Klaipeda , Mariehamn, Riga

[mrspaper]

there's not much about these ports. Has anyone been to these places. Do you do private tours or are these just cities to walk around? Please share as much info as you can

 

thank you

[msmoger]

there's not much about these ports. Has anyone been to these places. Do you do private tours or are these just cities to walk around? Please share as much info as you can

 

thank you

 

Sorry, I don't have any information. However, I'm curious as to which cruise line visits these ports?

 

Thanks,

[mrspaper]

Sorry, I don't have any information. However, I'm curious as to which cruise line visits these ports?

 

Thanks,

I was getting excited seeing a reponse. I wish you had info. Princess is traveling these ports on a June sailing

[Drifting Happily]

We were in Riga last summer. I found most of my information online, Googling Riga. We did the port on our own, but used ship transportation into town. It was about a 20-minute ride into town. We enjoyed walking to the Central Market (Centraltirgus), which is a local market housed in former zeppelin hangers. Each building seemed to have a theme: meat, vegetables, bakery. No English was spoken, but we were able to buy pastries and bread from women who 'rent' a section of counter and display their products. I love local markets, and this one was very interesting.

 

We then walked through Old Riga, which has a lovely park and river. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site for diverse architecture. The old city walls have been restored in parts. The other thing we saw was Alberta St., where there's a great collection of Jugendstil buildings (German Art Nouveau) from around 1900. These are some of the grandest houses ever built in this style. Many of the houses have now been turned into foreign embassies and restored. It's obviously a very wealthy part of town now, but we walked through very run-down (but safe) areas to get there.

 

We then went back to the old town area, enjoyed local beer and local cheese, and met the bus back to the ship.

[mrspaper]

sounds like a fun day. thanks for the info

 

everyone, keep the info coming

thanks

[Alsacienne]

Riga and Klaipeda are do-able on foot, but Klaipeda is a heck of a way out of town so make sure that you get a transfer to and from downtown. They are both very interesting and I heartily recommend you take time ashore to visit them both.

[mrspaper]

Riga and Klaipeda are do-able on foot, but Klaipeda is a heck of a way out of town so make sure that you get a transfer to and from downtown. They are both very interesting and I heartily recommend you take time ashore to visit them both.

 

thanks

at least now i know that guides don't have to be hired for these 2 towns

[California Native]

Hi!

We were in Riga for 4 days post cruise before we moved on to Vilnius

We used Lonely Planet and Inyourpocket.com for research

Riga is very walkable once you are in the old town area.

If you are looking for a quick cheap bite to eat while in port

I recommend Provence by the House of Blackheads.

If you are interested in viewing our Photos and a Sights to See list that we used ...

I have both on our travel journal website.

Just go into the link below and then into Photos and Where we've been ~Baltic cruise report...Riga is at the bottom

http://ourpassportstamps.com

[mrspaper]

Hi!

 

 

We used Lonely Planet and Inyourpocket.com for research

 

Riga is very walkable once you are in the old town area.

 

If you are looking for a quick cheap bite to eat while in port

I recommend Provence by the House of Blackheads.

 

 

 

thanks for the pictures and the tips. Great to have a restaurant recommended

[LucyH]

Riga is a sensational town, with superb Art Nouveau buildings. The centre is too big to be called compact but walking around is still the best way of seeing it. I don't mean a guide wouldn't be a good investment, but not one who wants to move you around by bus. I had a local guide and we just walked.

 

I think the reason few cruises go there is that it is at the far end of the shallow Gulf of Riga. There's a voyage of 120 kilometres south to get there and then the same route back north again.

 

Because it was isolated for most of the last century (by being in the Soviet Union) people don't know much about it. At one time, when Sweden ruled most of the Baltic, Riga was the biggest Baltic city, bigger than Stockholm.The whole place reeks of history.

 

Klaipeda is not in the same league although if you like small, cheerful towns you might find it okay. It's not a waste of time anyway, because it is at the start of the Curonian Spit, a long and narrow stretch of sand that lies just off the coast along this stretch of the Baltic.

 

Have a look at the map and you'll see what I mean. At Klaipeda you take a ferry over from the mainland to the Spit - it's only about half a kilometre. Down south, the Spit is much farther off the coast.

 

The Spit has its own roads and towns, but the distances are not walkable. A bus tour or a hire car makes sense here. The town of Nerlinga is worth visiting; I had a great fish lunch. The lagoon between the Spit and the mainland is full of fish. There's an enormous colony of rare cormorants on the Spit. I suppose they came for the fish too.

 

Amber seems to be cheap here, probably because they still don't get very many visitors.

 

Åland is the name of the group of islands between Finland and Sweden. They belong to Finland but everyone speaks Swedish, not Finnish.

 

There's no city - Mariehamn is an overgrown village - but the countryside is beautiful. Lots of Swedes and Finns come here on cycling holidays, because there are no hills but the views are so nice and a beach is always nearby.

 

I visited these places overland and by local ferry last summer, so I don't know where cruise ships berth. But I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time, and a very unusual Baltic cruise. Bon voyage

 

Lucy

[mrspaper]

wow Lucy

A wealth of info

[MightyQuinn]

Klaipeda is a delight! When we disembarked our HAL ship in June/08, we were met by tourism officials who gave us maps & general info. We had no fixed plans so we decided to do a self-guided walking tour that was included in the info package. This was a great decision. We ended up seeing virtually all of Klaipeda over the span of a 2-hour leisurely walk.

