We entered the harbor from the Baltic Sea around 8:30 am, passing a few attractive homes with manicured yards and a horse drawn yellow buggy. The city was a little rougher looking. Klaipeda was was totally destroyed by the Germans in WW2. It under Soviet rule until 1990. Our tour guide, who was born in Klaipeda, was so interesting to listen to. She was passionate about conveying to us how awful life was under Soviet rule.
The Soviets took away Klaipeda's cemetery, wiping out all the grave stones and changing it into a park, with art objects throughout. Over 250,000 Lithuanian's were shipped to Siberia, including relatives of our guide. All land & property were turned over to the state. Lithuania has their own language, but they were forced to speak Russian and the names for everything they knew were changed.
We toured Lithuania's largest and oldest brewery. We got to sample three of their beers, two of which we really liked. We will be trying to try to find them at home.
They are trying to buildup the tourist trade, like Riga, with restaurants & outdoor seating in cobblestone squares.
Vicki with her Brewery outfit.
Basketball is their biggest sport, with this poster of the Neptunes on a brewery entry wall. Boys in Lithuania dream of becoming professional players. The Warrior's former player, Sharunus Marchalonius (sp?), came from Lithuania.
Entering the harbor.
Soviet-Era apartments are all over. Our tour guide apologized to us at the end of our tour. She was sure we had been to much prettier cities. For us though, she was the best thing about our visit to Klaipeda. She said Lithuanian's have been watching very carefully what is going on in the Ukraine and they are very worried. They don't know how much longer their freedom is going to last. They're hoping that their membership in the EU and NATO will protect them.
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Location:Klaipeda, Lithuania
