Curonian Spit - a diamond in the crown of northwestern Russia

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People make up legends about everything that does not fit into the ordinary understanding of a person. This happened with the Curonian Spit, which, in the opinion of the Baltic tribe who once lived in this place, was created specifically to facilitate their harsh life.

There used to be a village here, the inhabitants of which were engaged in fishing with great risk to their lives. But the sea was stormy and therefore fishermen often died. The gods took pity on people, and one day a daughter was born into the family of the fisherman Carwaith. Her parents named her Neringa. The girl grew by leaps and bounds and very quickly grew into a big giantess. The girl was kind and knew how to sympathize with others. She was very sorry for the fishermen and one night she left the house and began to pick up stones and sand in an apron and carry it all in the sea.

Curonian Spit By morning, before the eyes of the amazed inhabitants, there was a whole embankment that separated the sea from the formed bay. He was calm and quiet. Of course, scientists gave their interpretation to the formation of the spit, concluding that the spit was formed as a result of sediments brought by the current, erosion of the coastline. But dry truth is not always more useful than a beautiful legend, especially if its hero is a person who unselfishly serves people.

Only in nature do you realize all the futility of everyday life

Man surrounded himself with a variety of inventions that facilitate his everyday and industrial life. How much anxiety and nerves it will cost him if some device fails. Not a single person, especially those living in a metropolis, will be able to stay in the absolute silence of their apartment for more than a minute. He will immediately suspect that something is amiss. And he will be right. But when he gets to the Curonian Spit, he no longer needs anything except to sit in absolute silence, when you are wrapped in universal calm and harsh beauty. If you don't plunge into this aura at least sometimes, you can lose many of your human qualities.

National Reserve Curonian Spit

Of all the noises, there is only a slight noise of the Baltic wind, which stops immediately in front of the wall of the forest approaching the sea. At your feet, gentle waves are splashing, which seem to caress the coastal sand. It also happens when the sea storms, gets angry at something, and then realizes that the anger was not directed there and, as an excuse, brings frozen pieces of the sun - golden amber - ashore.

For a long time, people tried to turn the braid into a workshop. Vikings, Balts, Curonians killed the game, thoughtlessly cut down trees, clearing areas for crops and grazing. Nature almost lost this battle, although she resisted as fiercely as she was treated. More than one village remained under the sands covered with it. This confrontation between man and nature lasted for several centuries. The entire history of this struggle is reflected in the local museum. In the end, man realized that when he was at war with nature, he was at war with himself, and even more with his descendants. Beauty should be admired, and if you touch it, let alone trample it, it will perish. And without beauty, the meaning of life is lost. Therefore, the Curonian Spit received the status of a national park included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Miracles of the Curonian Spit

Now the spit is crossed by paths laid in those places from where you can admire the pine trees rushing into the sky. Only here you can see the amazing dancing of trees, looking at which it is impossible to resist. You lose your will and, as if hypnotized, you begin to make some steps and do not notice the time at all. Until now, scientists cannot give an explanation for this phenomenon and therefore, as always in such cases, they refer to magnetic fields.And the trees seem to be spinning in front of you and you, without fear, look at it in fascination. Here, patterns appear in front of the eyes of the tourist, symbolizing some incomprehensible meaning and natural sculptures. Here one can feel cosmic peace and complete detachment from earthly concerns.

Curonian Spit Here you will see Korolevskiy Bor - hunting grounds that did not know what an ax is for 800 years. Wandering sands, dunes and the mirror-like surface of the Baltic.

There are two fishing villages on the spit - Rybachy and Lesnoye. Many countries have their own ways of preparing fish dishes. And sometimes the amount of spices far exceeds the amount of the fish itself. In these villages, the only spice in fish cooking is salt. But nowhere else they know how to smoke fish here. Scent smoked fish here you can drown out only one way - to eat it. No matter how and in whatever you wrap it, in half an hour the people around you will begin to look with concern like Pavlov's dogs at the irritant, against which you cannot resist. But this is not worth resisting. You just need to go to the Curonian Spit, where the visitor will forget about the fish, amazed by the local beauty. Here it is enough to sit by the sea to touch eternity and there is no need to rush anywhere.

You can come here in winter

The winter forest is hidden under the snow and sees a wild boar rushing past, a graceful roe deer, a hare jumping in different directions and a fox sniffing with its nose in the snow. The existence of these animals can be guessed from the traces they leave. And they don't trust a person. They even try not to approach the footpaths. Although it has been quiet here for a long time, no shots are thundering, no machinery is making noise. Here one rests with the soul and turns to the soul. The gold of the sands, the April meadow and the few children collecting flowers, who themselves seem to be exotic flowers, gallant and formal fishermen, in whose professional movements there is not a single superfluous gesture. It seems that evolution has not touched this corner and therefore nature is simply overflowing with expression.

Yarmolenko V.O.