Lithuania. Curonian Spit Hike

 Hiking in the Curonian Spit Nature Reserve provides the kind of connection with nature that's so lacking in the city. Along the sea, for more than 60 kilometers, there are no fences or buildings, except for the occasional lifeguard cabin. So walking along the Baltic Sea shore to the rhythm of the surf, you can feel alone with the elements. If you want a change of scenery, you can continue your journey along paths through the pine forests that densely rise in the central part of the spit...  Map of our two-day hike... 

 

 We started our hike from the bus stop "Gintaro Įlanka" and followed forest trails to the "Garsų gaudyklė" landmark, where we stopped for breakfast. The idea of this landmark is that being inside the wooden structure, which resembles a gramophone horn, you better catch the sounds of the forest. And indeed, the birds were singing very lively melodies...

   

 This time we took traditional wooden Finnish cups - Kuksa. Tea tastes even better from them... 

  

  Not far from there is the so-called Witch's Hill - Raganų kalnas. Here, along the path, are carved wooden sculptures, the main theme of which is devils and witches. Lithuanians seem to have a special fondness for this theme. In Kaunas, there's even a large museum dedicated to the image of the devil, and in traditional Lithuanian fairy tales, the devil is the main character. And what we imagine, in one way or another, becomes reality...      

     

   The Curonian Spit is dotted with pine trees, which are home to millions of birds. The contact with the trees is also very strong if you pay attention to them...

 In the place where cormorants and grey herons nest, we carefully lifted the drone so as not to scare them, and took a photo showing how the birds' nests are arranged on the tree. The trees on which these birds have settled are almost devoid of greenery, which is eaten away by their numerous droppings... 

   Continuing along the forest trail, we headed towards the sea shore... 

   Near the sea, from the constant winds, the trunks of the trees grow at an angle... 

   Reaching the sea, we continued our path along the deserted shore...

 Walking along the sea, we happened to find quite a lot of amber washed up from the sea depths - fossilized resin of coniferous trees, over 40 million years old... 

 

   We were also lucky enough to see a small seal, sunbathing, which then crawled back into the sea...

   

  After walking along the shore for more than 11 kilometers, we turned back to the forest part, adding green to the "picture" again...  

  Sandy soil is the foundation of the spit...

  We ended the first day of the hike in the village of Preila. From there we took a bus to Nida, where we planned to stay overnight in our favorite campsite... 

  The next morning, from the Nida campsite, we went for a walk on the dunes - the main natural attraction of the Curonian Spit...

  The sundial...

  Launching the drone again, it was caught by an air current, and due to a strong gust of wind, it was carried a couple of hundred meters towards the forest. I completely lost control of it and could no longer bring it back. But everything ended surprisingly well. Using navigation and the search function, which activates a signal on the drone, I found it in the forest thickets after 20 minutes...

  Fortunately, the drone was not damaged at all, and after calming down, we continued our walk through the dunes.  

  

   From the sandy dunes, we headed through the pine forest towards the sea...

  Walking along the shore for about 9 kilometers, we reached the main road, and after waiting for the bus, from the stop "Preilos gyv. prie plento" we went to the ferry...