Latvia, Regal Palace, Riga and Rustic Buildings.
We left lovely Lithuania and drove over the border into Latvia, not much different scenery wise, lots of small farms, forests and wildflowers on the sides of the road. Buildings were much the same as well, wooden houses, old soviet style apartment blocks, abandoned buildings and rustic run down farm buildings dotting the countryside. It was a lovely drive nonetheless and we enjoyed looking at the countryside and small villages as we continued on our way.
Our first stop in Latvia was Rundāle Palace one of the most outstanding monuments of Baroque and Rococo art in Latvia. It was built between 1736 and 1740 as a summer residence of Duke Ernst Johann of Courland. It reminded us of the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, but with a more relaxed style and Jenny was happy to be allowed to take photos. It is hard to imagine this place as being a home for someone, but I assume you would get used to the lavish decorations and decor if you were brought up with it. After a turn around the gardens and a beer & wine by the gazebo we thought it time to leave as we planned to be in Riga that afternoon.
We drove to the City Camping in Riga which was very busy, there was a large group of motorhomes traveling together with Perestroika Tours. They were on their way to Russia. (another idea for a trip?) The campground seemed to be mostly a carpark for a industrial, Expo site and where we ended up staying had a lovely view of sides of building and left over industrial trash..nice? We decided that you can’t have everything, the advantage of this site was it’s easy access to the city and so we got on our trusty bikes again and rode into the old city centre. After negotiating the bridge we decided to follow our instincts and let a local lead the way into town, this proved a good idea as they went a round about way which meant it was easier to cross the heavy traffic coming off the bridge.
When we got to one of the town square (which are not always square) we notice a walking tour being touted. Ewout decided to talk to the young people and we quickly decided to do this. The young man call Michael was very agreeable and suggested we put our bikes in their office for safekeeping which we quickly agreed. (We met some fellow Aussies the night before who had their motorhome broken into while parked in the city.. they had a lot stolen and this kind of thing tends to make me feel very nervous.)
Anyway we had a lovely 1 ½ hour walk around the town, being told the very interesting information about the buildings and history of Riga. After our tour, Michael directed us to a nice Cafe where we able to check our emails and have a coffee. We then decided to head off on our bikes to see the large market which occupies buildings originally built to house Zeppelins, before they were abandoned when they were deemed too dangerous. After walking through the fish, meat and vegetables we decided to ride back into the old centre of town and found a cafe set up outside with live music and had some lunch. We both ordered the baked salmon, and it was the best I have ever had… so nice. mmm.
A day was enough for us in Riga so the next day we packed up and left, stopping on the way out of town at a open air Museum. Here we met up with some ladies from Australia traveling with a choir called the Wayfarers, who are traveling Russia, Europe doing concerts and workshops. We had a nice chat before wandering through the old buildings typical of old Latvia.
We then spent two nights camped in a campground that was set up for winter sports. We seemed to be the only ones camping but there were a few using the huts and chalet rooms. It started to rain and set in for a day, so we decided to have a rest day in the camper, reading, watched a movie or two and spend some time using their internet.
