Friday, May 29 โ Klaipeda Lithuania and the Curonian Spit
With only seven hours in port, we were off the ship and into the streets before eight o’clock. Klaipeda’s old town is compact and walkable. We found an online walking guide the night before that pointed us toward the main squares, historic buildings, and โ as it turned out โ a wonderfully eccentric collection of public sculptures scattered throughout the streets.
Statues, Bicycles and the Baltic Sea
Klaipeda takes its statues seriously. The Black Ghost, a tall cloaked figure said to haunt the city, looms from the waterfront. Nearby, a chimney sweep perches at the top of a building โ local tradition says rubbing his button brings good luck, so we obliged. The Magic Mouse sits in a small nook, ready to grant wishes to anyone who knows to ask. There are mermaids, ghosts, and others tucked into corners and courtyards, and we found ourselves wandering slightly off-route just to see what might appear around the next corner. It has the feeling of a city that doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is an appealing quality.
Graduation Day in Klaipeda
As we made our way toward the bicycle rental shop, we heard noise and music in the distance, then chanting. Our instinct said protest march; the reality was considerably more joyful. A parade of high school students was winding through the streets โ it was the last day of classes, and this was their traditional send-off celebration. Watching hundreds of teenagers pour through the old town in a wave of noise and colour was an unexpected and lovely surprise.
A Day on Lithuania’s Curonian Spit
We collected our rental bikes and made our way to the ferry terminal, a ten-minute ride through town. The ferry carried us across the narrow channel to the Curonian Spit โ a UNESCO-listed strip of land stretching 98 kilometres, split between Lithuania in the north and Russia in the south, and nowhere more than a kilometre wide.
What greeted us on the other side was extraordinary. To the west, a seemingly endless beach ran the full length of the spit โ wide, white, and almost entirely empty on this particular Friday. At ten degrees with a brisk wind off the Baltic, swimming was firmly off the agenda, but the scale of the place was breathtaking regardless. We followed the bike path south toward the tip, passing the aquarium and an old fort, riding out to the end of the breakwater where the channel narrows and the buoy markers trace the safe passage for ships heading to and from Klaipeda. Having spent time at sea in a previous life, I found myself watching the channel with more than casual interest.
A Historic Village
On the return leg, we came across a small fishing village museum โ a collection of traditional wooden buildings preserved on the spit. Quiet and unhurried, it offered a glimpse of the communities that once depended on these waters for their livelihood. It was the kind of discovery that makes you wish you had more time. The Curonian Spit clearly deserves a longer visit than an afternoon allows, and it went straight onto the list of places we’d genuinely consider returning to.
We made it back to the ferry, cycled to the rental shop, and returned to the ship with time to spare for sail away. Standing on the upper deck as we eased down the narrow channel, we passed several Lithuanian naval vessels moored along the waterfront. A cruise that had begun only days earlier was already delivering the kind of places that make future travel plans. Lithuania had surprised us โ and set a remarkably high bar for the ports still to come.
Next up:
the Baltic continues โ more ports, more discoveries, and at least one more navigation decision of questionable quality.
Travel quote: The worst thing about being a tourist is having other tourists recognize you as a tourist!
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Cam and Meg