Latvia

We arrived in Liepāja, Latvia today. It’s sort of a transitional stop, probably our last in Latvia, for just one night, on our way to the Curonian Spit in Lithuania.

Our guidebook describes Liepāja as a city whose “growing pains are evident in the visual clash of gritty warehouses stacked next to swish hipster bars and tricked-out nightclubs.” That made it sound like a perfect place to stop for a night. On top of that, you can walk in minutes from the city center to a long stretch of Baltic Sea beach.

We sat down for lunch on a nice outdoor terrace, wary of the moody weather, but eventually got chased inside by rain. After lunch we explored the city, and then the beach, and then more city under varying degrees of rainfall. It certainly wasn’t beach weather, though I love to see the sea in moody weather. The weather also fit in well with the rest of the city, which we found had wonderful gritty charm. Charming in some rather peculiar ways.

Beautiful wooden houses, melancholy in the rain

Beautiful wooden houses, melancholy in the rain

Huge old Soviet style sculpture seemingly 'junked' in the back of a museum scrap area

Huge old Soviet style sculpture seemingly ‘junked’ in the back of a museum scrap area

Ooh! This one's for sale!

Ooh! This one’s for sale!

Random person lurking in the doorway of one of those melancholy houses

Random person lurking in one of the doorways

We’re in quite a new phase of this adventure now. We woke up yesterday not knowing where we would be today, and woke up today not knowing where we’d be tomorrow. Basically, now we’re just making it up as we go along. Right now the goal is to make it to the western coast of Lithuania, to the Curonian Spit, a thin and fragile wedge of sand separating the Baltic Sea from the Curonian Lagoon. There is supposed to be great bicycling along the Split and nice beaches as well. As you may know, bicycles and beaches rank high on our “what should we do today?” scale, so that’s where we’re heading.

Today’s journey was a two-and-a-half hour bus ride from Riga to Kuldiga, a town Lonely Planet calls far enough from Riga to be a “perfect reward for the intrepid traveler.” It is, in fact, a really beautiful town with lots of old architecture, new parks, and bike paths. So after getting to the hotel, first up was a 90-minute bike ride through the country. Nothing spectacular, just a very pretty, bucolic ride on a little pavement, a lot of gravel, and occasionally just a couple of ruts.  Here are some pics.

Mark on the trail

Mark on the trail

Through the woods

Through the woods

Out in the country

Out in the country

Then, after lunch and a rain delay, we did a walking tour of the town. One of the great things here is that they have a really nice Info office with great maps and English-language self-guided tours, so off we went. It was really striking, this great combination of beautiful buildings, crumbling buildings, and beautifully maintained and renovated parks. And firewood. It seemed like every yard in the city had a year’s worth of firewood already split and piled. I felt warm just looking at it all.

Kuldiga claims to have the widest natural waterfall in all Europe, though it's somewhat less impressive than that might sound

Kuldiga claims to have the widest natural waterfall in all Europe, though it’s somewhat less impressive than that might sound. Note the kids standing there jumping into the river; it looked like fun, but it was for kids…

Very cool statue called "Transporting," honoring the local Duke of Courland who established colonies in Tobago and Gambia

Very cool statue called “Transporting,” honoring the local Duke of Courland who established colonies in Tobago and Gambia

Typical property

Typical property

Former bell tower to a one-time cemetery

Former bell tower to a one-time cemetery; the only traces left are the occasional bones that appear

Mark in Kuldiga

Mark in Kuldiga

The city leaders are clearly making major efforts in the city – half the streets in the center are torn up, being renovated. You know, public works jobs, investments to make the city better for the long term. Something we should try in the States, maybe…

Finally, a new candidate for worst cocktail ever. I ordered a Dzeimess Bond, which if you sound it out phonetically is James Bond, which is how the waiter pronounced it.  Supposed to be a vodka martini. I can say with some certainty that Dzeimess Bond would not have ordered a drink with more vermouth than vodka, with crushed ice, with a straw, with a lemon slice and olives … in a margarita glass! Mark’s gin martini had the same flaws. It was really a great restaurant with very affordable prices, but they have a bit to learn about cocktails.

A great restaurant with a very bad martini

A great restaurant with a very bad martini

Tomorrow is another reasonably short bus ride to Liepaja and then the following day (the days do have names here, but I really have no idea what today is, so how would I know what tomorrow or the day after would be?) on to Klaipeda, Lithuania. It’s crazy – a week ago I’d never heard of Kuldiga, Liepeja, or Klaipeda. This is a good way to discover the world!

We continue to be amazed by Riga’s vast cultural and architectural offerings. We spent a good chunk of today walking through the city to spot the hundreds of Jugendstil (aka Art Nouveau) buildings blanketing the town.

This style spread wildly throughout Europe at the turn of the 20th century, inspired by, among other things, Japanese wood block prints. The style is characterized by wildly curving lines, complicated intertwined floral patterns, and depictions of humans and animals in strangely distressed states. The architectural forms took on their own personality in Riga, which claims to have the biggest collection of Jugendstil buildings anywhere.

Bay windows with stunning detail

Bay windows with stunning detail

The Riga Graduate School of Law is just covered with these dramatic scenes

The Riga Graduate School of Law is just covered with these dramatic scenes

Helpers holding up this ornate facade

Helpers holding up this ornate facade

Dramatic faces

Faces filled with drama

Very unhappy woman

Very unhappy woman

Embassy Row is lined with these incredible buildings

Embassy Row is lined with these incredible buildings

Melancholy figure looks out from above the door to the Slovenian embassy

Melancholy figure looks out from above the door to the Slovenian embassy

Eery robotic figure

Eery robotic guy

This house sits across the street from an old merchants' guild house. when the owner of this place  was denied entry to the guild, he topped his building with two of these cats, with their rear ends facing the guild. After an uproar and some legal wrangling, the guy got turned the cats around and got into the guild.

This house sits across the street from an old merchants’ guild house. when the owner of this place was denied entry to the guild, he topped his building with two of these cats, with their rear ends facing the guild. After an uproar and some legal wrangling, the guy turned the cats around and got into the guild.

OK, that's just a regular cat in a window, but hey, it's my blog

OK, that’s just a regular cat in a window, but hey, it’s my blog