Page 288 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

286  LITHU ANIA REGION B Y REGION

u Kretinga created by the French landscape
architect Edouard André
Road Map B5. * 41,000.
£ from Klaipėda. @ from Klaipėda. (1840–1911). Since 1963, the
palace has housed the Amber
This pretty town is based Museum, which exhibits 4,500
around a 17th-century pieces, including some unusual
Franciscan monastery, a manor ones such as amber with trapped
house, now the Kretinga prehistoric insects and plants.
Museum, and gardens that At the far end of the palace’s
stretch alongside a stream grounds is Birutės Hill, said to be
and open up into a park. The where the future wife of Grand
Franciscans played a major Duke Kęstutis tended a pagan
role in developing the town, sacred fire before he wed her.
particularly in independent Close by is one of Lithuania’s
inter-war Lithuania when they best-known sculptures, Eglė,
opened a college specializing Queen of the Grassy Snakes (1960),
in agriculture and beekeeping. inspired by a fairytale.
They also arranged a Lourdes- Locals and visitors enjoying the sandy
style grotto in the park with beach in Palanga Environs
an image of the Virgin Mary. The quiet fishing village of
One of the highlights of the i Palanga Šventoji, 15 km (9 miles) north
Kretinga Museum is the Winter Road Map B5. * 16,000. k 5 km of Palanga, is blessed with
Garden, originally built when (3 miles) N of town. £ from Klaipėda. windswept dunes. It was a
Count Josef Tyszkiewicz @ from Klaipėda. n Vytauto 94, thriving port in the 16th and
reconstructed the manor in (460) 48 811. _ Summer Feast (Jun). 17th centuries. An attraction
1875. Destroyed during World ∑ palangatic.lt here is Fisherman’s Daughters
War II, these gardens were (1982), a statue of three girls
re-created in 1987 and today The coastal town of Palanga, dancing on the dunes.
house around 600 plants. first mentioned in a 13th-
Other museum exhibits century land partition pact E Amber Museum
include furniture and paintings between the Teutonic Order Vytauto 17. Tel (460) 51 319.
rescued from the Tyszkiewicz and the Livonians, became a Open Jun–Aug: 10am–8pm Tue–Sat,
mansions in Kretinga and permanent part of Lithuania 11am–7pm Sun; Sep–May: 11am–5pm
Palanga, iron crosses that are in 1435. Today, it is a popular Tue–Sat, 11am–4pm Sun. & 8
a blend of Catholic and pagan beach resort, with its dune-and- ∑ pgm.lt
imagery and Curonian clothing pine-bordered sands stretching
and jewellery. The Church 18 km (11 miles). It also has
of the Annunciation has a boulevards crammed with o Smiltynė
towering steeple and an restaurants, clubs and bars, Road Map B5. * 100.
ornate interior with giving it a carnival-like atmos- g from Klaipėda.
17th-century paintings. phere. The pier, first built in
1882, is a popular spot to Officially part of Klaipėda city
E Kretinga Museum watch the sunset. (see pp284–5), Smiltynė is the
Vilniaus 20. Tel (445) 77 323. A Neo-Renaissance palace northernmost settlement on
Open 10am–6pm Wed–Sun. & 8 was built in the 1890s by the the Curonian Spit, directly facing
- = ∑ kretingosmuziejus.lt Tyszkiewicz family, with grounds Klaipėda’s busy port. In earlier
times, the spit was the main land
route used by dispatch riders,
postmen and the military,
between the Prussian cities of
Königsberg and Memel, modern
Kaliningrad and Klaipėda
respectively. However, the final
ferry trip was disrupted by
storms or trapped ice. In 1525,
an inn was established in
Sandkrug (Sand Inn), as Smiltynė
became known.
A string of elegant villas line
the water’s edge. The town’s star
attraction, however, is the
Sea Museum. It is located in
Kopgalis Fortress, a sea bastion
Tropical conservatory in Kretinga Museum’s Winter Garden, Kretinga built by Prussia in 1865.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp306–307 and pp330–31

286-287_Cat.indd 286 15/02/17 10:20 am