August 10, 2026

This is a new port for us and a new country. Lithuania is fairly new to the cruise ships so still finding things for ship passengers to do. We had booked a trip off Viator and there were 4 of us from the ship on the tour.Our driver picked us up right at 8am and while we waited for the other couple some people who were on the politically incorrect beer tour with us in Copenhagen came by and said their tour had been canceled and wanted to join our tour. Since we had a van and only 4 of us we were fine with that. So we had 6 of us.

They had a local group playing traditional music for us when we got off the boat.

The tour we were doing is to a resort town called Palanga which is a beachfront town popular in the summer. They have a long pier and most of the town is wooded and has trails all through it and also lots of cafes along the road. It is about a 30-45 minute ride from town to get there. Our guide kept encouraging us to ask questions so we learned a lot about Lithuania. They pay 32% in taxes and all education is free including college. The government helps you buy a house and charges you 1.5% interest on the loan. While we were driving to the beach there was a police road block and our driver had to take a breathalyzer test. He said that was not uncommon.

We asked him what kind of leadership they had over the country and he said they had an elected president and when we asked how he liked the president he said “a lot better than your president”. Luckily everyone in the van laughed.

We walked the pier and our guide, Darius, told us that in a few hours this pier would be packed with people but everyone got a late start on Mondays. We walked out to the end and then came back and went to a cafe to get some coffee.

Our group at the cafe that had lots of sitting areas outside.

The beach town had lots of really nice houses and everything was green with lots of flowers.

Most of houses are rentals and the season is only 3 months long. After the cafe we took a walk to the amber museum.

We passed this guy coming out from under one of the houses.

They had great trails through the woods and lots of green spaces. The amber museum was in an old house that used to be owned by an earl.

The amber museum with gardens around it.

They had these great iron stands in the middle of the roadway covered with planters. It was very colorful. The weather was in the low 70s.

After the amber museum we walked back to the car and went back to town. We got dropped off close to the pier but had time to walk around the town.

They have lots of cafes along the water front in town and this sailing ship, which is now a restaurant is docked there permanently. The boat was constructed in Finland in 1948. Today it is a symbol of the town and has a restaurant on board.

You can see how close to town the boat is docked.

This scooter was made into a table at one of the cafes we passed on our way back to the boat. We thought this little guy with his hat on was adorable. He was on the pier to see the cruise ship, dropping & throwing his matchbox cars.

We were back on board at 1pm and grabbed some lunch from the buffet. The weather had turned overcast and rain was expected so we spent the rest of the day in the cabin reading. it was raining for spillway, pretty windy & cool.

Tomorrow is another new port and country, Riga in Latvia. The expected high is 66 degrees tomorrow.