17th of August 2019

The next morning I was planning to explore the village and the areas around it for a while. 

Kicking my day of with a run along the beach of Nida, I eventually found myself on the biggest dune (and elevation) in the area. 

The mighty Parnidis Dune is rising 53 metres above a landscape of pine forests, colourful fishing houses and a lighthouse in the distance. 

After I finished my run at one of the open-air work out parks – appearantly omnipresent in the Baltics – I used the rest of the day to explore more of Nida, which is understandably attracting a fair amount of tourists, with its charming and detached atmosphere, felt among the colourful fishermen houses sprinkled along the coast of the Northern Sea. 

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After exploring the former house – and now museum – of the German author Thomas Mann, I headed to the other side of the island, approximately 1.5km away. While I was heading out of the village into the forrest, I saw some school boys playing basketball, illuminated by the sunrays finding their way through the trees. 

And after that. Silence. 

In not even five minutes I left the village and found myself, only accompanied by the rising pinetrees surrounding me and the occasional song of a bird or a rustling from whatever kind of animal that might have been in that forrest with me. 

No cars, no planes, no electricity, no people talking. Just me and the nature of the Corunian Spit. 

I continued to go further to the beach on the other side of the island and even took a small dive. 

While the sun was setting itself over the island I walked back towards the Paradinis dune and when I ascended out of the forrest onto grasy fields, a deer appeared about 30m in front of me and looked at me for about 10 seconds before it jumped and disappeared into the fields. 

When I arrived at the Paranidis dune, I was rewarded with a stunning view over both, the northern and southern shore, of the island. 

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When looking over the wide imposing landscape of dunes, I was suddenly pushed out of my moment of peace. 

I man, dressed in a black gown was running up the platform, followed by about 100 strangers that were recording every of his movements. And whereas the other people on the platform saw this danger emerging early enough to flee from it, I ended up caged between the edge of the platform and a dancing maniac that seemed to be part of a tourist attraction. 

When those families will look back at their holiday videos they won´t only see an alternative dance performance but also an akward german guy who is asking himself how he ended up in it. 

It all ended when the protagonist decided to make a spectacular leap over the edge of the platform.  Which meant I was finally free from the 5 most surreal minutes of the trip thus far. 

As I left the dune towards Nida, I watched as the strange man was joined by 4 other ¨performers¨ which started some kind of half-naked meditation, a group of 100 tourists running behind them. 

The world is a strange place.

It was already evening when I arrived back in Nida and I enjoyed it in a local restaurant which sold freshly smoked fish with tomatoes for 5€. 

Quite simple but also the best smoked fish I ever ate in my life.

Like this I watched the sun setting and putting the little fishermens village to sleep.