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<\/p>\nText and photos by JULIE SKURDENIS. <\/p>\n
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THE CURONIAN SPIT (KUR\u0160I\u0172 NERINGA) IS A 60 mile long narrow finger of forest and sand that separates the Curonian Lagoon (Kur\u0161i\u0173 Marios) from the Baltic Sea. The northern portion of the spit is Lithuanian. It\u2019s called Neringa after a legendary giantess who supposedly created the spit by scooping up sand in her apron to create a barrier against the open sea. The southern portion belongs to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. In 2000, both portions were included on UNESCO\u2019s prestigious World Heritage list. Although only minutes away by ferry from Klaip\u0117da, Lithuania\u2019s third largest city, Neringa is a world apart. A single road runs the length of the peninsula passing pine and birch forests, towering sand dunes, colonies of nesting birds, and a string of tiny villages lining the lagoon side of the peninsula. The villages are dotted with distinctive wooden chalets that look like a backdrop for a fairy tale. Many have upper story balconies, flower boxes, and gardens that are a riot of vibrant color during the summer months.<\/p>\n
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There are also the ubiquitous weathervanes called v\u0117trung\u0117s. Although they are all made of wood and are of uniform size (except for the small souvenir v\u0117trung\u0117s), each village had a distinctive pattern making it easy to identify which village a fishing vessel belonged to. Even villages off the Curonian Spit on the eastern coast of the lagoon had these v\u0117trung\u0117s. Over the past 200 years, v\u0117trung\u0117s on the spit itself came to be highly decorated and individualized with animals, houses, churches, plants, and ships. They are a unique form of Lithuanian folk art.<\/p>\n
On the Neringa peninsula, there is no village more blessed with lovely houses, natural beauty, and v\u0117trung\u0117s than Nida. Located at the very end of the Lithuanian portion of the Curonian Spit, Nida is only a few miles from the Kaliningrad\/Russian border.<\/p>\n
Nida is a place of quiet beauty, ideal for long strolls followed by a bite to eat at one of many caf\u00e9s and restaurants. If you\u2019ve visited Palanga, you know how bustling it can be in summertime, especially along Basanavi- \u010diaus gatv\u0117 where it sometimes seems like non-stop partying. Nida is different. Even though visitors come in droves to eat and drink, it\u2019s much more laid-back than its sister resort city up the coast.<\/p>\n
This is what makes Nida so special \u2013 its serenity as well as its beauty. From the southern end of the village, visitors can stroll beside the lagoon through tall, fragrant pine forests to immense sand dunes, protected by law but still permitting visitors to climb via wooden staircases for views over the village, lagoon, and dunes.<\/p>\n On the eastern side of the village, a long pathway winds beside the lagoon past sculptures and dozens of v\u0117trung\u0117s. You can also walk across the peninsula from Nida to the dunes and beaches on the Baltic Sea, about a half hour stroll away. On this western Baltic Sea side of the spit, it\u2019s often windy but is yet another great place for a stroll beside the sea. After a storm, people scour the sand near the shoreline for bits of amber.<\/p>\n Even though strolling beneath the pines, along the lagoon, or beside the Baltic Sea are the best things visitors can do in Nida, there are also three places to visit for those with more than a day or two here.<\/p>\n First \u2013 and foremost \u2013 is the small Ethnographic Museum at 4 Nagli\u0173. Housed in a hundred year old fisherman\u2019s house, its rooms are filled with traditional household items, furniture, and fabrics from the late 19th-early 20th centuries. In its front yard are dozens of colorful v\u0117trung\u0117s displayed at eye-level so you can get a really good look at the carvings up close.<\/p>\n A 15 minute stroll will take you from Nida\u2019s center (Pamario and Taikos) to the red brick Evangelical Lutheran Church at 43 Pamario. Built in 1888 in neo-Gothic style, it has church services but also hosts music concerts as well.<\/p>\n What is most unique about this church, however, is its graveyard full of krik\u0161tai, carved wooden crosses that mark graves. Krik\u0161tai originated in Lithuania in the 12th century, although these here in Nida are late 19th-early 20th century, erected, logically, after the church was built and the graveyard received its first occupants. Men\u2019s krik\u0161tai often have horses, plants, or birds carved on them while women\u2019s have hearts. Situated as it is on a hill under tall pine trees, this cemetery is one of the most atmospheric places in Nida and one I have never missed visiting on my many trips to Neringa over the past 13 years.<\/p>\n Another 15 minute stroll leads north to the Thomas Mann Museum at 17 Skruzdyn\u0117s where the famous German author built a home that he lived in during the three summers of 1930 to 1932. Mann did not return after 1932 because he went into exile after the Nazis came to power in Germany. The house has become a \u201cpilgrimage\u201d site, particularly to the many German tourists who come to Neringa.<\/p>\n Two other pleasures one shouldn\u2019t miss in Nida are amber shopping and eating. Even if you\u2019re not a shopper, it\u2019s worth a quick stop at the Amber Museum Gallery at 20 Pamario across the street from the Evangelical Lutheran Church. It\u2019s really a shop masquerading under the name \u201cmuseum,\u201d but I can forgive them because of the beautiful amber jewelry they sell. On this trip, I bought a hunk of amber, with inclusions, made into a pendant framed in silver. It\u2019s one of the loveliest pieces of amber I own. On the trip before this, it was a multi-colored amber bracelet. On the trip before that, it was a greenish amber ring. Need I say more.<\/p>\n For less expensive pieces of amber jewelry, there\u2019s always a wide selection \u2013 earrings, bracelets, pendants, brooches, and rings \u2013 at the vendors who set up shop in the square outside the tourist information center at 4 Taikos. Great for souvenirs to bring home, with inexpensive prices.