Akvile Nida

... in Osteuropa unterwegs. <br>Wo er denn hinwolle: Nida. Wie praktisch! Ob wir nicht zusammen gehen wollten? "Sure."<br>Ich glaube er sucht immer noch nach seiner Orientierung, denn ich hab geredet und so musste er den Weg zum Fährhafen suchen. Nach 3 Stunden war mir das aber dann zu blöd und ich habe geredet und den Weg bestimmt. Tatsächlich waren wir dann um 19:30 in Nida und wurden bereits von Touristenfängern geifernd erwartet. Zappzerapp bisschen gehandelt und schon hatten wir eine ...

... nach zu urteilen, war er der litauischen Sprache wenig bis gar nicht mächtig, aber keine Ahnung was fürn Landsmann. Gut, ich kenn da ja nichts, ich also rund heraus:"You're not from here, are you?!" - "No..." - "Where you wanna go?" "I thought about the Curonian Spit, but I guess today it's to late..." - "What??? Why? C'm on! I'm going there either, may I join you, Ive already been here, thats not far!!!" - "Why not... Danny, nice to meet you!" - "Martina, nice to meet you ...

On our way to Nida we stopped to visited one of the most pilgrimage places I have ever been. It's a Hill of Crosses nearby Siauliai City. People come here, leave crosses, icons and pray - and the energy on the hill is simply amazing. <br><br>Nida is a resort town in Lithuania, located on the Curonian Spit. When we visited this ...

It took just over 3 hours to drive from Vilnius to Klaipeda with very light traffic. The drive is a little boring, but comfortable. The Magnisima Hotel is in the new (er) part of town within walking distance from the old town and with a secure parking lot in the rear. The room (#7) is very spacious and tastefully furnished. The street misses a couple of light poles, so gets a ...

... but gets better (still a 6 on a pain scale) over the day. <br><br>Clouds come in around 3 and it gets cold. People head back to town. Most are staying in Nida but I start the 1.5 hour trip back. <br><br>For dinner, I look for a steak house that has an excellent reputation. I don't have enough info to pinpoint it exactly. After 30 minutes and starving, I give up. I go back to the café hot spot from ...

... speaking the language or just a cultural difference. Also, eye contact is virtually non-existent. It gives me a further feeling of separation. But, people in the hostels are pretty cool. Everything from students to retirees (mostly the former). Not many business type people (working or on vacation). In this stay, I met 4 med school students, 2 pre-law, 1 pre-Med, 4 Oracle Software developers from India, a PhD student in political science &#8230; <br><br>My back has been ...

... smoked pigs ear! Imagine the taste of cold grissly chewy skin, fat and cartilage, with a whiff of bonfires and you're pretty much on track! Not a winner! The spit is also renowned for amber, which gets washed up on the beach after heavy storms. There's beautiful walks (check out the photos of the traditional 'ghoul and goblin' statues in the forest), the wildlife, fishing villages, and Brad's new obsession.....hunting the ...

... other to the highway. I convinced Mara to take the highway again, good choice? Anyway we moved on, and by evening we crossed Liepaja, getting an impression of the old warharbour. We cycled trough quite fast, trying to leave the private roads behind and searching for a campplace by the sea. Thanks to our 1/50000 scale map, we found one. A perfect flat ground inbetween delapitated old sovjet-buildings ...

... aren't built to handle cars. My first day in the region was spent exploring the Parnidis Dune, the only freely moving dune remaining, and getting lost in the spit's lovely forest. A not so lovely side effect of such an adventure was almost wandering into Russia. Though I'm sure few people know it, the region southwest of Lithuania is a little enclave of Russia known as Kaliningrad, and Nida is located only 3 km ...

... how important food is in my world!). I had a plate of yummy goulash, it was different this time, almost creamy and with dill, and a heaping salad. Two thumps up and I was nice and warm! Went back to wait for the bus, the driver was sitting outside of it at the stop having a beer. Made me giggle. I made friends with a French couple, Helen was a student in France and Ben was working in Minsk so this was her trip to visit him. Got the bus and ...