Blogs from Palanga, Lithuania, Europe

Klaipeda, Lithuania--Thursday, May 22nd One of the things we found interesting about this voyage was the sights to and from our ports of call. As we approached Klaipeda and our berth, several homes were seen along the banks. Today we stayed in and Valerie iced and elevated her foot all day. The first time we were in Lithuania when Valerie taught in the capitol city of Vilnius (2008), we rented a car and drove to Klaipedia where we visited several towns and drove onto the Curonian Spit. We had originally planned to just walk into town, but we decided that wasn’t a good idea. That evening, after dinner, we went to the auditorium and enjoyed a group called Kursiu Ainiai from Lithuania that explained and then played ancient musical instruments of the region. Some examples were ... read more

Enjoing the price”war” on internet, we stumbled over some crazy cheap airplane tickets going to Palanga, Lithuania. Costing us only NOK 2,- (about 30 cent usd) pr.person we just had to go for it! Palanga is one of Lithuanias main tourist destination during summer with its 18 km long sandy beach, hip party places and cafes and restaurants at every corner. But that’s summer time......... we vent there in January and only a couple of hotels and restaurants was open. Going to Lithuania in January, we expected the same temperatures and weather as in Norway, and were correct; lots of snow and around minus 10 degrees Celsius! Since the sandy beach was covered in hard packed snow it kind of made a walkway for the few tourists and the locals. And in splendid sunshine and blue ... read more

28 April 2007: Siauliai to Palanga. The drive to the Baltic Coast was a combination of newly constructed two lane highway and under construction road, so it took probably twice as long as needed but the arrival in Palanga made it all worth while. We walked the main Palanga promenade to lunch in very blustery but sunny weather. The fishing pier at the end of the promenade sticks about a quarter mile out into the Baltic, but few people other than the fishermen made it all the way out. The beach sand is probably the finest (smallest grains) I’ve ever felt. If I were in the business of making hour glasses, I would definitely want to use Palanga sand. We strolled through the Palanga Botanical Gardens which runs for 1.5 km along the beach front. ... read more