Culture and leasure

Culture

Klaipeda is a very beautiful and dynamic city with a unique face. Many national and international events take place every year in Klaipeda. Lodging and leisure services have been well developed, with many modern, high-class hotels, cafes, restaurants, clubs and other entertainment sites inviting the town’s guests.

The spring in Klaipeda comes with the „Klaipeda Music Spring"- the longest music festival in Lithuania. Nine expressive and magnificent, impressive and colorful, melodious and passionate events of the festival each year donate the power of the awakening spring and the sally of classics.


The largest event in Klaipeda's cultural life is the Sea festival, which has been celebrated since 1934. During the festival days, Klaipeda becomes the so-called "summer capital," attracting up to a million visitors to more than 100 organized events. For all these years, all of the festival performances have remained free of charge.


Klaipeda had the honour to arrange the greatest world Tall Ships' Races for the first time in 2009. More than 100 sailing vessels and marine yachts moored at the embankments of Klaipeda, 10 of them were more than 40 meters long. The main purpose of the regatta was to bring up young people of different nations, religions and social origin through sailing and to provide them with new experiences of the team work in the sea. The regatta events were highlighted by the parade of the crews along the city streets and the Parade of Sails leaving the port and sailing to the open sea.


 

 

 

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In 2009 Klaipeda became the 25-th city, having the honour to host the 46-th "Europeade".  During this outstanding festival, more than 20 countries with approximately 5000 participants represented their cultures through dance, songs, and crafts. Klaipeda's citizens and city guests had unique opportunity to enjoy costumes, songs and dances from all over Europe.

Leisure

Many entertainment activities are offered in Klaipeda: recreational fishing, swimming, diving, yachting, parachute jumps, scenic flights, bowling and billiard clubs, nightclubs, casino, bars, restaurants, and more. For those who love active recreation, the city’s splendid bicycle route is a very good choice. As part of the European Cycle Route network, EuroVelo, this excellent path allows cyclists to reach both Nida and Palanga; two of Lithuania’s finest resorts. Comprising three separate segments, the coastal path of the bicycle route spans 216 km. Cyclists who start their journey in Klaipeda may choose to travel north towards the Latvian border, across the Curonian Lagoon to Kursiu Nerija (Nida), or south along the coast to Rusne Island.

Klaipeda is surrounded by white sandy beaches, natural sand dunes, the Baltic Sea, and the Curonian Lagoon. The 98 km long Curonian Spit is covered in pure, white sand, and boasts having the best beaches in the Baltic region. On December 2, 2000, the Curonian Spit was inscribed into UNESCO’s World Heritage List as a valuable and unique cultural landscape in the Baltic region.

A very important detail that Lithuania can definitely be proud of is the 6 white sand beaches on the Baltic coastline that have been awarded with a Blue Flag. The Blue Flag Program in Lithuania is run by a non-governmental environmental organization Lithuanian Green Movement which is an active member of Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE).

An especially unique place in Klaipeda is the Sea Museum and Dolphinarium, where visitors can see concerts and dolphin shows! Also, dolphin therapy is performed for mentally or physically handicapped children in order to improve their physical and emotional health. The Sea Museum, with its great variety of expositions, receives more visitors annually than any other museum in Lithuania.

 

Many activities in Klaipeda highlight the importance of maritime culture: the summer regattas of yachts and sailing boats, cruise liners docking at Klaipeda’s port, ferries for passengers and freight; all of these things bring us closer to the sea.

 

 

 

 

 

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© Kepa 2010

Programming: emotion