Neringa Municipality

Neringa municipality or Neringa ( pronunciation, Lithuanian: Neringos savivaldybė) is a municipality in westernmost Lithuania, in the Curonian Spit. In terms of population, it is the smallest municipality of the country. Until the Lithuanian municipality reform, it was known as Neringa city, although there was never a true city there. It was made a city only because within the Soviet administrative system it was not possible to carve such small districts, but it was possible to grant rights to a city that it would only be responsible to the state itself rather than districts. Neringa is separated from the mainland Lithuania by Curonian Lagoon which, while there is no bridge, it is still accessible from the mainland by ferry only. The villages in Neringa municipality are Nida, Preila, Pervalka and Juodkrantė. They are tourist resorts and by then it was popular to grant more self-government to resorts. The municipality is the only one in Lithuania which is not called after a town or city. The name Neringa was created at Soviet time for the new city municipality.