A Poscard A Day - Tuesday 28 May 2024 - T for Travel, Lithuania and paella

 Hello lovely peeps. 

This morning at 8 a.m. I will have left on my travels. My dear friends Kim and Andy are giving me a lift to Granada from where I will get on a bus to Madrid. Exciting stuff!

But let me show you my postcard for today:

It is the Lithuanian town of Klaipéda, (or Memel as it was called in its German days). The street no longer exists but it was called Friedrich Wilhelm Strasse. 

To show you where Lithuania is:

It is the third largest city in Lithuania as well as the only major sea port in the country.

Here is an old image:

Sadly 90% of the old town was destroyed during or demolished shortly after WWII.

The church on my postcard is the Reformed church.

Here is a photo of that same church I found on the Internet:

View of Friedrich-Wilhelm-Straße : On the right is the whitewashed St. James Church (Lithuanian Country Church), opposite on the other side is the Reformed Church .

Wikipedia says: The construction of the Reformed Church was completed in 1683 and rebuilt and decorated from 1779.  Many of the Memeler Reformed came from England, Scotland, Holland, France and Switzerland. In 1688 there was a Reformed school.

During the Russian era the church fell into disrepair and was closed in 1775. The foundation stone for a massive church was laid, but due to financial difficulties it could not be completed until 1794. This church was also completely destroyed in the great city fire of October 4, 1854.  This church was demolished by the Soviets in 1944.

Interesting stamps:

Gediminas, grand duke of Lithuania:

 Wikipedia writes:

He was a founder of a new Lithuanian dynasty, he is also regarded as founder of Vilnius, the modern capital of Lithuania. According to a legend, possibly set in 1322 while he was on a hunting trip, he dreamt of an iron clad wolf, who stood on a hill, howling in an odd manner as if thousand of wolves would be howling at once. He consulted his vision with his priest Lizdeika who told him the dream spoke of a city that must be built at the exact place and decided to build a fortification on the confluence of rivers Vilnia and Neris, where the place of his vision was pointed out.

 The church on the right-hand stamp is the Vilnius cathedral. 

It is called the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Mother of God, and is located in the old town on the banks of the river Vilnius. The construction began in 1342 and the church was consecrated in 1346.  

Wikipedia writes: After 1748  ​it was badly damaged by the fire that raged all over Vilnius and was abandoned. Only after a longer time - in 1785 - the church was rebuilt and acquired baroque style features. in 1794 during the uprising, the church was heavily damaged by the artillery of the Russian army in Vilnius. After this destruction, the church was not rebuilt, and  in 1808 was transferred to Vilnius University . In the building, in 1822. anatomy auditoriums, and a library were installed . Later, there were barracks, warehouses, an archive and even a forge . In 1865 - 1868 , the church was rebuilt and returned to the faithful according to the project of Nikolai Chagin. In 1949 and 1957 capital repairs of the church were carried out , and in 1980 and 1998 , it was restored .

I haven't been able to find out much about the other stamps.

This week has been a busy week with packing and organizing things for my absence.

I went to the gym for the last time:

When I come back, they will have packed up for the summer. Next gym in October!

The schools are winding down too. I saw the local school children come out of the school on their way to some activity:

Every class has a different colour t-shirt.

On that same day I saw one of the local chaps park his motorbike. I see these things daily but always forget to photograph them. 

Here is his motorbike (a substitute for a donkey) with baskets made out of asparto grass:

It is an ancient craft still practiced in our village.

Me and my four girlfriends (two Patricias, Antonia and Conchi) always try to get together once a month (difficult as three of them are working). Conchi suggested she cook a paella. Paella is a famous rice dish from the Valencia area of Spain. Conchi was born in that area and does a mean Paella:

This is for all you cat lovers out there:

And that is all from me today. I'm going to join the T-Party at Elizabeth and Bluebeard's.

Oops, I have no drink. Okay, here is one:

Happy T-Day everyone!

Lisca