Summer & winter at the most beautiful place in Lithuania 1/2
Curonian Spit is a recognized site of UNESCO world heritage and for obvious reasons, for example, Parnidis educational track, on which I’m going to focus today, goes through the most beautiful places in Lithuania – Parnidis Dune, the valley of silence and the valley of death. Each one of those places, though very close to each other, have its own unforgettable charm.
And this is only a fraction of what Curonian Spit has to offer, but well worthy of a separate article. While I have plans to write about more places of the Curonian Spit National Park later this summer, let’s focus now on this dream-like magical environment.
Curonian Spit National Park
The history of Curonian Spit formation continues for the last 5,000 years. It was always terraformed by the natural hazards and later, with the ever-advancing technologies of humans, settlers made an impact on this environment as well for which they had a huge price to pay. From 16th-century the area suffered from mass deforestation, intensive animal pasture, tar and wood charcoal production, tapping and ravaging fires caused by humans.
200 hundred years of deforestation dramatically decreased the area covered by the forest from 75% (1605 yr) to 10% (1834 yr). During 1706 - 1846 yr period the sand buried 14 settlements in the Curonian Spit. It took a lot of work and resources for humans to stabilize the region which resulted in an exceptional beauty of the landscape which sets an example of the harmony between nature and humans. It was formed by the combined forces of the sea, wind, and human activities which provides us an ever-changing cultural landscape, the fragile co-existence which can end at any time with no returning point.
Currently, Curonian Spit is a home for the tallest moving dunes in Europe.
Curonian Lagoon
It is the biggest pool of the fresh water in whole Lithuania. Curonian Lagoon is connected to the Baltic Sea at the northern part of it by the Lithuanian port – Klaipėda city. Its water is constantly moving as Neman and many other Lithuanian rivers flow in to it and from here to the Baltic Sea.
The name of Curonian Lagoon was first time mentioned by the Livonian Order at 1303 marking its appearance in the history as a constant part of the human life and a food source. For a long time, Curonian Lagoon was the way to communicate and travel between the settlements surrounding it, both in warm and cold seasons.
Parnidis Educational track
Combined forces of nature and human created this landscape of an unspeakable beauty, which can surprise you with the scenery during any season of the year. On Parnidis educational track you’ll visit natural meadows, white and grey dunes and forests planted by the human hands, still, whispering silently of the whole history of the Curonian Spit. You’ll not only going to be surprised by the picturesque scenery and its variety but feel and be filled by the natural forces surrounding you, pleasing your different senses.
The valley of silence
Parnidis educational track starts at the valley of silence. That’s the name for a meadow by the foot of Parnidis dune where you can always find a peace and a refuge from winds coming from the endless sea. All of the settlements in the Curonian Spit is by the Curonian Lagoon. The reason for it is that meadows on this side of the peninsula are the safest place for humans to live. The only danger lurking for a several hundred years here is the unstoppable sand dunes, slowly moving toward the east direction.
Parnidis Dune
With a height of 52 m Parnidis dune is one of the tallest in the whole Curonian Spit and the tallest in Nida city region. It is guessed that the name “Parnidis” came from a Lithuanian phrase “perėjusi per Nidą” (walked through Nida) as the dune with the help of the wind had covered the old Nida settlements for a few times. Parnidis dune is just a part of a bigger dune massive which goes either to the south in Kaliningrad region or towards Nida city where it is covered by a human-planted forest. Parnidis dune is one of the prime relief formations in the whole Curonian Spit, a sand mountain, which consumed the old parabolic dunes (U-Shape form dunes), endless forests and few settlements.
These dunes started to form in the 16th century when a mass deforestation of the area started. The destruction of a natural relief resulted in a dune movement from the sea coastline to the Curonian lagoon side. At the end of 19th settlers started to try to stabilize the situation by mass forestation and building a protective ridge on the sea coastline. This ridge cut the source of a sand for the dunes provided by the Baltic Sea.
Parnidis Sundial - Calendar
In the year 1995 on the top of Parnidis dune a sundial – calendar was built. Its crown jewel – obelisk is 12 m tall with 2 m beneath the ground, with a weight of 200 tons it was transported from Vyborg pits in Russia. It is decorated with the symbols copied from the 17th century old wooden rune calendar.
The whole area is covered with granite plates at 16 different heights marking 12 months and 4 solstice and equinox lines. Curonian Spit is the only suitable place for such a complex construction, actually, the conditions here are perfect – it is the only place in Lithuania where the sun rises and sets into the water which opens the absolute mathematical horizon.
It is a truly amazing place as by observing the sundial – calendar you can understand how everything is in sync with the natural rhythms. With the help of the structure like an ancient pagan priest or priestess, one can tell if it is a solstice or equinox, when the Sun sets into the direction of one of the four sculptural shapes, symbolizing the corresponding seasons. And that’s not it, you can also tell the length of the day of any month in a year, divided into hours showing the exact true local Lithuanian time – Greenwich Mean Time GMT+2 hours.
It was destroyed by the hurricane Anatolia in 1999 and rebuilt only in 2011, a bit higher at 13,8 m and way lighter – only 36 t.
For more information, please, visit the official website for Curonian Spit tourism http://visitneringa.com/en
Or official website of Curonian Spit National Park management:
http://nerija.am.lt/en/VI/index.php
Between life and death
Though these amber-toned sandy lands during the summer are not as lifeless as it might look from the first impression, the winter brings a totally different mood. The beautiful golden dunes during the cold season turn into the gray and silent valley of the death. It is when you understand the reason for its name as it is usually a vivid and lively valley between Parnidis and Gliders dunes.
During a winter the place feels like a planet forced out of its Goldilocks zone into the vast and cold nothingness of the eternal abyss. Life doesn’t seem to be self-sustainable anymore and you no longer hear cheerful voices of playing children and relaxed adults. The sun is absent and so is the time, the sun clock stands without a purpose as the shadow engulfs everything you see and dare to touch.
The golden dunes are dead, long live the frozen dunes
Even the amber sands get frozen and the ever-changing landscape stops in time as well. Nevertheless, all of this makes the place even more magnificent, the contrast between the seasons makes one cherish the balance of the nature we live in. And even though everything around you seems to be lost forever, it always bounces back. It is like a phoenix, incapable of the burdens of his own sins, bursts into the death until it rejuvenates for a new life, the cycle repeats.
Part 2 to be released on Friday (07.06)
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This is a special post from my adventures, based on two journey, one at late January and the other one early June. Both done this year.
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Author: Mantas Ališauskas
Photography: Mantas Ališauskas
Design: Mantas Ališauskas
Website: http://www.ctdots.eu
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Want to learn more about Lithuanian nature and it's National parks? Check out older articles:
https://www.minds.com/blog/view/851703319499554816
https://www.minds.com/blog/view/849089614141456384