Bus driving in Lithuania - the journey to the Curonian Spit
In Lithuania, we wanted to use public transport first. There is no railroad on the west coast, so we tried the bus lines. To get to our destination Joadkrante we first had to take a bus from Palanga to Klaipeda, where we took a bus that took us to the ferry on the Curonian Spit and then drove on. We tried to plan the route with the route planner from Google maps, but quickly realized that not all bus connections were available or updated. According to Google, there was only one bus from Palanga to Klaipeda that day, but at the bus stop itself there were significantly more buses. All in all we could find our way around very well, because every bus station has numbered bus platforms and at every platform there is a printed map with the departure times. In addition, we quickly found the internet page "autobusubilietai.lt“, where we could not only get information about the travel times, but also buy tickets directly. So we arrived on the Curonian Spit very relaxed.
The Curonian Spit
The Curonian Spit is a peninsula on the west coast of Lithuania, which separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. The most interesting fact is that half of the peninsula belongs to Lithuania and the other half to the Russian oblast Kaliningrad. The untouched nature and the chance to meet wild animals such as moose or foxes was really exciting.
Experiences in Juodkrante
Juodkrante used to be called "Schwarzort" in German times and is situated approximately in the middle of the Lithuanian part. We stayed there for four nights in a very tiny, but sweet chicken coop-like accommodation. Our landlord wrote us beforehand only that we would find his mother Kristina at the café near the bus stop, we should just ask for her, she will know everything. Of course, we first ran into the wrong café, where nobody knew Kristina, but offered us a coffee anyway. We declined friendly and found Kristina in the next café a few meters away. In Juodkrante you could take a wonderful walk along the lagoon, but after a 20-minute walk through the forest you were right at the Baltic Sea. Here we had a good time. It was also great that there was delicious smoked fish at every corner!
The witch forest in Juodkrante was also really funny with all those wooden figures from Lithuanian legends were set up as wooden figures. Rather unspectacular was the Amber Bay and the "Sound Catcher" in the forest. On the other site there was a small market where we could buy smoked fish and other specialties of the country which was really nice.
Really cool, however, was an excursion, during which we went "a bit" off the trail during a hike. Because suddenly we found ourselves in the middle of the largest cormorant nesting area. Above us everything was full of nests, it was raining bird droppings and fishes and around us a little fox crept in and enjoyed the fishes. Fortunately we stayed dry and were neither hit by bird excrement nor by one of the fish. When we found our way back to the normal path shortly after, we already saw a viewing platform with peepholes on exactly the forest area we were just in the middle of. There were big signs saying that this was the biggest cormorant nesting area and some visitors were curious about it. We had to laugh and will probably never forget this experience!
Trip to Nida
One day we went by bus to Nidathe southernmost place of the Curonian Spit, which still belongs to Lithuania. We went by bus, which drove regularly from Juodkrante to Nida. It was Friday noon and when we entered, we were in the middle of a group of about 10 "young adults", who obviously were heading for a party weekend. They drank a lot of vodka and Jägermeister and were grateful when the bus driver stopped briefly for their sake, so that they could all go to pee. We were already curious what to expect in Nida, when you can celebrate so well there? But to our surprise they all got off at a place called Praila, where apparently there was nothing at all. Well, maybe they had a vacation cottage or something - it was fun for us in any case.
In Nida there is a large sand dune (Parnidis dune), which is why the place is also called the "Sahara of Lithuania". Across this dune also leads the border to Russia, which we wanted to have a closer look at (but only from a distance, because we don't have a suitable visa and would like to travel a little further). During our discovery tour through the dunes we also met a small fox, but it was immediately afraid and searched the distance. The border finally looked quite unspectacular, there was only a fence, but still didn't want to go that close.
At the end of the dune we found ourselves at the water where Tomek once walked through. From the water you had a good view of the Russian side of the dune, with a Russian military ship on the water watching. Apart from us there was only one family there, but their father behaved strangely at the trees and looked as if he was either looking for something or wanted to hide it. In any case, we found it very noticeable. Later on our trip we were looking for geocaches and suddenly we thought that this might explain the man's behaviour - and right: that's where a geocache is supposed to be hidden. But we don't know if he found it or if we disturbed him a lot during the search.
Onward journey to Klaipeda
As a small contrast, after our time on the Curonian Spit, we went by bus and a small ferry to Klaipeda. We were quite surprised that we did not have to pay crossing to Klaipeda. Probably the price is already included on the way there - or we just had a good day. We were already at the port in the early noon, but could only get to our accommodation later and so we made ourselves comfortable in the sun.
We liked the port city very much from the beginning. We had booked our accommodation for two nights and had enough time to look around the city in peace. In German times the city was still called Memel, named after the Memelburg, which was built at the harbor. The German influence can still be seen very clearly in some houses. Today, however, you can only see very little of the castle. In the former castle grounds there is a museum that shows the city in the years 1939-1945. We visited the museum and found it really exciting and also touching. The rest of the area consists of large grass hills on which you can walk and have a nice view of the harbor. We were there on the national holiday, so the Lithuanian flag hung everywhere.
All in all, the port city had a nice quiet atmosphere. There are funny sculptures to be found and also a beautiful old sailing boat, which used to be used as a training ship, was in the meantime a complete wreck and then bought for a symbolic Euro and repaired as a restaurant ship. We also found a cemetery of German soldiers right next to a beautiful park.
We also found out that there is a university in Klaipeda, which now has more than 2,800 students. You can study there at the faculties of "Social Sciences and Humanities", "Marine Engineering and Natural Sciences" and "Health Sciences". We visited the university simply out of interest and were fascinated by how cute the buildings are. Similar to the buildings in Hamm, a former military campus was used as a building - but the buildings were erected between 1904 and 1907 and are therefore much more attractive than the former barracks in Hamm.
In Klaipeda we rented a car, with which we went further south to das Memeldelta .
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