Cross country road trip

This weekend, we finally ventured out of Vilnius and all the way across Lithuania to its southwestern-most point: Nida.  We crossed the country, drove onto a ferry, and then drove 45 km down one giant sand dune to within sight of Russia (Kaliningrad, that is). The whole drive took about 4.5 hours, with a couple of pit stops. Along the way, we learned to interpret all the road signs we passed, including this one to the right. I believe it means "picnic area", but should be more aptly subtitled: "Danger: falling trees!" or "Picnickers beware!" or, maybe "Timber!!"

Nida is the southernmost city on the Curonian spit, which is the Lithuanian end of a peninsula that juts out from Kaliningrad (the Russian exclave in the middle of Eastern Europe - on the far left of the picture above). It has the Baltic Sea to the west, and a body of water that they call a lagoon (not the same as a lagoon in the US) to the east. The whole Lithuanian section is about 20 miles long, and less than two miles wide at its widest. Its population is only about 2500 residents, although that number swells in the summer because it's one of the most popular beach locations in Lithuania.

Preferred mode of travel for the weekend

This land mass is actually a sandbar, and as such, it's constantly changing. Entire towns have been buried by the sand. In the Middle Ages, the trees that had been growing in the area were cut down for timber, destabilizing the dunes. It took an international conference in 1768 and a coordinated effort to reforest the area, thus keeping the dunes in place.  Driving down most of the spit, it looks like a normal forest of evergreen trees, except the forest floor looks like it was laid down over sand, with ripples and mounds rather than rolling hills or flat lands. There are a few exposed, "moving" dunes that remain, but according to our travel book, these could disappear in a few hundred years.

We stayed in a cute little B&B guesthouse with the traditional fisherman's cottage exterior. I didn't get a picture of where we stayed, but here's a similarly-decorated house in a different village. The owner was very friendly, and quite patient with me as I tried my best to communicate in Lithuanian. All in all, I think I got along quite well!

One of the main things to do in the area is go to the beach. We visited a little before the summer season started, so it was a little on the cold side (highs around 65 degrees F). I've had several natives tell me that they enjoy swimming in the Baltic Sea, but I couldn't make it any farther than this!  Maybe later in the summer we can try again.

 In addition to riding around the town and along both coastlines, we climbed up one part of the sand dunes to this sundial. I've never been good at reading sundials. The shadow fell between the numbers 8 and 9, but it was almost noon - go figure. All in all it was a good weekend and a nice first excursion around the country.