Road trip to Latvia and Lithuania part2.

Day 2.

After a good night sleep it was time to head to Cesis, a town with 20,000 residents. First job was find a parking lot, after that we decided to check out the castle of a 16th century castle. Entry fee was 2 Ls, and it included two exhibitions as well.

Cēsis Castle of the Livonian Order

 We took our time making our way around the ruins, and hunger decided our next location for us. We wondered around looking for a place to eat, and we came across Rose Square. In one corner there was this small terrace with just few tables, and we decided to give it a chance (and there was bbq-friday). The waitress/cook was quite a character, and was doing the barbie next to our table. Though the food and service was great and the self-made ice tea delicious, it was little expensive. But if your not on tight budget, I really suggest this place for anyone.

After the lunch we headed across the square to St Johns Church, built in the late 13th century. Nothing really special in that building. So we decided to head for the Ligatne nature trail and drive the car route around because we didn't have the time to make the 5,5 km walk. But of course we got there five minutes after closing. No luck with this one and the clock was ticking, we had to start driving towards Jürmala, our second pit-stop.

The pavement quality on A2 didn't offer any better driving experince, so still doing about 10km/h under the limit. It got little better just outside riga, but still nothing I was used to back home. Nevertheless we managed to arrive our next place of stay, Valensija hotel. The hotel itself was a big disappointment. A "four-star" hotel didn't accept credit card payment, only cash. And for that we asked for a receipt, 'cause we don't want to feed any gray economy. After five minutes negotiation, we received the receipt. The room was very ascetic, but we didn't mind for it, 'cause we stayed only for one night. We unpacked a fresh set of clothes, showered the days dust off and headed towards the main pedestrian street. The feeling was just like you were somewhere in Spain. Warm summer breeze in the darkening night , tourists everywhere, bars and dinner places on both sides of the street... After a good italian dinner and a few glasses of wine, it was time to call it for the day.

One more thing, the rooms walls were like paper. Fortunetly we didn't have any loud neighbours. Oh well, time to check out the "four-star" and head to grab some brekkie down to the pedestrian street. After getting some much needed energy, it was time to check out the famous Jürmala beach. The beach didn't lose for those in the mediterranean countries.

Jürmala beach. 

I'm not a beach person, so I left the missus to catch some tan and headed for a walk. What really was weird, there was abandoned houses every now and then. And right next door was a multi-billion state-of-the-art houses, Porsches and Mercs standing on the driveway... Seems like the history still haunts here, trying not to be overrun by an Audi Q7. After the day on the beach (or walking around), it was time to head to outskirts of Liepaja, where our next, a four-day pit-stop was waiting for us. Again the road (A9) gave no improvement to my driving indulgence. People was still hangin on my tail and pavement was from the last century. We arrived to the hostess' house and we had to speak german with her, well no problemo, we both spoke equally bad german, but everything was solved and she directed us to our cottage. It was a bit small, but just enough for two people to have their base for eating and sleeping in it. Again, unpacking new set of clothes, quick dust removal operation and we headed for a nearby beach to see the sunset. The hostess gave us directions to the beach, which led us driving a small and bumpy sand road through a forest. And boy was the place amazing! We were the only people on the beach and it kept going left and right as far your eyes could see.

The Beach

Once again, the day was coming to it's end and we headed back to the cottage for a good night sleep.

To be continued...

Mustavalkomaanantai #35

Aiheena ruma. Kaikki kelpaa mikä on omasta mielestä rumaa.

Kyseiset kerrostalot löytyivät Latviasta, Liepajan esikaupunkialueelta. Näiden takana oli vielä yksi, jossa ihmiset vielä asuivat...

Road trip to Latvia and Lithuania part1.

My girlfriend was reading a travel journal and found an article about the best beaches in Europe. At that time we were thinking where to go on our summer vacation. When she popped the idea of making a road trip to Latvia and Lithuania, I almost fell out from the chair. "Old Soviet countries, what is she thinking?" was my first reaction. The Mafia stealing peoples cars and pickpockets helping you to get rid of your money at least.

After the first shock I decided to dive into the fantastic world of internet, and started to scroll different discussion forums searching peoples experiences about these countries. After few hours my mind started to settle down, and I was getting good vibes about this idea. This really could be a cool trip.

So it was time to plan the trip. At first we decided that the trip should last at least two weeks. After we decided the exact departure day, we checked out the availability of the ferries from Helsinki to Tallinn. So far so so good, plenty of free seats. After that we figured out the route. It would be Tallinn-Jürmala-Liepaja-Klaipeda-Vilnius-Riga-Pärnu-Tallinn. The idea was to have at least two days per each place. The first leg to Jürmala was little too much driving for one day so we decided to take one more pit stop near Cesis. The plan was there, so now we just had to wait for the departure day to come.

The d-day kept coming, and a few days before the packing started. I personally wanted to go as light as possible and managed to get my clothes and stuff in one big bag. Besides that, I had my camera gear in one backpack, and took a second back pack for day trips. My gf isn't just like me on this matter... The trunk of my Ford Focus was fully loaded the morning we left home, heading towards the harbour.

The trip started great as we almost missed our ferry, thanks to the road works just outside the harbour. Normally you should check-in your car at least an hour before departure, we checked-in twenty minutes before the ferry took off. An we weren't even the last ones to arrive the check-in. Oh well, we got in and headed for the prepaid breakfast. That was something I wouldn't recommend to anyone. It just wasn't worth the 10€. The quality of food was poor and selection was very narrow.

Two hours after departure, we were at the car deck waiting the bow doors to open. I set up my GPS and entered the first pit-stop location near Cesis. The first leg was 289 kilometers and little over four hours of driving. We drove the E67 road to the border of Latvia. The road was mainly in pretty good condition, but what I really missed was overtaking lanes every now and then. The speedlimit was 100km/h at maximum.

We crossed the Latvian border near Ainazi and the road changed name to A1. That really was just the name of the road, because it was mostly in terrible condition. There was huge dents and holes in the road and so I drove most of the time 80km/h rather than 90 or 100km/h. And here the Baltic driving culture started to really show. Overtaking is the name of the game. You just have to overtake the car driving in front of you. Of course the locals didn't care for the speedlimits. Before they went by, they were hangin right on your tail, peeking every now and then for the "right" moment to come. Their right time to overtake is just about everywhere. No matter if it's forbidden, they'll do it in a curve or an intersection. You really have to pay attention when driving in the Baltic countries, because someone might be coming towards you on your own lane in place you wouldn't normally expect it. If you just keep your head up, there will be no problems.

Late afternoon we arrived to our first nights cottage. It was really nice place and had the Brasla river flowing right nex to it. Quickly checked out the cottage and then we headed out to scout the surroundings by car. After that we went to the local grocerie store to by some dinner and breakfast. When the night started to fall, we headed into the sauna, and after that it was time to hit the hay. Day 1 of our trip was behind.

To be continued...

Mustavalkomaanantai #34

Aiheena näkymiä matkoilta.

Kyseinen näkymä on otettu Liepajan lähettyviltä Latviassa.