Travelin' Fullers Blog: Small but most important seaport, Klaipeda, Lithuania

The city of Klaipeda, may be small (152,000) people in the country of Lithuania (3,000,000 people), but it is the third largest city and the only seaport. It is a major seaport in part because it remains ice free year round. The city has a long and varied history and was founded in 1252. It was founded by the Levonian Order of Teutonic Knights. For most of its history, the town was an important trading center of eastern Prussia with tremendous German influences. At one point, during the Napoleonic Wars, it became the capital of Prussia. The city became a part of Lithuania in 1923. It was occupied by Germany before and during WWII. It became the independent country of Lithuania in the early 1990' with the dissolution of the Societ Union. During the Soviet occupation, the Soviets destroyed the Headstones in a beautiful cemetery because of their German style of architecture and the German names on them.

They even dug up the graves and removed bodies. Today, the cemetery is called Monument Park. They did not have the money or the means to restore the cemetery after they achieved independence , but they have restored the area to a peaceful park with multiple sculptures created from the 1980's forward and scattered about the park. The architecture of the "old city" is very German. The outlying areas of the city are filled with the plain concrete block style of Soviet architecture which is quite distinctive and very recognizable to us by now. The history of the city is that of a true melting pot with the many cultures of the residents able to coexist over the years.

We also visited the oldest beer brewery in Lithuania, founded in 1784. It was a very interesting tour and we had a fun beer tasting at the end of the tour. They promote their beers to be eaten with different snacks to bring out the unique flavor of each beer.

Tonight is formal night aboard our ship. We sat next to The Captain's table. Great lobster night!