The town Valga straddles the border of Estonia and Latvia, in fact it has two names, Valga for the Estonian half and Valka for the Latvian. Driving through the town and across the border we noticed the first obvious difference between these two neighbouring countries – the state of the roads. Estonian roads hadn’t been great in remote places but Latvia was on an entirely different level, and this was a main urban road. We bumped our way through the border town and hoped it would improve. It didn’t.
You can’t judge a country by its roads, and Latvia proved this to us.
Rural Latvia looks much like Estonia, gently undulating fields of grain, beans and peas, and large swathes of forest. We noticed the houses and farm buildings were a bit more rundown than those in Estonia, rustic may be a fairer term.
Our first destination in Latvia was the historic town of Cesis in the middle of the Gauja National Park. This charming town is almost succumbing to the forest that surrounds it, tree roots raise footpaths and crumbling buildings are overgrown with lush vegetation. It’s understandable given Cesis is over 800 years old.
Our campsite was 4 kilometres out of town in a beautiful forested valley by a river. The facilities weren’t great but at 15 euros for the night it was cheap and the setting was lovely. Being in a valley meant a steep hill to bike up back to town. It was a slow bike in but a super-fast trip back.
In the centre of Cesis is the town’s pride and joy, the lovingly cared for medieval castle built at the start of the 13th century. We were amongst a handful of tourists there that day which made exploring the castle ruins all the more enjoyable. We clambered up the steep stone steps of the castle tower in pitch darkness only to realise we could have taken one of the quaint candle lanterns they were handing out at anther entrance. Touches like the lanterns, the working silver smith, and well stocked kitchen garden, complete with a medieval herbalist giving tastings of his concoctions, added to the experience.
The rest of the old part of Cesis is charming and remains much the same as it would have been in the Middle Ages, with red tiled roofs and cobbled streets, but it is in need of repair. St John’s church beside the castle was built at the end of the 13th century and is showing its age. You feel for these towns, they have the weight of responsibility to preserve history but the cost and effort required must be huge.
After leaving Cesis we continued through the Gauja National Park to Ligatne, a town balanced between the 200-year-old paper mill that provides a livelihood for residents and the national park that brings in tourists. We were there to visit the Ligatne Nature Trails. I had read that they were worth visiting and it was an opportunity to see some of the region’s wildlife up close, but we didn’t know what to expect and in the back of my mind I hoped I wasn’t dragging Mr Love along to a quasi-zoo. It was far from this. More than 5kms of trails wind through the forest with intermittent large enclosures housing Latvian animals and birds in very natural settings. Instead of cages keeping the animals in, it was more barriers to protect us. The animals are rescued wildlife brought from all over Latvia. We got to see bears and finally the elusive moose so we were happy.
Our next stop was Riga, Latvia’s capital and the largest of the three Baltic capitals. You would expect the motorway into a major city would be less bumpy. It was worse. The road looked like a crazy patchwork quilt. The van rocked and rolled its way into Riga accompanied by a chorus of glasses clinking, pots clattering and bottles clanking.
Riga has a population of 640,000 and immediately seemed a lot more cosmopolitan than quaint Tallinn. Like Tallinn, our camping ground was a summer pop-up motorhome park using the facilities of an event centre. When we arrived it was teeming with campers squeezed onto every square metre and the atmosphere was buzzing. These pop-up camping sites are brilliant, they provide camping so close to the city centre without permanently taking up valuable land, and they make use of facilities that are lying unused over summer – it’s a win win.
We arrived in the late afternoon, parked up, plugged the van in and then headed off on our trusty bikes over the river Daugava to the city. The pedestrian only Old Town was the perfect place to start, and after locking up the bikes we wandered the streets for a couple of hours absorbing the mood of the place and taking in our surrounds, before stopping for a local beer and some people watching in Dome Square.
Our first impressions were of a grubbier, grittier city than Tallinn, larger, not as quaint, and more commercial. However, over the next few days this city grew on us, and we were once again reminded to not judge too quickly.