 

We started in Old Town (about 10 min walk from ship) which is a compact area full of half-timbered buildings & monuments. We went to Theatre Square & saw the famous statue of a little girl with her back symbolically turned to a balcony where Hitler once stood to proclaim Lithuania as part of Germany. There was a small craft market set up here but very few vendors. Next we went to a local Farmer’s Market on the outskirts of Old Town. This was an open-air collection of fruit & vegetable stalls, flower stands, clothing & shoes vendors, as well as an enclosed building filled with meat, eggs & cheeses. Slice of life moment. Our walking tour continued along the banks of the Dane River at the edge of town. We passed Jonas Hill which is part of Klaipeda’s ancient fortification system. We crossed a bridge over the Dane River that was ladened with engraved padlocks put there by newly-weds who then threw the keys into the river as a sign of their everlasting love! We walked along lovely tree-lined streets & boulevards full of stately homes once owned by merchants & aristocrats until we arrived at the final place on the self-guided walk, Sculpture Park. This was a beautiful park full of about 100 modern stone sculptures as well as a huge war memorial. Very impressive. On the way out, we visited a tiny Russian Orthodox Church that was on the edge of the property. We retraced our steps for part of the way back, although we detoured along the main shopping street. We found a restaurant that we had read about in advance, Stora Antis, where we had an outstanding meal & Svyturys beer. The local herring with sour cream was exceptional! Thus fortified, we wandered around downtown a bit before returning to Old Town & the ship. I highly recommend this self-guided walking tour as a great way to explore Klaipeda.

[mrspaper]

these ports all seem terrific, but hardly used. It's nice to see that everyone seems to really enjoy these ports

 

can you please tell me what currency is used for money in these countries

 

linda

[Drifting Happily]

In Latvia it's the Lat.

[CCKelly]

We visited Mariehamn last late summer on HAL. We had the whole day there, and I loved our visit. We were on HAL's small ship Prinsendam, so docked right by the ferry terminal, which was very convienient. I am not sure where large ships dock, I don't think there is room there for very large ships.

Anyway, we rented a car for the day, and drove around the main island that Mariehamn is located on. If it is a nice day, the scenery is beautiful, and there are several old churches very well kept up that are very interesting and picturesque. The island is quite rural with beautiful farms. Also, the old castle tour was nice. The population is small and very little traffic, so it was easy to get around, and we really enjoyed our own day there without the hassle of being with a tour group. We went back to Mariehamn in the afternoon, dropped off our car, and then walked around Marieham a bit (it's a small town). Lastly, we toured the old sailing ship that is located very near to the ferry terminal and that was also worthwhile.

[LucyH]

can you please tell me what currency is used in these countries

 

Klaipeda is in Lithuania, which uses the "litas". Riga in Latvia has the "lats". Mariehamn is in Finland, which is part of the euro-zone. In Riga, too, they take euros in some stores.

[mrspaper]

.

Anyway, we rented a car for the day,.

 

can you rent the car at dockside, or do you have to do it in advance

 

do they have automatics and stick shifts?

[mrspaper]

Klaipeda is in Lithuania, which uses the "litas". Riga in Latvia has the "lats". Mariehamn is in Finland, which is part of the euro-zone. In Riga, too, they take euros in some stores.

 

can you find ATM's all over these small cities, like you do in Europe, or do you have to exchange at the pier

[CCKelly]

can you rent the car at dockside, or do you have to do it in advance

 

do they have automatics and stick shifts?

 

We reserved the car ahead of time, and they met us at the ferry terminal. We got in a little later than scheduled (maybe an hour late), and the ferry terminal was mostly empty (no ferries coming or going) when we got there. But no one was there to meet us with the rental car. We had the phone number with us for the agency, and asked one of the employees at the ferry terminal what we could do. She was kind enough to call the agency and told them we were there, and someone arrived with the car about 5 or 10 minutes later. It was a compact stick shift, I think in the range of 60 Euros.

We had a map with us that we had ordered and recieved from the Aland tourism website before we left on the cruise. I may still have the rental agency contact E-mail if I did some searching.

[mrspaper]

We had a map with us that we had ordered and recieved from the Aland tourism website before we left on the cruise. I may still have the rental agency contact E-mail if I did some searching.

good to know to order it ahead of time. I'm not sure about driving the stick in a foreign place. Are there a lot of hills. It's been lots of years

[cocochannel]

can anyone tell me if you can easily find ATM's at these ports.

[mrspaper]

just hoping for some last minute posts to this thread since the ship leaves in 2 weeks

[Dave'nAlice]

just hoping for some last minute posts to this thread since the ship leaves in 2 weeks

 

We were just reading Pat Humphreys' Baltic blog about Åland and wondered how you got on in Mariehamn.

[mrspaper]

We were just reading Pat Humphreys' Baltic blog about Åland and wondered how you got on in Mariehamn.

 

I'll send this post to my SIL- She went. I think everything went smoothly and they did it on their own