Nemunėlis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nemunėlis (Latvian: Mēmele) is a river in Northern Lithuania and in Southern Latvia. It originates 6 km south of Rokiškis. It flows for 191 kilometres (75 km in Lithuania, 76 km on the Lithuania-Latvia border and remaining in Latvia) before its confluence with Mūša River, near city Bauska city, forming the new Lielupe River.

This river does not belong to the basin of the larger Neman River, but the names of both rivers are related in several languages:

in Lithuanian language, "Nemunėlis" is a diminutive form of "Nemunas" (Neman River)
in German language, "Memel" is used for both the Neman River and Klaipėda city, and "Memele" is its diminutive form
in Latvian language, the river is called "Mēmele", derived either from the German use or directly from Old Prussian language which supposedly means "surrounded by water"
in Estonian language, it is called "Mēmele jõgi"

The European Union gave 100,000 Euro to establish tourist routes along the Nemunėlis. It is expected that the Latvian and Lithuanian initiative will be completed in 2007, as new kayak and boat rental shops will open and new campsites, tourist guides, and informational tablets will be prepared.^[1]

[edit] References

^ (Lithuanian) Kęstutis Slavinskas, Nemunėlis pritaikomas turizmui, Šiaurės rytai, May 17, 2006. Hosted on Turistas.lt portal. Accessed August 1, 2006.