber

I am so happy that my DSLR is taking

such great photos! This was taken 

through a magnifying glass

Flying insect in amber

Copies of figures made during

the Stone Age

Originals were stolen in

World War II, but well-documented

Early amber necklace, c. 900 AD

Cross from old Tytuvenal Church

late 16th-17th century

Chess anyone?

not sure how old this set is

Chess Set created in 1977

We counted at least 5 robot lawnmowers

mowing the lawn!

Favorite Foods:

• Potato dumplings served with bacon and butter
• Cold Pink Soup (Saltibarscai)—made with beets, etc.
• Black rye bread—it is said that each Lithuanian eats 242 pounds of black rye bread a year. Wow. Just wow! They also like fried black rye bread as a snack
• Boletus Soup in a bread bowl (with mushrooms)
• Branched cake (Sakotis)—I need to know more about this—TK saw this on YouTube, too.
• 
  Branched cake-not my photo
  
  Šakotis (literally "branched") is a tall, spike-covered cake made by ladling thin yolk-rich batter onto a slowly rotating wooden spit over a coal fire, layer by layer, until the cake builds up to roughly 11-19 inches tall and 8 inches wide. Being the skilled baker that I am, I will probably never try making this.
• 
  

Language: Lithuanian, a Baltic language, is the oldest Indo-European language. Ema said that Lithuanian and Latvian languages are the only Baltic languages surviving today.

LEFT OVER FROM SUNDAY:

I had trouble downloading photos yesterday for the already long blog, so I am adding them today.

Clock tower in Gdansk

Janie and TK make pierogies!

TK is so darn cute, and serious!

Our pierogi, ready to eat!

TK had beef stroganoff for dinner

last night. It was closer to what we think

of as beef stroganoff

WITH PICKLES??????

Pistachio pudding!

TK’s Takes: No Aldi’s, just Lidl. Not as many bicycles as in Poland. Thirty minutes to wait for burger at the grill on the Pool Deck 14.

Janie’s Take: Beware of Ship Port Lecturers who say, “Poland has birds, animals, and fish.” Really??  It would take me a long time to think of an inhabited country without birds, animals, or fish.