Congratulations on choosing to venture on this exciting and romantic city water bus tour on the Dang\u0117 River. During the tour, it’s important to remember that while walking through the city, we typically navigate using addresses; however, on the river, we locate landmarks by observing the riverbanks, either on the right or left, in the direction of travel.<\/p>\n
We’ll be reaching the next stop in about half an hour, and along the way, we’ll discover the history behind the name of Pelenynas, the Memel suburb, see where the Dang\u0117 River’s harbour once stretched, count the bridges that connect the riverbanks, learn the secrets of the power plant\u2019s tall chimney, and find out which factory’s logo featured a cute penguin.<\/p>\n
Pelenynas was a suburb on the left bank of the Dang\u0117 River, near the city’s old fortifications. The suburb has been known by the name Pelenynas, meaning the ash town, since 1771, when a potash factory was set up there. Potash is a type of potassium carbonate made from wood ash by evaporating the alkalis. Used in glass, soap, and paint, potash was, for a long time, the Teutonic Order’s and the Duchy of Prussia’s main export to Western Europe, providing a significant income for merchants. Back then, suburban life was bustling with craftsmen, workers, and locals fishing on their boats \u2013 fish was a common meal for the poor. Klaip\u0117da locals say that fish were plentiful in the Dang\u0117 River before World War II, and it even had eels. Unfortunately, Pelenynas was destroyed in the city’s great fire of 1854. The only surviving building from that time now houses the Klaip\u0117da Rowing Centre.<\/p>\n
Now, let’s turn to the right bank of the river to see Klaip\u0117da\u2019s power plant. The first central power station was built near the lagoon in 1900, providing electricity for the city’s lighting and Lithuania’s only tram network at the time. In 1923, after the town was annexed to Lithuania, its capacity was no longer sufficient, so a decision was made to build a new thermal power plant on the Dang\u0117 River. Construction started in 1928, and it took 20,000 metres of wooden poles to prevent the site from sinking into the soft ground. The complex project cost 8.5 million litas, but by the end of World War II, German soldiers dismantled and took much of the equipment, destroying what they couldn’t remove on site. However, the thermal power plant was rebuilt after the war and has been running successfully ever since. During the Soviet era, a special shelter was built beneath the plant\u2019s large chimney, which is now open to visitors and offers a unique experience that will transport you back to the 1970s. The shelter is circular with seven rooms and a capacity of about 180 people. After descending the winding staircase, passing through the thick sealed door, and turning on the light fuse, an old radio starts playing, just like in an apocalyptic movie. In the bathroom of the shelter, next to the sink, is an authentic relic from the era \u2013 a bar of domestic soap \u2013 and then in the control room, picking up the phone brings the distinct sound of a landline signal. If you enjoy one-of-a-kind experiences, period aesthetics, and slightly spooky vibes, it’s definitely worth a visit.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, let’s keep sailing. As we approach Mokyklos Street Bridge, I\u2019d like to ask you all a question: does anyone know how many bridges have been built in Klaip\u0117da across the Dang\u0117 River? Let\u2019s count together, starting from the mouth of the river: Castle Bridge (or Charles Bridge), Bir\u017eos Bridge, Mokyklos Street Bridge, Railway Bridge, Liep\u0173 Street Bridge, and the Tauralaukio Bridge \u2013 that\u2019s six in total. According to the historian Dainius Elertas, Bir\u017eos Bridge is the oldest known bridge of its kind in Lithuania. Mokyklos Street Bridge, the one we\u2019re passing through now, is the longest bridge over the Dang\u0117, at 510 metres.<\/p>\n
On the left bank of the Dang\u0117 River, we can see the SBA Klaip\u0117dos Baldai factory, which employs over 550 people. Fun fact: on 20th<\/sup>\u00a0May 2019, World Bee Day, the company\u2019s roof terrace hosted three hives with specially bred, non-aggressive bees. So now the factory also manufactures honey. \ud83d\ude0a Numerous studies worldwide have shown that honey produced by urban bees is clean, valuable, and sometimes even of a better quality than honey produced in rural areas. That’s because urban bees gather nectar from a wider variety of plants, so all that\u2019s needed is to ensure there are enough green spaces with flowering plants within a 2\u20133 km radius.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now, let\u2019s talk briefly about the former Union fertiliser factory buildings on the right bank of the Dang\u0117 River. These buildings are important reminders of the port city’s entrepreneurial history. It all began with a small bonemeal factory that evolved into the Union mineral fertiliser factory in 1880 and became one of the city\u2019s largest employers in the late 19th <\/sup>and early 20th<\/sup>\u00a0centuries. The factory produced superphosphate and sulphuric acid and even won a gold medal at the Lithuanian Agricultural Exhibition in Kaunas in 1930. What particularly surprised and amused people at the time was the company\u2019s branding, which featured a little penguin and a clever message on the promotional postcards: \u2018Take the little penguin’s advice and use Union superphosphate.