Klaipeda

 

A relaxed morning, as we aren't arriving at our next port until 1pm. We lost 1 hour last night, but I was awake for morning coffee by 7:30am new time. Because they are serving brunch today, I decide to catch up on work this morning and go for brunch instead of breakfast. Although it looks like it rained over night, this morning is sunny with a brisk wind. The brunch is a wonderful spread and features amongst other things gravlox done 3 ways, an omelette and a pasta station, waffles and pancakes, and all the usual breakfast and lunch options. They had a jazz band playing which added to the ambiance.

We arrived into Klaipeda at 1pm. It's an interesting entry between the Curonian peninsula and the mainland. One side is quite industrial and the other is parkland. It's sunny and about 20C. Perfect conditions for a bike ride. And luckily that is the Shore excursion we had chosen. It turned out to be 20 of us that picked up our bikes on the pier and rode over to the ferry. A 4 minute pedestrian  ferry ride took us over to the peninsula. This is a popular area for Lithuanians to come for a day at the beach. Most of the peninsula is parkland, so there isn't much development. Our ride took us on bike paths first along the waterfront, and then through pine forests. There were a few rolling hills but level on the most part. We biked over to the Baltic side, to the beach we were told was 5th best in the world. Who decided this was never made clear. There were lots of family's enjoying a day at the beach, a few in swimming, some para- sailors catching the winds. 3 of our group jumped into the waves to say they had swum in the Baltic. On our ride back we were going to ride to the end of the spit, but ran into some old Soviet attitude. One of the workers wanted to prove his authority. So we biked back to the ferry and into town to get an overview of the town. After we dropped the bikes off we headed back into town again (about a 10 min walk) Klaipeda has some lovely sculptures including a Ghost, a cat with a man's face, a boy with a dog, and a mouse that grants wishes.

Tonight Ian and I had dinner at Aqualina the Italian Specialty restaurant. It was excellent. I had a starter of scallops and calamari, then an arugula salad with blue cheese dressing, then lobster and scallop pasta on squid ink pasta. Amoretto and chocolate mousse with cherry gelato for desert. Afterwards we went to the Living Room to listen to the music, and even have a dance! Luckily we gain the hour of sleep back tonight.














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