Studying the map, and doing some planning in our hotel room we were struck by how close we were across the sea from Sweden and out walking we had seen signs advertising ferries. Our original plan had been to travel next to Estonia then onto Finland, but the idea of a ferry to Sweden sounded great. We went to a travel agent and were advised that the next evenings ferry was almost full, but had a few seats still available. We raced back to our hotel to see if we could extend one night, then back to the travel agent only to find the ferry tickets had been sold!

Now we had extended our hotel and we needed a plan B. Sonata from Krantis Travel offered another idea. We take a different ferry with cabins from Riga in Latvia and catch a bus there the next day, in time for the sailing. Back to Riga??. If you have been following our stories you will know we keep circling back to Riga! Well, we went with the plan and booked, then set out to go and visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Curonian Spit we had come to see.

The Spit is a tiny long strip of land owned in the North by Lithuania and in the South by the Kaliningrad Region of Russia, and is a haven for bird, animal and plant life and has some of the World's most precious sand dunes. A ferry takes people the short distance across, but as we headed towards the ferry it was already leaving. We saw an old boat with a sign out the front taking passengers over, for the equivalent of $1A each, and jumped on board. Probably illegal but it was fun! 

We enjoyed a walk through the forest to the sand dunes then caught a bus right to the end of the Lithuanian section. Whilst on the bus heavy rain set in and we arrived at Nida with two hours to kill, in driving rain, before the bus back. First job was to buy some disposable rain coats, then do our best to look around with our new plastic protection, and eat. On arrival back at the ferry the heavy rain had driven the ticket seller away, so we got the ferry back for free! Not a bad deal, both ways for a Aussie dollar.

We shouted ourselves that night to a beautiful dinner with wine on the 22nd floor of the tallest building in Klaipeda, with spectacular views over the Spit. The rain had now stopped and we could see right across to the other side from our dinner table.

Back to our room and in excellent spirits from a great day and a night out, disaster struck big time. Our computer fell off the bed ever so gently, but not so gently that it decided it could suffer the fall. The screen was just a jumble of coloured lines and we knew this was going to create difficulties as we were heading to expensive Sweden. Oh well, bite the bullet and see what can be done on arrival. 

Footnote: Curonian Spit is UNESCO World Heritage Listed.

Travel Recommendation: Sonata of Krantas Travel, Tel 8 46 395111  www.krantis.lt or,  [email protected] . Sonata was very helpful and went the second mile to help us find a way to Sweden, when all the ferries were full.