Saturday, September 14th

Leaving Riga in our VW Golf ($12/day) heading west
Quickly agricultural with pine forests and broad vistas as we headed towards a storm front 
First stop an hour from Riga - Jaumokupils/Jaunmoku Pils, the manor home of George Armitstead
(former mayor of Riga and driving force for 800+ Art Nouveau buildings)
A mix of Neo-Gothic with Art Nouveau influences according to the guidebook


This is where guildebooks/research are put to test
Are recommendations real or  inflated/hyped?
 - this one Hyped

Continued west...
Speed limits:
 - 50km/hr (31mi/hr) intersections
 - 90km/hr (56mi/hr) top speed
 - speed cameras plentiful

RED road on the map - Main highway
This road an acceptable two-lane with shoulders,... Surprisingly not four-lane
We can expect: ORANGE lesser highway, YELLOW patched/no shoulder, WHITE barely paved
...Good to know
Next stop: Kandava with castle mounds from the Livonian Order of Knights - Merely a grassy knoll
Next: Pedvale open air sculpture park - Field of rocks on stilts
OK - I'm re-thinking future options
2.5 hour drive brought us to Kuldiga, our destination
A blast from the past
BINGO 
People everywhere - This is where Latvians go for the weekend
Ancient buildings and flowers - No souvenir stands - No tour groups
Just locals on holiday - And weddings - Lots of weddings
Late lunch at cafe above - Once again served the unexpected - Incredibly creative 
I'm fully satisfied - Sandy not so much
Kuldiga is a plethora of ancient wooden buildings dating back to 1600s
Each claiming to be the oldest
Longest horizontal waterfall (240m) in Europe in Kuldiga - Ventas Rumba
 No need to hold a record - It's beautiful
I'm standing on grassy castle mounds given way to a meandering park with sculpture garden
Our abode for two nights a block from the main square
Expensive at $74/night
Really nice space

Heading into days of rain
OUCH for pictures
Adjustments being made in thinking
for tomorrow's excursion into the surrounding area






Comments

  1. Beautiful photos and belated birthday greetings Sandy. Looks like you and Elodie are having a great time!

    ReplyDelete

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