Nida, Lithuania
On a narrow spit of sand between the Baltic Sea and the Curonian Lagoon lies the small town of Nida. The spit is actually shared between Lithuania and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, and Nida is close to the border.
Close to the town is the highest drifting dune in Europe — the 60m (ish) high Parnidis Dune. It’s name comes from the fact that it’s drifted through the town on several occasions in the past. Maybe that’s why they decided to plant trees across most of the landscape 100 years ago, to hold the whole thing together.
Being quite remote but also quite touristy in the summer, good food and friendly locals were somewhat lacking. I’ve never eaten breaded fish before where the fish looked and tasted more like bread than the covering. I also enjoyed the tourist ‘information’ guy marking a launderette on a map, then explaining how to get there without words just by drawing a straight line to it. Of course, it didn’t actually exist.
