From Klaipeda we went to explore the Curonian Spit (Kurische Nehrung), a 98km long sand dune spit with some of the highest dunes of Europe.
The Curonian Spit can only be reached by ferry and when we came there on a sunny Friday early afternoon, the queue in front of the ferry was endless. We decided to visit the harbour town of Klaipeda first and try again later.
Afterwards we went to the ferry again and the queue was a little bit shorter. Still we needed 1,5 hours to get to the other side including the 3 minutes ferry ride.
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| Finally entering the ferry |
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| On the way to the beach! |
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| Endless white sand beach at the Baltic Sea |
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| Edi found some amber for me on the shoreline |
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| Parking for the Night |
The Curonian Spit separates a big lagoon from the Baltic Sea coast. Its southern portion lies within Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia and its northern within Lithuania. We reached Nida, the last village before the border to Russia, where we walked to the 52 metres high Parnidis sand dune.
Scientists estimated that each person climbing or descending on the steep dune slopes moves several tons of sand, so hikers are only allowed to climb in designated paths. The whole area is a natural reserve and we payed 20,- Euros as entry fee.
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| The harbour of Nida |
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| Sundial on top of the dune |
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| Cormorant |
Nida is full of beautiful houses, even Thomas Mann had a summer house here.
After a second breakfast at the harbour restaurant we strolled through the village where I finally decided on an amber necklace! Back to our parking at the other side of the spit I went for a short swim in the sea, but some harmless jellyfish reduced the fun in the water. We took the ferry again and were on our way to the next country of the Baltic states: Latvia!
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| Flower of the Day |
