Sights in Nemunas Delta
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Šilutė
The gateway into the extraordinary Nemunas Delta, where the Nemunas River ends its 937km journey from its source in neighbouring Belarus to the Curonian Lagoon, is Šilutė (population 25,000), a sleepy town 48km south of Klaipėda. Šilutė's only hotel is too grim to mention.
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Rusnė
In the heart of the Nemunas Delta is Rusnė, 8km southwest of Šilutė, where the main stream divides into three: the Atmata, the Pakalnė and the Skirvytė. In this fishing village there is nothing to do except gawp at its two badly stocked food shops, regret not bringing a picnic to enjoy on its pretty riverbanks, and visit the tiny Ethnographic Farmstead Museum.
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Kintai
A Teutonic Order castle was built in Ventės Ragas in the 1360s to protect shipping in the area, only for the castle and its church to collapse within a couple of hundred years due to the severity of storms on this isolated point (in German, it was called Windenburg meaning Windy Castle). The church was rebuilt, only to be storm-wrecked again in 1702. Its stones were used to build a new church at Kintai, 10km north on the regional park's northeastern boundary.
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Water-pumping Station
Dike-protected polders (land reclaimed from the sea) cover the park, the first polder being built in 1840 to protect Rusnė. The red-brick water-pumping station (1907) near the lighthouse (švyturys) in Uostadvaris, 8km from the bridge in Rusnė, can be visited upon request; you can swim in the river from the small beach here. Many lower polders are still flooded seasonally and serve as valuable spawning grounds for various fish species (there are some 60 in the park).
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Ethnographic Farmstead Museum
In the heart of the Nemunas Delta is Rusnė, 8km southwest of Šilutė, where the main stream divides into three: the Atmata, the Pakalnė and the Skirvytė.
In this fishing village there is nothing to do except gawp at its two badly stocked food shops, regret not bringing a picnic to enjoy on its pretty riverbanks, and visit the tiny Ethnographic Farmstead Museum, signposted 1.8km from the village. Exhibitions of traditional tools, furnishings and wooden farm buildings reflect the harsh face of delta life several centuries ago - and today.
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Mingė
From Nida there are seasonal boats across the lagoon to the delta settlement of Mingė (also called Minija after the river that forms the main 'street' through the village). No more than 100 people live in Mingė - dubbed the Venice of Lithuania - and only two families still speak Lietuvinkai, an ethnic dialect of Lithuanian distinct to the delta.
The 19th-century riverside houses are made of wood with reed roofs and are protected architectural monuments. A good way to explore this area is by bicycle; from Mingė a cycling track runs around Lake Krokų Lanka, the largest lake in the park at 4km long and 3.3km wide.
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Ventės Ragas Ornithological Station
Bar a few fishers' houses and the lighthouse (1862), the main attraction in Ventės Ragas is the Ventės Ragas Ornithological Station, 66km south of Klaipėda at the end of the Kintai-Ventė road. The first bird-ringing station was established here in 1929, but it was not until 1959 to 1960 that large bird traps were installed here.
Today, one million birds pass through the station each migratory period, zigzag, snipe, cobweb and duck traps temporarily ensnaring birds to be ringed. Two exhibitions rooms inside the station explain Nemunas birdlife and an observation deck encourages visitors to spot species first-hand.
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Ventės Ragas
Ventės Ragas (literally 'world's edge') is a sparsely inhabited area on the tip of the south-pointing promontory of the delta, which, with its dramatic nature and uplifting isolation, is beautifully wild. Bar a few fishers' houses and the lighthouse (1862), the main attraction here is the Ventės Ragas Ornithological Station, 66km south of Klaipėda at the end of the Kintai-Ventė road.
A Teutonic Order castle was built here in the 1360s to protect shipping in the area, only for the castle and its church to collapse within a couple of hundred years due to the severity of storms on this isolated point (in German, it was called Windenburg meaning Windy Castle). The church…
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Nemunas Delta Regional Park
The soggy cluster of islands form a savage but serenely beautiful landscape protected since 1992 by the Nemunas Delta Regional Park. One-fifth of the park is water - which freezes most winters, exposing hardy residents to extreme weather conditions. Rusnė Island, the largest island, covers 48 sq km and increases in size by 15cm to 20cm a year.
Boat is the main form of transport, villagers being transported in and out of the park by an amphibious tractor from March to mid-May, when merciless spring floods plunge about 5% of the park under water. In 1994 flood waters rose to 1.5m in places, although 40cm to 70cm is the norm. Dike-protected polders (land reclaimed from the…
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English-speaking Bird Watching Guide
Two exhibitions rooms inside the Ventės Ragas Ornithological Station explain Nemunas birdlife and an observation deck encourages visitors to spot species first-hand. Vytas is a local English-speaking ornithological guide.
This wetland is a twitcher's heaven. Some 270 of the 325 bird species found in Lithuania frequent the Nemunas Delta Regional Park, many rare birds breeding in the lush marshes around Rusnė, including rare black storks, white-tailed eagles, black-tailed godwits, pintails, dunlin, ruff and great snipe. The common white stork breeds like there's no tomorrow in Ventė.
The Arctic-European-East African bird migration flight path cuts through the park, making…
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