Monday, October 5, 2009

When the season comes to the end we visit regions within Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to update our knowledge on destination and services that our clients can obtain there. This year trip lead us to Nemunas delta and Curonian Spit (Neringa Municipality).
We started from Rusne - the town on an island formed by different roots of Nemunas delta. This is area with unique history influenced by Germans, Lithuanians and even Norvegians who settled here at the end of 19th century to organize timber sales that was rafted by Nemunas.
After taking introduction to Rusne history we went to Banys Farm Museum where we saw the lifestyle of original inhabitants of the area. Apart from the museum there's nice dining hall made in the barn so it's easy to organize ethnic dinner for tour group prepared by local farmers and fishermen.
Next stop was visit to herbalist farm where we were introduced to healthy way of life preparing and drinking local herbal teas and understanding nature harmony better.
The big attraction of exploring Nemunas delta is boat trips on different branches of the river and entering Curonian Lagoon. The area is famous for millions of birds stopping here in the spring and autumn. Here gather together up to 25% of world population of some species of ducks. There are 163 species of birds that can be seen in the delta.
We started our boating from Uostadvaris village pier. We visited Kroku lanka lagoon and Minija village - Lithuanian Venice where you can see old fishermen houses and big exposition of tour boats that are used to cruise Nemunas delta and Curonian Lagoon. And we enjoyed curved waterways relaxing and watching fishermen trying to catch their dinner.

We had overnight at Ventaine Hotel - small establishment on Curonan Lagoon at Vente village. There is regular boat connection from here to Nida during summer season. This place is also popular among Lithuanian wind surfers - we watched finish of Lithuanian wind surfing tournament.
Next morning started with Vente Cape Ornithology Station where we watched bird ringing and observed Curonian Lagoon from Vente Cape Lighthouse.
The big challenge of the day was Curonian Lagoon crossing on our tour boat. Despite of rather wavy surface nobody of us get sea sickness and we just enjoyed wind and water play.
We didn't go on Nida sightseeing (we know it too well) and this time we took a bike ride from Juodkrante to Smiltyne (a part of Klaipeda on the Curonian Spit). We enjoyed a great views from specially installed biking trail and some of us even had a swim in an autumn Baltic sea.
Considering services in the area we were totally satisfied - meals were great and local (have you ever tasted eel soup?), our boat was in a good shape and captain was helpfull and friendly. Hotel was adequate and had sauna, jacuzzi and small swimming pool so we coud warm up well after the boat trip.
More information on the area you can get on Silute tourist information center and Nida tourist information center websites.
More pictures you can see on flickr.
And don't forget to book a Lithuanian seaside trip from Lithuanian Tours website.




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