Winter sketches of the Curonian Spit. Version "The Other Side"
Here, in some places you can’t wait until you get there. And in some you do not expect - oh, bam, and then : )).
I was lucky enough to visit the Curonian Spit from the Lithuanian side on the first day of 2020. And I shared these vivid New Year's impressions in the story "Sea, sun, sand … Winter sketches of the Curonian Spit”. And then in February 2021 we got to the Kaliningrad Territory. Well, of course, how could it be without the Curonian Spit : )). Only initially I planned a trip to the reserve by public transport. And then, according to the principle “maybe” (if anyone needs it, then the schedule of bus 210 from Zelenogradsk here).
In Zelenogradsk. Wow, the sea is frozen
And we were more interested in hiking trails from Zelenogradsk, where we stopped for two nights, respectively, not going very far into Kosa. But my faithful friend and comrade-in-arms and... husband, who broke my plans, took and rented a car right on the eve of the flight to Kaliningrad. Yeah, I had to go deeper already : )). And not only to the Curonian Spit, but also to all sorts of other interesting places in our, so to speak, Nemetchyna.
An old German road. Photos from the car
Sometimes there are such pieces. Photos from the car
But about this, I hope, I will be able to write separate notes. In the meantime, I present winter sketches of the Curonian Spit, but from the Russian side. Since I have already described in detail my vision of this issue and a bit of history in last year's story, then I will not repeat myself and reprint myself. Therefore, I just share photos : ).
In Zelenogradsk
From practical usefulness:
- On the official websiteof the Curonian Spit National Park you can download the guide that works offline. It is better to do this in advance, because there is a problem with mobile Internet.
- On the same site, it is rather dreary to find visit cost, travel. Therefore, I duplicate: one individual - 300 rubles, a car - 150 rubles, the driver takes a ticket from an individual. Expensive, however! For privileged categories of citizens, of course, less. Bus passengers pay only for travel in public transport. I can be wrong in the figures, but for comparison, the fare along the Zelenogradsk-Morskoye route (final) is 200 rubles.
- If you plan to visit one day, then in the morning, of course. We got there only in the middle of the day (again, not according to my plan). Although, in winter, this is probably enough. Swan Lake is under reconstruction, the bird ringing station is closed in winter.
This is on another spit - the Baltic. Just for illustration purposes
I'm not going to compare the two halves of the Curonian Spit. And why… The Curonian Spit is one whole unique natural object. Both states, Lithuania and Russia, are making great efforts to preserve the Curonian landscapes. Somehow it is customary for us to scold, they say, in Russia everything is worse than in foreign countries. No, I wouldn't say. And we have trails and viewing platforms, equipped with parking lots for cars. Here is the price tag, yes, a little shocked : ))
In our case, we only felt the difference in weather conditions. In Lithuania then we were met by a powerful wind. And the sands uncovered by snow just instantly carried us. The sand was in my pockets, in my bag, in my shoes... Then they shook it out in Moscow. And the raging waters of the Baltic seemed to strive to grab into their arms. And now the Curonian Spit met us, one might say, with a light breath of spring wind. Well, in comparison, of course, the hood, nevertheless, sometimes pulled on : ).
And the Baltic Sea slapped so effortlessly at our feet. . . Flirted.
"Oh, how wonderful it must be to walk along these endless beaches in calm weather, even if not in summer, " I reasoned a year ago. "Yeah, just great! " I say now.
From the airport, we first looked into Zelenogradsk, check in at the booked Crystal Hotel 3*. Well, so, otherwise you never know what, you will come, but they are not waiting for you : ). Very nice hotel, pleased in all respects. Read more in separate review.
Views from our hotel room
And then we went to the farthest point of the Curonian Spit - the height of Efa. The height of Efa is named after the inspector Franz Efa, thanks to whose work the destructive movement of the sands stopped. In the past it was called the Petsh (Walnut) dune.
Road to Efa dune
Road to Efa dune
It so happened in our pandemic time that at that moment I had just recovered from a newfangled disease. Yes, in a mild form, even in the lightest, but some lack of air was still felt. Or is it just in the head troubles : ).
Air! Air! Air! In the morning we drove to Vnukovo in a terribly smoky taxi. I had the feeling that I had smoked myself. According to my husband, my receptors just became sharper after wearing the "crown". Maybe so : )). Irrelevant: neither my children nor my husband accepted the contagious relay baton viral unit from me. Why? – is a mystery of virology. Well, okay, maybe when they figure it out. . .
Several viewing platforms are equipped on the dune:
The frozen waters of the Curonian Lagoon are visible over there:
And, it seems, nothing special. . . Until you begin to realize that these huge masses of sand were moving under the influence of winds from the Baltic:
And the winds are notable there. A year ago, we were able to feel it (more details in story). This time we were not lucky with the wind. Or, on the contrary, it was lucky that he was not there : )
Views of the village of Morskoe (formerly Pillkoppen) on the shores of the Curonian Lagoon in the ice. Pillkoppen changed his location three times to escape the riot of sand.
The first work on taming the sands began at the beginning of the 19th century with the construction of foredunes along the Baltic coast near Kranz (now Zelenogradsk). And now we are witnessing that fragile balance achieved over the past 200 years of hard and painstaking work and struggle between man and nature.
And, nevertheless, snow brightens up the drama of sandy landscapes.
Another iconic point on the Curonian Spit sightseeing map is the Dancing Forest.
The uniqueness of the Dancing Forest has been written and rewritten. Honestly, for me, the forest is like a forest. Such a good pine forest.
Go into what impassable thickets in our area - and not such "dances" can be found.
Especially valuable specimens are fenced off. But even these measures do not save from tourists
Maybe it's really a unique place. In any case, there is a place for a tourist to take a walk - and that's good : ).
That's all for now. I really hope to quickly finish the analysis of the rubble of the photo from that trip and tell you about how I collected amber, how I climbed the abandoned Baltic Spit, about Koenigsberg, but not cognac. Although cognac was also : ))...