\u2019 The factory covered over 100,000 square metres and included part of the Dang\u0117 embankment, where an ornate administrative building and seven fachwerk<\/i><\/em>\u00a0(timber-frame) warehouses were situated, some of which are still standing today. Back then, the city’s industrial railway brought raw materials from faraway places like Africa, Spain, Sicily, Norway, the USA, and even Australia and Oceania, with the factory itself being accessible via tracks linked to the main railway. After World War II, the Artojas superphosphate factory began operations here, followed by the Sirijus factory, which produced chemical elements. Today, the former Union quay is home to a slipway \u2013 a place for moving small boats to and from the water. The city’s entrepreneurial spirit is gradually making a comeback, with unique handmade canoes being crafted in nearby buildings and a growing number of small businesses emerging.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another interesting site on our route is the Railway Bridge over the Dang\u0117 River.<\/p>\n The railway line from Pag\u0117giai reached Klaip\u0117da in 1875, and a bridge over the Dang\u0117 River was constructed in the same year. Trains from the port city could easily reach the East Prussian hub, K\u00f6nigsberg, and the capital, Berlin. The first construction of the bridge had five arches, was built from stone, and had a solemn yet majestic appearance. The stone bridge’s piers and the special fortifications at the base, which protected it from ice storms, have been preserved to this day. However, the bridge was too low. Even though the highest arch was 8.5 metres high, sailing ships could only pass under it with their masts lowered. The first bridge was ultimately destroyed by the Red Army during the city’s occupation in 1944\u20131945 and then reconstructed in the post-war period, as a metal bridge, which is still in use today.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the left bank of the Dang\u0117 River, you’ll find the notable lands of Bachmann Manor. The name of the place is thought to come from two German words \u2013 Bach<\/em>, meaning spring, and Mann,<\/em>\u00a0meaning man. The name was used to refer to a large estate complex as early as the 15th<\/sup>\u00a0and 16th<\/sup>\u00a0centuries. In the 16th<\/sup>\u00a0century, smaller manors started to emerge. They were owned by castle and district officials, clergy, and later, the military. The area is rich in springs, which, in the Middle Ages, served as the source of drinking water for residents of the Memel castle. The manor was established in 1613, when Joachim Neresius, a priest from Memel, was granted permission to set up a homestead here.<\/p>\n In the late 17th<\/sup>\u00a0and early 18th<\/sup>\u00a0centuries, the manor was briefly known as Ruummelshof (or Ruumel Manor), named after its owners at the time. When the Klaip\u0117da region was annexed to Lithuania in the first half of the 20th<\/sup>\u00a0century, the names Paupys<\/i><\/em>\u00a0or Paupiai<\/i><\/em>, meaning by the river, were used to highlight the area’s landscape features. These names are still used to this day.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s believed that the most famous Baroque poet from Klaip\u0117da, Simon Dach, was born here at Bachmann Manor, on 29th<\/sup>\u00a0July 1605. Simon’s grandfather, Benedikt Dach, was granted a farm on the Bachmann lands by Albert, Duke of Prussia on 8th<\/sup>\u00a0January 1533, for himself and his male heirs. After his death, the manor was inherited by Simon Dach’s father, who worked as a translator at the castle. When Simon’s mother passed away and his father brought home a new wife, 14-year-old Simon was forced to leave and move to K\u00f6nigsberg for his studies. His father passed away soon after, but the young Simon was too inexperienced to claim the inheritance, so ownership of the estate was reverted to the Duke. Unfortunately, the Bachmann Manor and other property owned by the Dachs have been lost to time, and their exact location remains unknown.<\/p>\n Why is Simon Dach important not just for old Memel but also for modern-day Klaip\u0117da? Most of us are likely familiar\u00a0with the elegant sculpture of Annie from Tharau in Theatre Square, in Klaip\u0117da’s Old Town, but did you know that this legendary work is actually dedicated not to the girl but to Simon Dach himself? Annie is the heroine of one of the poet’s most famous poems, his muse, and the romantic vision of his beloved. But let’s go back to the beginning of the story. Although Simon Dach faced many hardships after leaving home, fate eventually rewarded him with an extraordinary career. After graduating in philosophy and theology, he became a professor at the University of K\u00f6nigsberg and was eventually elected rector. The talented composer wrote a great deal of poetry typical of the Baroque cultural period, but the bulk of Dach’s work is religious and occasional poetry. The latter was simple and musical, intended for occasions like birthdays, weddings, and funerals of K\u00f6nigsberg’s citizens. The prolific Dach penned over a thousand poems in German and more than fifty in Latin. His peers dubbed him the Prussian Petrarch and the Bard of Death, hailing him as K\u00f6nigsberg’s most gifted writer. Simon Dach’s best-known poem, Annie from Tharau, tells the tale of a 17-year-old beauty who weds the priest Joachim Neander. Invited to the wedding, the poet fell for the bride at first sight and expressed his feelings in the now-renowned poem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":20320,"menu_order":34,"template":"","format":"standard","place-category":[625],"restoranu-kategorija":[],"class_list":["post-30420","place","type-place","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","place-category-klaipeda-water-bus-tour-along-the-dane-river"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/place\/30420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/place"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/place"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/place\/30420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"place-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/place-category?post=30420"},{"taxonomy":"restoranu-kategorija","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/restoranu-kategorija?post=30420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}