Klaipeda, Lithuania

We had a lovely walking tour of the old city in Klaipeda!! We started by crossing an old swing bridge called the Chain Bridge built in 1855 that is still operated manually. Close to it sits a bronze artwork from the 16th century named "The Ghost".  

We walked through a square with a famous fountain of Ann from Thurau. This square was also the sight of a famous speech by Hitler in 1939 - where the statue has been taken down.

 After that we proceeded down by the river and saw a typical facade from an old merchant's house.

 And this city, and all the Baltic cities we've visited, have a fascination with cats and mice. This mouse will apparently listen to your secrets. And rubbing its nose will bring you success. 

Our next stop was the Syvtury brewery. We had a tour of the brewery showing us the whole process. The most interesting part was they filter the yeast and other particulates from the beer with a machine that uses ground up seashells.

 We then had a beef tasting with five of their craft beers. My favorite was Darbas Uz Borto which was a watermelon and cucumber Gose style beer. So refreshing! I check in all my beers using an app called UnTappd and have managed to get a badge in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania since I've been able to try at least five of each country's beers. Been very impressed with the beer culture here. I expected the beers to be more traditionally German style lagers. But they are brewing all different styles - and doing it well. The tasting included a bounty of snacks including three types of cheese, salty garlic bagel bites, potato chips, sundried tomatoes and chocolate. You could try to find the best food pairing for each beer.  

After the tasting, the walking tour was headed back to the ship. Angie and I decided to stay at the brewery and try a few more of their beers and some snacks. I have to say that the bar snack culture is fantastic here in the Baltics. When we were in Tallinn, we had the most amazing fried garlic bread. Here in Klaipeda they had the same snack. So tasty. We also got a chickpea "stew* with chorizo, mushrooms and peppers. The combined flavors were amazing. And who doesn't like a good chicken wing? These were very tasty with a sweet BBQ sauce.  

After our snacks we made the twenty minute walk back to the ship. About 9000 steps today!! And it was such a beautifully sunny day with a high of 22°. Warm but with a cool breeze. Tomorrow we'll have our last port of call in Gdynia Poland. It's the port city with access to Gdansk.