Riga is renowned for its architecture. Over the 800 odd years of the city’s existence different rulers and regimes have stamped their mark through buildings, giving the city a rich and diverse cityscape. Gothic church spires dot the skyline of the Old Town, medieval merchant houses line the cobbled streets, and buildings like the 14th century House of Blackheads, with its opulent red Dutch Renaissance exterior, add grandeur and drama. The famous Three Brothers, a charming trio of houses each built in a different century, stand shoulder to shoulder, the oldest from the 15th century. Outside the Old Town are the fascinating Art Nouveau facades of Albert Street, one of the world’s best collections of this style, and with some wrapped for restoration it looks like they require a lot of TLC to keep their glory. The influence of the Russian Empire is evident in the curvaceous 19th century Nativity of Christ Cathedral towering over the Esplanade. There’re also buildings from the Soviet Era, their ugliness ironic, a bitter reminder for the Latvians of an unpleasant past.
Riga is situated on what was once the Amber Road, an ancient trade route that transferred amber from the Baltic Sea to Rome, and further still to the Pharaohs of Egypt, as early as 3,000 years ago. This fossilised tree resin has been appreciated for its colour and beauty since Neolithic times and amber trading has been a major part of Riga’s story over the centuries. Today Old Town Riga is filled with boutiques selling amber jewellery and souvenirs. We couldn’t come to Riga and not buy some, so we splashed out on some jewellery, a pair of earrings for me and another to be sent back to NZ for a birthday present.
While we were in Riga we celebrated 8 weeks on the road with dinner at Salve, a traditional Latvian restaurant in the Old Town. We dined on salted herring with cottage cheese, salmon potato cakes, homemade sausage with stewed cabbage, and Latvian stroganoff, accompanied by a Spanish red, and all for under $100 NZD. Both Mr Love and I are adventurous eaters, we eat lots of spicy food and love Asian cuisine, but neither of us are very used to the flavours used in these Baltic dishes. They use a lot of dill, pink peppercorns, fennel seeds, and cream. These are very traditional European flavours, but we think our palates have got too used to Pacific rim food as we found it all very rich, especially Andrew who had a rough night afterwards.
On Sunday morning, on the way to the Central Markets, we took in the Riga Ghetto Museum. This is an outdoor exhibition about the horror inflicted on the Jewish population in Riga and Latvia during the German occupation in WWII. As confronting as the exhibition was, the fact that Soviet Era authorities didn’t recognise Jewish suffering, so museums like this have only existed since Latvia gained independence, and that remembrance days and commemorations were banned during this time, was more provoking for us. Latvians had never been allowed to grieve. We are learning more and more about the effects of the Soviet Era on the people of these Baltic countries. Calling it the Soviet Occupation and talking of Freedom, not just independence, makes you realise this was inflicted on them, they did not willingly join the USSR.
The Central Markets were vibrant, colourful and busy. Rows and rows of stands heavy with produce welcomed us – plump sun ripened tomatoes, buckets of blueberries, lettuces, courgettes, strawberries, grapes, enormous watermelons, and herbs of every variety – it was heaven for Mr Love and that was before entering the fresh fish hall! Laden down with fish, fruit and veg we headed back to camp for lunch.
Sunday afternoon was spent biking through the leafy city parks, along the grass banks of Pilsetas Canal where locals were picnicking and enjoying the sunshine, and back along the Daugava River.
The next morning it was time to say goodbye to Riga and hit the road again.
On the way from Riga through to Lithuania we visited Rundale Palace. This grand Baroque palace is one of Latvia’s hidden gems. Designed by the Russian-Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the architect responsible for the magnificent Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, it is simply stunning, and not what you’d expect to find in the middle of rural Latvia. Built in the 1730’s it was originally the summer residence for the Duke of Courland but has had a varied history over time, being a garrison for the German Army in the first world war and then a hospital, a school, and even used to store grain before becoming a museum again in the 1970’s. The interiors are grandiose, but the garden was the highlight for us. The beautifully designed French garden perfectly frames this glamourous palace.
From Rundale Palace we drove on to Lithuania.
Our five days in Latvia may not have been long enough, but we feel we’re getting to know these countries a little more. Like Estonians, Latvians fly their flags high, proud of their hard-earned freedom, a story we were just starting to come to terms with and what we will learn more about in the third of these endearing Baltic states, Lithuania.
