According to the weather forecast the weekend of September 25-26 was going to be sunny and warm: around 20 Celsius. So I packed my bags, left Siaulai and headed to Klaipeda, on the West coast of Lithuania - to the beach. Quite ironic coming from a person who prefers cloudy days over sunny days. Nonetheless, I made my way. After all, who knows when I'll be in the region again to see the Baltic Sea.
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Four hours later I arrived at the Klaipeda train station. My welcoming party was already there waiting for me - she's an acquaintance of a good friend of mine. It's quite serendipitous: my friend met her at a business conference not long ago and, afterwards, has been meaning to put together a joint project that would benefit both organizations they work for. The project is still in the works, but I beat my friend to Lithuania. It was a hectic day for my welcoming party, I quickly jumped in her car, she gave some bearings around town and drove me to the place where I'll be staying at. Once I got checked in she said: "we'll talk tomorrow about doing lunch!" and left.
I wasted not time: I dropped my backpack and headed out towards the coast. Klaipeda is a port town, people usually get to the beach by ferry to the Curonian Spit - a long and thin peninsula just off the coast. This peninsula is not a barren piece of land. Far from it, it's actually a national park. From the ferry port all you see is a line of tall trees that runs parallel the coast. Between the port and the peninsula is the Curonian Lagoon while the Baltic Sea is on the other side of the peninsula, hidden by those tall trees. The ferry trip was brief. On the Curonian Spit I walked on a path locked by trees on both sides. Green color and the smell of bark were all around. Then the trees ended. I squinted, shielded my eyes with my hand and looked up: I could see the sky - washed out blue with no cloud in sight. In front of me was a large sand dune. On top of the dune my eyes were suddenly washed with the deep blue color of the Baltic Sea. It moved and breathed like a dream - as if I absorbed some kind of hallucinogenic substance during my short walk across the national park and the sight of the Baltic Sea was the product of my mind gone high. Adding to this drug-free trip is the bright white sand. It's not soft like that on the beaches of the countries I've been to in Middle East. The sand here is more compact and crunches under your shoe, like when walking on snow.
People were swimming; children were playing in the sea; a group played volleyball while others just lounged on the sand. I walked near the water with only a t-shirt on. A few bikers rode passed me and I turned around to stare at them. Not only have I never seen people ride their bikes on a beach but I could swear that their wheels hovered in the air by just an inch!
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