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