Seaside Regional Park

Seaside Regional Park
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Location	Klaipėda District Municipality, Palanga City Municipality,  Lithuania
Coordinates	55°49′0″N 21°04′0″E / 55.81667°N 21.06667°E / 55.81667; 21.06667Coordinates: 55°49′0″N 21°04′0″E / 55.81667°N 21.06667°E / 55.81667; 21.06667
Area	56.02 km2 (21.63 sq mi)
Established	1992
Governing body	State Service for Protected Areas

Seaside Regional Park (Lithuanian: Pajūrio regioninis parkas) is a regional park located on the coast of the Baltic Sea in Western Lithuania. 54% of its 5602 ha is sea and 36% forest. The administration offices are in Karklė. The park was founded in order to preserve the continental coastal landscapes/seascapes, the natural and cultural heritage properties, the biological diversity of the Baltic Sea, and the marine boulder beds.

The park boasts unique residual Lake Plazė (Plocis), continental dunes, an 18–20 m high bluff on the Baltic Sea, glacial boulder fields on the coast, and Olando kepurė Hill, which is and has been a navigational guide for sailors and fishermen. It also has flora and fauna specific to the fields and forests of the dunes and the coastal plains. Water birds nest and make migratory stopovers in the Baltic Sea, Lake Kalotė, and Lake Plazė.

The coastline in the park is being constantly washed by the waves, turning it into tree-topped bluffs. Karklė is distinguished by its exposed clay, the only such seaside location in Lithuania. The highest point (24 m above sea level) is called Olando kepurė, where both the beach and the seabed just offshore are littered with a layer of large stones polished by time and water. The last natural sand dunes to the north of Klaipėda survive here. A valuable fish spawning ground exists offshore and large flocks of birds overwinter in the area.

The top of Olandų kepurė bluff, the roofs of the old military fortifications popularly called the ‘pillboxes’ or the ‘black fortress’, and the blind beside Lake Plazė are good places for bird watching.

A Kurhaus (German spa hotel) has been restored in Nemirseta. An old ship rescue station built in the early 20th century has survived on the coast. There are old farmsteads and an old cemetery in Karklė. Kalotė boasts a manor house, an old school, and several old farmsteads while burials with stone kerbs (Called ‘circles’ in scientific literature, they were common in the first half of the 1st millennium.) have been found nearby. German defensive fortifications are of interest on the coast to the north of Giruliai.