Hundreds of Masts

Where are you going to be this weekend? If not in Klaipeda (Lithuania) you will miss the hundreds of masts that reached our harbour yesterday evening…

So far I’ve seen just a few, but they all make me want to explore the far away seas – the Mediterranean and the Aegean… (I prefer hot countries and light blue waters that you can see in the fancy post cards!). I’m so jealous… but only for a few minutes, as looking at the rocking boats I remember that I’m very good at feeling dizzy whenever I’m not on stable ground... Still, I hope I can overcome this one day!

The Tall Ships’ Races 2009 is the greatest event of the Millennium anniversary of Lithuania in the West of the country! (Oh, yes, it certainly is!)

Some info from the official website: „for the first time in the millennium history of our country so many sailing ships with foreign flags are going to visit Klaipeda Seaport simultaneously. This supreme event will serve as a good occasion to our country’s citizens understanding that Lithuania is not only the Maritime State engaged in cargo handling, but the port’s activities are also related to sailing ships.”

To my mind sailing is getting more and more popular (the theory classes I attended last spring were full), but no doubt it’s a sport for the rich. It’s not enough just to buy a yacht – you must think of how much it will cost to keep it. I guess it’s the old story about any expensive thing – even if you can buy it, but you can’t afford to run it or keep it - it’s not for you.

Anyway, it’s free just to have a look at them, so at the moment I’m using this opportunity and keep my fingers crossed that one day someone else will be looking at my vessel!

More on Tall Ships’ Races: http://www.tallships.lt/lt/the_tall_ships_races_baltic_2009_klaipeda.html

Holidays (Part 3) – The Way Back Home

On the way to Kiel, from where we had to sail, we chose to have a look at some small towns on the coast of the Baltic Sea. We avoided motorways and kept going along narrow country roads: looking at cabbage or corn fields, admiring German gardens and occasionally smelling fresh cow sh…

The first place we stopped at was a car park in the middle of nowhere – according to the map we had to be very close to the sea, so we jumped out and hurried down a paved path. What a shame! It ended with a sign that said we weren’t allowed to carry on. We could see some buildings and satellite dishes and it turned out there was some military base.

Back at the car we spotted some people walking the other direction, crossing a field of rye and disappearing in some woodland. We had a theory they were going to the beach and we were right!

That’s how I imagine the book cover for the book ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D.Salinger (although it’s definitely not a book on agriculture!) – an enormous field of rye just ended and we came up to a huge creek.

The water was very warm, but the beach was full of stones, so it was a bit hard to walk on it and to get into the water. Well, it was the same Baltic Sea, that we are used to, but it looked so different! Even the sea weeds (fucus vesiculosus), that we also find on our coast, looked somehow bigger…

Just before reaching Kiel we stopped in a town called Strand (the name means ‘beach’) and we could straight away see that this was a place for the wealthy ones. Situated next to the Kiel Yacht Club it had cosy hotels, busy cafes and a lovely sand beach, once again filled with those German baskets (Germans must be allergic to laying on the sand!).

During our holidays we stayed close to the coast and it was so rewarding! The Germans must be so lucky to have the two seas next to each other and of course a much longer coast line than we have here in Lithuania (only 99km).

So I left the country thinking that it would be very nice to own a yacht and to come back one day to these parts at least for a long weekend…

Holidays (Part 2) – More on German Style

The first night we arrived we were invited to a Yugoslavian restaurant by our friendly German hosts. To tell the truth, by the time we got to Meldorf we were quite tired, but it seemed rude to refuse, so we joined in… And I must admit we had a lovely evening!

Well, I certainly did as I ordered a plate of prawns with salad and they came in a huge bowl, laid out in a circle somehow pointing their heads up like small cobras. It was impressive, but I didn’t have my camera with me. And thinking about it, even if I had it, I’m not sure if I would have taken a photo… Germans have lots of rules, some things are ‘Verboten’ (forbidden) and for some things you just need to have an ‘Ausweiss’ (license). I have noticed that several years ago and while visiting Germany I tend to be very cautious.

On the day we went to Busum (a small, but busy German North sea resort) and didn’t have our hosts with us, I sneakily took a photo of my plate – so you can see that their cooks are good at creating wonders! And if you ever end up in Busum you must have fish or sea food – lovely smell from some restaurant just won’t let you go by.

Talking about small towns, which are worth a look if you happen to travel round those parts – make sure you spend a few hours in Friedrichstadt. It’s a town situated on river Eide and its history goes back to 1621, when it was founded by Dutch settlers! Duke Friedrich III of Holstein-Gottorp pursued them to invest capital and knowledge in this region in turn for freedom of their Mennonite and Remonstrant religion and opportunities to reclaim fen and marsh land in the vicinity of the town. At the time Dutch became an official language, but by 1630, many citizens had already returned to the Netherlands as the city did not become as successful as anticipated. Nowadays it’s a cute little town with very ornate architecture, long canals and in the summer – lots of colourful roses.

I think that people in this German region lead very good lives – the food is tasty and they can spoil themselves enjoying sea food, small towns are close to each other and are easily reached by not busy country roads, the nature is nice and provides all sorts of ways to spend your free time… Have a guess what Germans like the most? Of course cycling! If you ask me they are ‘enbischen verruckt’ (a little bit crazy) with their bikes, but on the other hand it must be healthy and eco friendly.

Yes, Germans have a lot to teach... ‘Ordnung muss zein’ (there has to be order) is obviously working – my boyfriend kept wondering: ‘the country is bigger than England, but trains are always on time!’. (Well, nearly always…) Just before going home we had a chance to visit Hamburg and we went there by train. To get to this city we had to change 2 times, so we ended up traveling on 4 German trains - all were clean and comfortable and only the last one was 5 minutes late, but we were going into the second biggest city in Germany (6th biggest in the EU), so you can always expect such delays.

I must admit the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is nice, but a bit too big for my liking. There’s much to see and the cultural life must be amazing, but I had to do a lot of walking, so my feet were hurting and I was turning into a grumpy tourist, who didn’t manage to take lots of photos… Just a few – a busy café near one of the canals (these are always packed with tired grumpy foreigners) and of the town hall, which is really huge!

To be continued...