<\/p>\n Another pleasure of Nida is eating, preferably outside on a warm summer evening in a garden or under the pines. Some of our favorites included \u201cBaras Po Vy\u0161niom\u201d at 10 Nagli\u0173, \u201cNidos Sekly\u010dia\u201d at 1 Lotmi\u0161kio, and \u201cSena Sodyba\u201d at 6-2 Nagli\u0173? \u2013 especially \u201cSena Sodyba\u201d where we dined three times during our seven nights in Nida. Nice to sit outside among the flowering bushes as if you\u2019re a guest in a Lithuanian home.<\/p>\n One of my best memories of Nida is walking back after dinner one night while it was still light (the sun doesn\u2019t set until after 10 P.M. in Lithuania in early summer) and seeing a stork alight on one of the fisherman\u2019s houses on Nagli\u0173 gatv\u0117. The stork is considered good luck in Lithuania, which probably explains why it\u2019s the country\u2019s national bird. This stork was so close I felt I could touch him, but I did think he was bringing me good luck.<\/p>\n Neringa is not just Nida although Nida is clearly my favorite place on the peninsula. There are many other villages lining the lagoon side of the spit \u201clike amber beads on a necklace,\u201d as the waiter at one caf\u00e9 told us.<\/p>\n My second favorite village is Juodkrant\u0117, about 12 miles north of Nida. There are many reasons to visit this village that straggles beside Neringa\u2019s main road but if I had to choose just one reason it would be Witches\u2019 Hill.<\/p>\n It\u2019s delightful. On what was once a dune but has now been reclaimed by forest and shrubbery, there is a pathway that winds its way uphill and down past carved wooden statues from Lithuanian folklore. There are plenty of witches among the almost 100 carvings as well as quite a few ferocious looking demons and devils. My husband claims he wouldn\u2019t walk here after dark on Halloween for all the Kalnapilis beer in Lithuania. It takes about 60 to 90 minutes to stroll the Witches\u2019 Hill path at an easy pace allowing time to enjoy each carving.<\/p>\n Another Juodkrant\u0117 stroll is right beside the lagoon along a paved winding path past sculptures by Lithuanian and other artists. Most are modern and abstract \u2013 with a few totally incomprehensible \u2013 but this is still a fun stroll. My favorite of the lot is a bunch of good-sized rocks with metal legs. These are supposedly a herd of grazing sheep. Yes, sheep. They always make me smile.<\/p>\n Near the lagoon sculptures is a wonderful small Museum of Miniatures at 3 R\u0117zos exhibiting miniature paintings and sculptures.<\/p>\n There are two other places to visit just outside Juodkrant\u0117. One just outside the village on the road to Nida is called \u201cHerons\u2019 Hill.\u201d Visitors can climb the wooden stairs for a birds\u2019 eye view of the herons. Not just grey herons but cormorants too who come here each year to nest. It\u2019s very noisy among the birds but great to see little heads popping up out of their nests. Not so good, however, for the trees which have turned white and lost their leaves from all the bird droppings. Nevertheless, it is an interesting sight. Bring binoculars to see better. One wonders where the birds will nest once the pine trees die.<\/p>\n About midway between Juodkrant\u0117 and Nida is the Nagli\u0173 Reserve where a wooden boardwalk leads over \u201cdying\u201d dunes towards the sea. Dying dunes are sand dunes gradually being covered over by plants and shrubs. It\u2019s not an easy walk because of the shifting sand and the distance, but is worthwhile even if you only trudge up to the top of the hill overlooking the reserve. We were told that beneath these dunes lies the village of Nagliai buried by the shifting sands 300 years ago (the inhabitants left before the sand took over their houses). We couldn\u2019t verify this particular village\u2019s disappearance but there are at least a dozen villages that have succumbed to the moving sands over the past few hundred years. Most were re-established nearby.<\/p>\n Two other villages to visit, located between Juodkrant\u0117 and Nida, are Pervalka and Preila. Both are even smaller than their northerly and southerly neighboring villages of Juodkrant\u0117 and Nida. Preila in particular has several nice rustic restaurants beside the lagoon for a quiet lunch or an afternoon snack. It\u2019s fun to eat while watching wind surfers on the lagoon.<\/p>\n Most of the Lithuanian portion of the Curonian Spit has been designated national parkland and is therefore protected. In fact, visitors have to pay a fee when entering the protected zone which includes all the villages I\u2019ve mentioned. It\u2019s a one time fee whether you spend a few hours or a few days. But outside this zone at the northern tip of the spit is one final do-not-miss sight for visitors to this unique part of Lithuania. The former Prussian fortress of Kopgalis, built in 1871, now houses a Maritime Museum and Aquarium. A Dolphinarium has shows regularly in which dolphins and sea lions perform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text and photos by JULIE SKURDENIS. THE CURONIAN SPIT (KUR\u0160I\u0172 NERINGA) IS A 60 mile long narrow finger of forest and sand that separates the Curonian Lagoon (Kur\u0161i\u0173 Marios) from the Baltic Sea. The northern portion of the spit is Lithuanian. It\u2019s called Neringa after a legendary giantess who supposedly created the spit by scooping …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3737,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,70],"tags":[78,162],"class_list":["post-3736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-geography-regions","category-history-1900","tag-lith-heritage","tag-skurdenis-j"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3736"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4090,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736\/revisions\/4090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Colorful](\"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/2010-05-15-LHERITAGE-04-300x219.jpg\")
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