Rybachy was Rossitten when this part of the Curonian Spit belonged to Germany, and the village is known in scientific circles for one thing: birds. In 1901, an ornithologist named Johannes Thienemann founded the world's first bird observatory here, and for more than a century researchers have caught, ringed and released millions of migrants as they funnelled down the spit on their way between Scandinavia and Africa. The spit is a natural bottleneck, with the sea on one side and the lagoon on the other, and in spring and autumn the sky fills with finches, thrushes and birds of prey.
The landscape is one of the most unusual in Europe. The spit is a ribbon of sand, no more than a few kilometres wide and in places just four hundred metres, built up by wind and sea, and the dunes, among the highest moving dunes in the continent, rise as grey-gold hills above the pines. The sand has buried villages in the past, and the forest planted to hold it in place is now a feature of the landscape. On a still evening the air smells of resin and salt, and the sea sounds like breath.
Nida, the main village on the Lithuanian side, lies about twenty kilometres to the north, and is known for the summer house the novelist Thomas Mann built in the early 1930s, now a small museum looking over the lagoon, and for the Parnidis dune, a high viewpoint with a sundial. A border crossing lies between the two settlements, and rules for crossing change, so check conditions and carry the right documents before you attempt it. Do not assume that a route is open.
For riders, the road along the spit is flat, straight and narrow, with forest on both sides and glimpses of water, and there is something calming about it. Speed limits are low, and there are checks for entry to the national park. Services are few. Rybachy has a shop or two and a handful of guesthouses, but fuel is scarce, and the nearest large town is Zelenogradsk, some thirty kilometres south, so fill up there. Mosquitoes can be fierce in summer, and in winter the wind is bitter. Early morning in May or September, when the birds are moving, is the best time to be here.