The Curonian Spit is a landmass just across a small strip of water from Klaipeda. It is a geographic term that I was not familiar with until researching this trip. It is essentially a narrow strip of sand dunes, beach, and forest that parallels the coastline of Lithuania for about 90 km and eventually merges with part of Russia. So unlike a place like Miami Beach which is like a barrier island, the Curonian Spit eventually reattaches to the mainland near the city of Kaliningrad, Russia.
I preordered our ferry tickets online thinking it would save time and be easier. It was not. It was a ten minute fiasco involving multiple people handling both of our phones pouring over the confirmation email. The women working the ticket booths spoke virtually no english, though they kept using a word that sounded like “coffin” and seemed to take issue with my phone being in dark mode by saying, “No black!” In the end, I had to pay the €21 fare twice. Hopefully it’s an easy fix online with Chase to remove one of the charges. The ferry concept is rather silly for a journey that even at a snail’s pace takes no longer than five minutes to make the crossing. Investing in a bridge to cover the 200m span could really work wonders and speed up time.
Once on the other side, we began driving south. We didn’t stop until we reached Pervalka, a beach facing the Baltic with grassy headlands forming the backdrop. There were a few people lounging in the sun and having a beach day. It was maybe in the 60s at that point . . .maybe. But for Lithuania, I imagine that’s a pretty solid weather day. To be fair, with the sun out and very little wind, it was a very pleasant temperature.
We then kept driving south until we couldn’t go any further. Some signage and cones warned of going any further. The checkpoint that would normally grant access into Russia and the other way around is currently closed, but we were picking up a lot of Russian radio stations. From there we parked in the town of Nida. It is not very big, but was very quaint and quiet. The architecture was interesting and seems unique to this area. It’s almost alpine or German, but more vibrant and colorful.
We also walked along the waterfront for a bit and observed quite a few birds swimming about. I would have said birds outnumbered people that we saw, but when we tried to get lunch at the ONE restaurant that was open, it was a bit challenging to get a seat. Eventually we were seated and found that menu translations aren’t always accurate. Nicole thought she was ordering some breadsticks, but instead got some kind of bread that was sliced and fried in oil. I had a chicken sandwich.
After lunch, we drove back north until reaching the Dead Dunes, which was a sort of protected area like a national park. A boardwalk path helped us traverse the first large dune, but eventually that ended and we trudged through the sand. The dunes were previously a very fluid thing until more forests were planted and headlands prevented the dunes from being as free range as they had been in the past. In fact, a sign told us that entire villages and cemeteries were consumed by the dunes up until the mid 19th century. Some more recent signposts were erected on the dunes to commemorate the lost villages and people long ago buried beneath the sands.
We made one last stop at a place called Witch’s hill on our way to the ferry dock, but it wasn’t anything special — just some wooden sculptures of witch-like figures surrounded by the forest. We then waited a while for the ferry. It is not a very efficient process, but luckily we only missed one boat and ended up being the very last car allowed onto the second boat. Despite having an automatic car, I panicked when the guy was motioning me onward and I couldn’t get the car to start fast enough. I thought the boat was going to leave without poor Bricole.
For dinner, we went to Casa Della Pasta, which is inside a shopping mall and has windows facing an ice skating rink. The food in Lithuania seems to be a bit greasy, fatty, and heavy, so ordering from a more predictable Italian menu was a welcome change. Nicole had her first margherita pizza of the trip, but it probably won’t be the last. Tomorrow we have a good amount of driving to do before ultimately ending up in Vilnius for the night.
passports & pepto bismol 