Last winter, we went on a week of roadtrip in Lithuania, my 27th been-to country. Lithuania is one of the three Baltic states (the other two being Latvia and Estonia, which I/we have already visited in the past). To get there, we drove through Sweden and took the overnight ferry from Karlshamn to Klaipeda. We also checked out the Swedish city of Kristianstad on the way. The air was crisp and freezing cold, and before boarding the ship, we were told that there was a storm!

This was the entire route for the trip, c/o Google Maps:

We left home around 12noon, after the delivering the kitts to the cathotel. It was a smooth 4-5 hour drive before we decided to stop and spend the night in Mölndal, a small town in western Sweden. Hotel Eken Mölndal was not the best hotel, but it was ok for a night, I guess. No towels, no receptionist, ok breakfast and the keys were left in the open with our names – like an honesty system kind of thing, but was less private. The plus side was that it was located by a gas station and grocery stores.

The next day, we continued the trip southwards. We made a quick stop to stretch out in a beautiful redbrick neo-Gothic church from the 1800s, the new Ignaberga Church.

We reached Kristianstad at around 12:30 pm. We had lots of free time before the ferry schedule, so we walked around this historical Swedish city, founded in the 1600s by the Danish King Christian IV as a border defense from Sweden. Christmas ambiance was present in the city. One of the highlights there was the Holy Trinity Church, also built in the 1600s. Its interior and the ceiling was amazing!

One of my favorite things to do during our roadtrips was the coffee/tea breaks. It became extra cozy because of the weather! We grabbed some hot drinks, and then continued exploring the city, crossing the river Helge (the longest in Skåne region), and checking out the Naturum Vattenriket. The latter is a biosphere reserve, one of the 7 oldest biospheres in Sweden. Sadly, the visitor center was closed during our visit, though we still enjoyed the boardwalk and later, the garden.

Going back to the city center, we checked out the Tivoliparken, the city park with indoor and outdoor gardens, stages and a chicken coop. I could imagine the park teeming with people in the summer, enjoying activities or just relaxing on a picnic or a stroll.

The city center has beautiful architecture and statues. We also stopped by the city hall to check out the Messenger statue (or Budbäreren), a giant bronze patinated fiberglass foot modeled after the sculpture’s own foot. Fredrik Wretman built the statue in Thailand.

It was starting to get dark, so we started the drive to Karlshamn. The ferry was scheduled to depart at 7pm and arrive in Klaipeda at 9am the following day. Final call was at 5:30 pm. How exciting!

We were in Karlshamn from around 3:30 pm, so we got to see a bit of the city as well. We visited Carl Gustaf’s Church with its wishing tree, and had some hot drinks (well, Carl had a cold shake). The church was under renovation, and thus, we didn’t get to see its interior.

As mentioned earlier, there was a storm during the ferry crossing to Klaipeda. It was the worst sailing, and I felt like we’ve been unlucky, just like the cruise to Germany before with the storm rocking a huge ship on all sides! I was so worried, and I puked several times. Meanwhile, Carl slept like a log.

Before all that, we tried the buffet, which was probably a bad idea, considering the puking later on. Lol. And for breakfast, we had a quick sandwich before leaving the ship at 9am. Due to the storm, the viewing decks were off-limits. So, here are some memories from the DFDS Karlshamn-Klaipeda trip:

This was the first leg of our roadtrip last winter. So exciting to blog about what we did and saw in Lithuania 🙂 Early shift tomorrow, so, bye for now!

#spreadloveandpositivevibes

ALL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS ON THIS BLOG ENTRY ARE MINE. 🙂 Cheers!