Kaipėda is the major port for Lithuania, 60,000 of the 160,000 residents are supported by the port. This was a heavily fortified Nazi port during WW II. After a 100-day siege by the Russians in January 1945, the Germans retreated. Only 28 Lithuanians were found still living in the city.
 |
| Gate of Hell on Hill of Witches |
Rather than visit this industrial city, our tour focused on the national park that is a 10-minute ferry ride away on the Curonian Spit across the lagoon. It gets over 500,000 visitors each year. In the 17th and 18th centuries, this long peninsula was stripped of its trees, sand took over and made this a desert island, 14 villages disappeared among the sand dunes. During the 19th century a 100-year process of reforestation was begun including a 9 km long protective dune. They discovered amber in the lagoon, and the village of Juodkrante was created to house of the workers. Today, it is a resort town. Just outside the town, we walked the Hill of Witches. This sculpture trail built between 1979 and 1982 has eighty oak sculptures that depict various fairytale and legends. Witches used to gather here on the summer solstice. The trail takes on the journey of that night guided by Neringa through the land of witches and demons until dawn arrives, when you can dance for joy with your companions.
 |
| Carol and Lorna celebrate after our walk |
Later we saw a strip of forest where over 2000 pairs of cormorants
gather; their feces poison the forest trees.
 |
| Border with Russia along tree line |
After lunch, we climbed Avinas hill, the tallest dune on the island to see the border with the Kaliningrad enclave of Russia. We were advised to keep our phones in airplane mode, since the cell towers in Kaliningrad would be happy to steal our information. Then on to Nida, a village where we saw a sailing competition in the lagoon. Here we saw Curonian pennants, ornate carved flags, unique to the family on the Spit.
 |
| Pennant for Nida |
No comments:
Post a Comment