From Vilnius I took a long uneventful bus ride out to the coast to nice enough but unexciting town called Klaipeda. From there I took a ferry out to the Curonian Spit. It's a 100km long sand and pine forest peninsula stretching up from the Russian province of Kalingrad in the south east of Lithuania. Battered by the Baltic Sea on one side and lapped by the calm waters of a lagoon on the other, it is, to all intents and purposes like an island I think. Mainly national parl, I managed to find a room with a lovely old lady in the southernmost village of Nida. The traditional architecture is postcard perfect brightly painted wooden houses with colourful weathervanes and decorated eaves. I spent a delightful couple of days pottering about, hunting for amber on the seashore and rolling down massive sand dunes. Hardly spoke to anyone - believe it or not!!! Caught up on some sleep and reading. Perfect recharging of the soul.