Around Nida
8.3 km · ~149 min · 14 stops · free
Nida is nice, but the its surroundings will take your breath away! This route will help you get to know the diverse landscape of Curonian Spit: the coasts of the Baltic Sea and the Curonian Lagoon, the lowlands between dunes, the Defensive Dune Ridge on the seaside and the Great Dune Ridge. You will see the magnificent view of the Parnidis and Gliders’ dunes, visit the archeological settlement of Penkios kalvelės (“Five Hills”), the Death Valley, where French captives were held, and pass the place of former Gliding School.
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Start (Finish) of the trail
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Valley of Silence
The Valley of Silence was the name given to a calm spot at the foot of the dune, sheltered from the wind. This valley is notable for its exceptional biodiversity. Dune groundwater gathers here, so you can see plants typical of both sandy areas and wetlands.
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Lagoon marl outcrops
This is a unique natural monument that can be seen only on the Curonian Spit. The light-grey, layered earthen mounds along the lagoon shore were formed when a dune sliding towards the lagoon pushed a layer of silt up to the surface.
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Parnidis Cape
The spits of the Curonian Spit were formed around the 16th–19th centuries, when huge masses of sand travelled from the sea. The sand brought by the Baltic waves was carried eastwards by the westerly wind. Where the sand mass broke through the chain of dunes, long spits stretched out into the lagoon.
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Outcrops
The coastline is changing all the time. The new shallows appear and outcrops grow because the sandy shore is often washed away by the waves of the lagoon.
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Memorial for Nida's Gliders' School
At this spot in the Parnidis Landscape Reserve, near the Great Dune of the Grobštas Reserve, the Aero Club's gliding school was founded in 1933 — the main summer camp for Lithuania's glider pilots. The pilots of independent Lithuania were trained here, and many gliding records were achieved. It existed until 1939, the occupation of the Klaipėda Region. The former gliding school is commemorated by
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Stone age settlement
In the 19th century, one of the largest Late Neolithic settlements was discovered at this spot, named the Five Hillocks settlement. Archaeological finds show that people lived here some 4–5 thousand years ago.
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Beach
The stones, polished by waves and sand, is a sign that the littoral slope is flat. The most interesting finds here are fossils and stones with holes in them.
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"Fairy Tale House"
It was built by a German actor, writer and photographer Paul Isenfels hundred years ago. His postcards with views of Nida were very popular.
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Ethnographic cemetery
In the old Nida cemetery of the 19th – first half of the 20th century, you can see krikštai. These are grave monuments characteristic of the Curonian Spit, whose history goes back to pagan times. They were made of wood and set at the foot of the grave. The type of wood from which a krikštas was carved and its decoration depended on the gender and age of the deceased. Men's krikštai were carved wit
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View to Skruzdynė
This is a historic suburb of Nida, now part of the town. In the former H. Blode hotel here operated the Nida artists' colony, which drew artists from all over Germany and made Nida famous around the world.
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Graveyard of foresters
The post office keeper G. D. Kuvert started the afforestation of dunes that were posing a threat to Nida. His son and several other foresters that continued this work were also buried next to him.
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Tree-Covered Dunes
The trail goes through the old-growth forest. You will also see the smaller pines that were planted at the end of the 19th c.
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Valley of Death
It is believed that at the end of the 19th century this valley held a camp for French prisoners of war from the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. The camp was set up in the spit's sands as a response to the French, who had established camps for German prisoners in the deserts of North Africa. However, no archaeological research has been carried out to date, and the theory of a prisoner-of-war camp