Region Klaipeda

There’s a distinctly German flavour to Klaipėda (klai-pey-da). Lithuania’s third-largest city, formerly known as Memel, was part of the Prussian Kingdom until the region wrestled to autonomy in 1923. Buildings in the compact, cobblestoned Old Town are constructed in the German fachwerk style – that is, with distinctive half-timbered facades. Beyond the orderly historic centre, the modern city sprawls into an industrial forest of cranes and shipyards, sliced in two by the Danė River as it meanders into the Baltic Sea. Lithuania share the Curonian Spit with Kaliningrad Oblast. The 98 km long, thin, curved sand-dune spit separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea coast. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared by the two countries.