Nida sits half-way down the Curonian Spit, a 98 kilometre-long, Unesco-protected slither of banana-shaped sand stretching from Kaliningrad’s Sambian Peninsula in the south all the way to, but not quite touching, Klaipėda. Separating the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea, the spit covers an area of 180 square kilometres and is home to some of the highest drifting sand dunes in Europe, which at times can reach up to 60m in height. The Lithuanian part of the spit covers about half its total length and includes the settlements of Alksnynė, Smiltynė, Juodkrantė, Nida, Pervalka and Preila, of which the latter four make up the municipality of Neringa, the smallest municipality in Lithuania and the only one named after a figure from ancient mythology and not an actual town. If you’re travelling to Nida from Klaipėda or are thinking about seeing more than just Nida when visiting, there are a number of recommended things to see and do whilst in the area. 

 

Heading south soon after disembarking from the ferry, keep an eye out to the left of the road for a monument to fallen Red Army soldiers of 32nd division, 113th regiment who lost their lives here during the early days of the East Prussian Offensive in January 1945. A classic Soviet-era sculpture, the 30-tonne stone monument, carved from rock taken from the Curonian Lagoon, was unveiled in 1967.

 

Further south is Juodkrantė, a smaller version of Nida about 20km north on the edge of the lagoon. A peaceful village of 700 souls, Juodkrantė is worth further investigation. Sights include Witches’ Hill, a collection of carved wooden statues popular with children, the village’s neo-Gothic church, dating from 1885 and, directly across the road, the so-called Miniature Museum, a typical blue wooden house containing some 200 or so tiny miniature paintings from all over Europe and dating from the 16th century onwards. Juodkrantė also boasts plenty of places to eat and drink as well as to sample fresh fish caught straight from the local waters. Exactly 1km further on and not signposted, on the right side of the road up a set of wooden steps is the extraordinary colony of nesting great cormorants and grey herons. An observation post gives a good view of the birds as they fly around or just sit in their nests. In 2000 the colony was reported to be home to 1,361 pairs of cormorants and a further 582 pairs of herons.

 

The tiny village of Preila on the eastern shore of the Curonian Spit is unremarkable with perhaps the exception of a small ethnographic cemetery where the village’s last true Curonians lay at rest. In the centre of the village, although nowhere near as impressive as its counterpart in Anaičiai, the well-tended graves, some of them wooden and dating back well over a century, offer an insight into the former multi-ethnic makeup of the area.

 

Both Nida and Juodkrantė lie inside the Curonian Spit National Park, set up in 1991 to protect the flora and fauna of the region. About a quarter of the park is forested, there are some 960 plant species, just under 40 mammals including elk, wild boar, otters and badgers, 200 kinds of bird, eight amphibians, over 460 types of butterfly and countless bugs and beetles. Among the 40 or so types of fish living on either side of the spit are bream, eel, cod, Baltic herring and plaice. Meat-eaters should try some of the smoked fish specialities found for sale almost everywhere, whilst those who prefer to see wildlife in its natural habitat should take advantage of the manifold opportunities to view it in the area. 

 

As well as being home to several protected species, the spit itself is under threat. Accordingly, much of its territory is off limits to visitors, with camping only allowed at the designated site in Nida. Of the spit’s human population, people have been living in the area for thousands of years. Notable inhabitants include the Sambians and Curonians, two long-since vanished Baltic tribes whose names remain as traces in the landscape on both the Russian and Lithuanian side of the border. Its German heritage comes from the Teutonic Knights who invaded the area in the 13th century. The spit’s peculiar ethnic history is as complicated as it is on the mainland, and don’t let the textbooks fool you into thinking otherwise. Despite the official fact that the Germans were sent packing at the end of WWII, many of the spit’s inhabitants speak German fluently and consider themselves natives of the region who just so happen to live within the borders of Lithuania and who continue to live lives connected to the landscape as they have done for hundreds of years. 

 

With a bracing coastline and an inland body of water that’s known to freeze over during the winter, the Curonian Spit is a unique feature of Lithuania that deserves much more than a quick daytrip from Klaipėda. For more information on the spit, see the excellent website at www.nerija.lt.