Day 35 - Some more Palanga

Happy Independence Day!!!

We woke up really early (8am) determined to go to the beach early and then execute the ambitious plan of renting a bicycle cart and riding it to Sventoi some 12 km away. We consumed the remaining contents of the fridge and got outside.

However, the sky was overcast. Vitalik and his family wanted to have breakfast before going to the beach so we stopped at the Green hotel off Vitauto. Eventually we started moving again but it was still cool and cloudy so we walked around the back street off Basanaviciu and looked at some more pretty fountains and hotels.

Then Vitalik prepared to go back to the hotel for Ilyush'a nap and we for our bike tour. But it started to rain. So we stayed at the hotel for about an hour and then did rented a 4-wheeler bike for an hour and took at ride in the direction of Sventoi. Yeah, the plan to go to Sventoi was a bit optimistic. We lasted a whole hour and traveled 6km (there and back included). It was lots of fun though. We stopped on the way and got some ice-cream.

The blocked out remainders of the pool. Not sure what most of these signs mean:

After that we went back on the "boardwalk" and the pier. Despite the drizzle, there were lots of people walking about and even a whole bunch swimming. Exhausted from guiding the bike Georgia fell asleep. When the drizzle turned into a full rain we ran back to the hotel. And anyway it was time to go to HBH Juozo some 10km away from Palanga.

The website does not do the justice to the place. It is an enormous village-style entertainment complex with lots and lots of featuring including multi-venue restaurants and bars, playground, food and souvenir stores, basketball court, hotel, sculpture park, paintball facility, and lots more. Belmontas can roll up and die in comparison. We waited for 30 minutes to go to the restaurant we wanted. Inside the decor was very nice, the maze of rooms utterly confusing, and service pretty fast. The size of portions would make Graf Zeppelin seem to be the stinge capital. Having shamelessly stuffed ourselves like it was our last day on earth, we emerged with most of our food left over and packed up.

Georgia went for a pony ride. They take your kid away to some nearly forest and return her beaming from joy. Dan and Vitalik considered doing a course laid out in the trees - rope bridges, net passage ways and such. In the view of extreme difficulty, it was decided that the continued survival of the fathers of the families was crucial and we continued to the sculpture park. The park had lots of interesting climbable statues, puzzles, and blueberries and wild strawberries. On the way back we passed the obstacle course again and saw that some teenage girls, apparently with no families to take care of, were going through it. Dan offered the kiddy course since this one was taken, but the moment was gone. So, instead, we loaded up on several kinds of cured pork fat, sausages, beer and kvas for the evening on the balcony. They make all these things here.

Dan and I were feeling guilty about the gluttony that had been committed and the one that was awaiting us later tonight so we did another round on the Basanavicaus and Vitauto.

We marveled again and again how well the place catered to the different groups of people. From the 5 star hotels, down to one star where we stayed, to the rooms advertised by the owners with the signs on the outskirts in Palanga, to the free option available in the abandoned buildings and sanatorioums. Same wide range applied for the food and entertainment. The signs were at least in Lithuanian, Russian, and English. The crowds, which represented just about every available type, reflected the spirit of the resort. We heard lots of foreign languages, there were young and old people, lots of special needs people, a good share of Moscow couture, left-over Jews, and Byelorussian rednecks (there must have been some regular Byelorussians too, but these stood out more).

Quiet evening sitting wrapped up in the blanket on the neighboring balconies while passing the slabs of pork fat, and bottles of beer and kvas back and forth really completed the day. It is very lucky that we had not adjusted to the time change and can stay up regardless of the time. We missed the fireworks at home though.