This is likely to be a pretty short post, because any moment now, housekeeping is going to barge into our room in Riga and get us to exit the premises. We’re a few minutes past check out time. I guess we like to live dangerously.
After Vilnius, we spent 3 days in Nida, a town on the Curonian Spit. The spit is a long, narrow strip of land between the Curonian lagoon and the Baltic sea. It is shared between Lithuania in the North, and Kaliningrad (a western province of Russia) in the South. Landscape wise, it is pretty incredible, with coniferous forests blending into massive sand dunes, blending into the beach. Cycling is especially fun, with well paved, cycle-only roads along the length of the spit.
Getting there:
We took a direct bus from Vilnius to Klaipeda and then the ferry from Klaipeda to Nida, one of the southern most towns on the Lithuanian side.
On the way back, we took a bus across the spit to Smiltyne, and then a cheap ferry across to Klaipeda. (This is the cheaper option, as the long ferry is around 10EUR each way, while the bus and short ferry are only a couple of Euros each way).
We spent 4 nights in Nida. We had been moving frequently prior to this, and decided to chill out in a small beach town for a few days. Nida was small, compact, quiet and relaxing. It’s claim to fame is Thomas Mann’s (a German author) cabin, so the place had a lot of old German tourists. There isn’t much to do, apart from relax, cycle around town, climb the dunes and try the local cuisine – pretty much what we did for 3 days!.
At the Nida Sand Dunes. See the green in the distance? That’s Russia!
Potato Pancakes
Cold beetroot soup with potatoes – the cold soup is especially refreshing on a hot day!
Fried bread (!) with garlic. I guess you really can fry anything.
I also have a lot of cycling and other footage I might put up at some point – but I think I hear footsteps. Here comes room service!
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Travel facts:
Total cumulative expenses since start of trip:
GBP: 293 plus EUR: 1090 EUR
Accommodation – Hotel, 4 nights – 231 EURNote – accommodation on the spit can be limited, there are very few AirBnBs. Hotels are also on the steeper side because of lack of supply. Book early if you’re considering Nida!
Travel-
Bus from Vilnius to Klaipeda – 36 EUR
Ferry from Klaipeda to Nida – 20EUR http://www.keltas.lt/en/timetable/
Bus from Nida to Smiltyne – 6.80 EUR
Ferry from Smiltyne to Klaipeda – free (nominal charge if buying return ticket from Klaipeda)
Spending in Nida – 128 EUR (Fnb, cycles, groceries, etc)
Mouthwatering food, place sounded very relaxing:) good to know that both of you are relaxing in such little known places. Very interesting post, great effort on your part.