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The last portion of ice cream he had eaten on the Palanga bridge had already been eaten. Another point of the coastal journey is very close. Yes directly along the sea, only 12 kilometers. The motorcycle will have to turn a few more kilometers.
I had to visit Šventoji many times and be interested in the history of the place. This is not an easy place. This is not just a resort. Deep down he realizes that places are not called sacred anyway. Human powers seem to operate only up to a point here. Everything is still governed by fate. Or whatever you call it.
Everything a little bit
Construction works are boiling in the center of Šventoji. The entire town square has already been opened, the sidewalks are maintained. Positive developments can be seen in the harbor bay. The collapsed old sea bridge continues to remind us of the hopes it once had of being a serious competitor to the ports of Klaipeda and Riga. In fact, it would have been possible if you had never done it or just a gentle curse protecting the Baltic coast, which is sacred to everyone.
If you thought Šventoji is already a thriving resort with a rampant perspective, think again and read the history of this one of the most amazing coastal places in Lithuania. And if you still dig with an archaeologist’s shovel, you would learn even more.
Let’s count logically: other tourist cities have many visitors and are rich, and the saints are still families that save every penny. Even Soviet vacation homes are still rented here. Some with all Soviet equipment and furniture. A real time machine.
Alvydas Januševičius / 15min photo / Holy sins and hopes disappear in the waves of the Baltic for centuries
Indigenous peoples, if they can agree, are more reminiscent of wind-chased Indian Brahmins than overnight merchants hailed by the tourism industry. They seem to have succumbed to the waves of the sea.
If people in Juodkrante boast of eels, here, only flounder. If you get a handful of sea amber somewhere, everyone here is happy. If tourism was born and developed on its own somewhere, then a 19th century alcohol smuggling area flourished here.
Alvydas Januševičius / 15min photo / Holy sins and hopes disappear in the waves of the Baltic for centuries
Harbor and sky background
The ship “President Smetona” once docked in the port of Sventoji. In order for the ship to navigate, the gate had to be deepened by one meter. In interwar Lithuania, Lithuania’s high hopes were met and washed away by the waves. But especially from the beginning.
The inhabitants of Šventoji never lacked the ingenuity and ability to survive. The Curonian people lived here for a long time, the port was small and did not disturb anyone. In 1639, under the influence of Vladislav Vazas, the Samogitians demolished the English commercial office that operated here. It appears that this could have been secretly requested by other ports.
In 1679, there were 45 farms in Šventoji, and the inhabitants of the city paid taxes on 21 ships. Six years later, during the economic boom, merchants had the freedom to trade and the right to build a port and a city known in sources as Janmarienburg. What progress!
Alvydas Januševičius / 15min photo / Holy sins and hopes disappear in the waves of the Baltic for centuries
Alvydas Januševičius / 15min photo / Holy sins and hopes disappear in the waves of the Baltic for centuries
After 16 years of prosperity and growth as if it were yeast, during the Northern War, nine Swedish warships closed the entrance to the port of Sventoji with stones. Obviously, these were not military actions that served Riga in particular.
It seems that those stones are still doing their part: they have made it possible to cover the ancient sea gate with sand. This was not particularly typical of this coast.
Perhaps due to this feature of the coast (which Palanga does not have), a 380-meter long southern pier with a 60-meter-wide gate was built in 1923-1925 at a somewhat different location, and in 1926 a northern pier in 228 meters long. Lithuania’s free ambitions did not end there. In 1939, construction of the south pier began, and immediately after that, construction of the north pier began. All of this was to serve the Lithuanian navy.
Alvydas Januševičius / 15min photo / Holy sins and hopes disappear in the waves of the Baltic for centuries
Fate is always right
Now the Saint is really flourishing and showing signs of prosperity. Maybe more government attention, maybe some locals got rich anyway. However, you won’t see much joy on the faces of the locals – fate has taught them to behave calmly.
They will say: do you see the monkey bridge? Note that there was a railway bridge here before the war. That overgrown bay is an ancient port several hundred years old. Closer to the city – interwar. Nothing works. Locals would say that fate is to blame and would add that fate is always correct.
The dunes and sacred beaches are wide, sandy and welcoming. Little civilization, but a lot of feeling that you are with the sea, the sun and the sky. Next to the sea bridge, the path of ruin leads to a high dune, and behind it, a monument to the three daughters of the fishermen. Often an older passerby seems to be burping under his nose, as if nothing has changed, we rest here when we were kids.
Alvydas Januševičius / 15min photo / Holy sins and hopes disappear in the waves of the Baltic for centuries
Yes, it was this place of Šventoji that remained in itself: a clean and solid beach with the head of a water tower protruding from the dunes. Now striking is a floating swan-shaped church.
There is another long-standing landscape inclusion: a strange metal device very close to the monument to the daughters of the fishermen. Rare people know what it is and how it works. This is an old broken fog detector. As the mist rose from the sea, a distant rumbling began to spread. Headlights are not visible in such cases, so returnees have to orient themselves in terms of sound. To be honest, that sound resonated with the older saints, and it didn’t serve the fishermen as honestly.
The “True to the Baltic Sea” project is started by “Baltic Ice Cream”.
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