Around Kaliningrad – National Park of Curonian Spit

Perhaps even more than the capital city of Kaliningrad, the region which bear the same name is famous for its Baltic coast, which always been know to be a great place to relax, for spa treatments, or simply tourism. There are many interesting places on the Baltic coast, if you are here for a short time, three places are really worth a visit: города Светлогорск и Зеленоградск (the cities of Svetlogorsk and Zelenogradsk), and национальный парк Куршская коса (the national park of Curonian Spit).

The National park of Curonian Spit

The National park of Curonian Spit настоящая жемчужина всего региона (is the real jewel in the region). It is said that the park is so unusual and interesting that, though it is the smallest one in Russia, it is perhaps the most visited. Здесь любой турист найдёт себе занятие по душе (there is something for everyone coming here). Spit is отличное место для наблюдения за птицами (a great place for bird watching), because this is one of the most ancient migration routes for birds from northern Europe to the South, as well as Africa. The village of Rybachy house one of the oldest орнитологическая станция (ornithological station) in the world and the first one in Europe. The station was founded by Johannes Thienemann in 1901.

Six different hiking trails will allow tourists to discover the flora and fauna of the Curonian Spit and observe the diversity of species. The most popular of these trails are “Танцующий лес” (the Dancing Forest), and “Высота Эфа” (the Epha’s Height). The first trail leads you to wonderful whimsical and flamboyant pines, which are concentrated in a unique place of the spit. Following the second you will see the sand dunes of the spit in all their glory. The highest point of the dunes was named “Высота Эфа” (Epha’s Height) в честь лесовода Франца Эфа (in honour of dune inspector Franz Epha), whose work allowed to stop the huge sand dunes from moving by stabilising them with plants, saving many villages from being buried by sand.

Those who are not interested in the natural beauty of the park (although they can’t be that numerous), may during the warm season dip in the waters of the Baltic Gulf and relax on beautiful sandy beaches. С 2000 года национальный парк Куршская коса входит в список Всемирного наследия ЮНЕСКО (since 2000, the national park Curonian Spit is a UNESCO World Heritage site).

Евгения Плещунова