Atmostas Baltija (Part 1, Latvija)
Sep. 20th, 2010 04:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
uraniaGod, this took me an eternity... and it will be another till I finish it. But I will, I have lots of photos to show off! ;)
Okay, let’s start with some background stuff. My entry title is from the song composed for the "Baltic Way", an event where about 2 million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania formed a human chain 650 km long between Vilnius and Tallinn via Riga. It happened in August 1989 as a peaceful protest against the Soviet Republic. When I read about it, it made me cry, so I thought, I should bring it up here. :)
Here is a video with the song:
And the lyrics and a translation can be found here.
(Obs! For given reasons the following post is image heavy! ;))
We took the plane to Riga which is a quite awesome city. They had their (annual?) city celebration, Riga svētki, when we arrived, so that was really cool.
There was lots of singing and performances so we just walked around a lot. When we eat dinner there was a guy that did fire tricks, it was a good show with the awesomely tasty food.
The next day was full of walking and walking and walking again, all around Riga. Because of the celebrations there was a lot to see, like ships and a stunt pilot.
The Alberta iela is a very pretty Jugendstil street and lucky for us, they just had a show afternoon where lots of people in historic costumes walked around.
There were even people in costumes on the balconies!
After visiting a really pompous Russian othodox church we went to see the Freedom Monument. The three stars the woman holds are symbolic for the three districts of Latvia: Vidzeme, Latgale and Courland.
The Cat House...
... and its cat! :)
The House of the Blackheads is Riga’s most famous guild house.
Aaaand, as a last impression from Riga, have a quite surreal one. It’s a monument errected by the Soviets to commemorate WWII or its victims or maybe even Latvias "liberation" by the Soviets, I’m not too sure. It’s gigantic and weird and not mentioned by any travel guide. It was near our hotel so we saw it.
The next day was our first day on the road. We were headed for Kuldīga, but of course we made several stops.
First we went to the beach of Jūrmala, a resort town not far from Riga. It’s very pretty with the cutest wooden houses! And it was nearly empty because the sun didn’t shine. It had a real fairytale air about it. :)
The we vistited Šlokenbeka Castle (Gut Schlockenbeck) which apparently is the oldest existing castle in Latvia from the Livonian Order.
In Sabile we saw the world’s most northern vineyard...
...and a scary exhibition of... dolls...
We ate at an awesome kafejnīca in the middle of nowhere. The old man who owned the place didn’t know a single word English and being unprepared we didn’t know a single word Latvian. We were ready to dispair when it turned out he knew German! And awesomely good at that. I had the tastiest pelmeni I ever had.
Kuldīga consists mostly of rather small (wooden) houses. It’s still half asleep and at least half of the houses have to be (and are!!) renovated, but it’s so pretty and magic that I really just wanted to stay.
Also, I really like their practical approach to things. Like, where they tie construction tape...
In Kuldīga you can also find the Ventas rumba, Europes widest waterfall. It’s not very high but still very neat. (It’s kind of hard to see in this photo, but at least on it in its entirety. xD)
Also you can find a famous brick stone bridge which also has some record. Maybe it’s the longest in Europe? Sadly I forgot. :/
The landscape around Kuldīga and the Venta is simply breathtaking in its simple awesomeness. :)
The next day we had to drive to Klaipėda in Lithuania but before we crossed the border we made another stop in Latvia.
Ēdole is a village in Courland and is at least somewhat know for its castle, aptly named Ēdoles pils, "pils" meaning castle. :) It belonged to German (or Prussian or whatever) aristocrats, the von Behrs, the longest time and was named "Schloss Edwahlen".
There was nobody there and when we knocked, a woman opened and gave us some sort instructions and wound up a musical clock for us which she placed on the piano and then we were free to explore the castle and go anywhere the doors were open. It was very interesting!
I thought the atrium was the prettiest! :)
We also cimbed the castle’s tower from where you have a magnificient view over Courland!
Our last stop in Latvia (for now) was in Liepāja where we visited the Holy Trinity Church and saw the university which I thought had a pretty main building. :)
And since that’s it for Latvia for now at least, I end this post here. It’s already getting to long... ;)
My next post will have pictures of Lithuania and tons of them at that! :D I guess I will also put some more pictures of Latvia in there, since we crossed it again on our way to Estonia.
So, stay tuned for post number two! It will only takemonths a short while! See you! :D
ETA: Part 2 can be found here.
Okay, let’s start with some background stuff. My entry title is from the song composed for the "Baltic Way", an event where about 2 million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania formed a human chain 650 km long between Vilnius and Tallinn via Riga. It happened in August 1989 as a peaceful protest against the Soviet Republic. When I read about it, it made me cry, so I thought, I should bring it up here. :)
Here is a video with the song:
And the lyrics and a translation can be found here.
(Obs! For given reasons the following post is image heavy! ;))
We took the plane to Riga which is a quite awesome city. They had their (annual?) city celebration, Riga svētki, when we arrived, so that was really cool.
There was lots of singing and performances so we just walked around a lot. When we eat dinner there was a guy that did fire tricks, it was a good show with the awesomely tasty food.
The next day was full of walking and walking and walking again, all around Riga. Because of the celebrations there was a lot to see, like ships and a stunt pilot.
The Alberta iela is a very pretty Jugendstil street and lucky for us, they just had a show afternoon where lots of people in historic costumes walked around.
There were even people in costumes on the balconies!
After visiting a really pompous Russian othodox church we went to see the Freedom Monument. The three stars the woman holds are symbolic for the three districts of Latvia: Vidzeme, Latgale and Courland.
The Cat House...
... and its cat! :)
The House of the Blackheads is Riga’s most famous guild house.
Aaaand, as a last impression from Riga, have a quite surreal one. It’s a monument errected by the Soviets to commemorate WWII or its victims or maybe even Latvias "liberation" by the Soviets, I’m not too sure. It’s gigantic and weird and not mentioned by any travel guide. It was near our hotel so we saw it.
The next day was our first day on the road. We were headed for Kuldīga, but of course we made several stops.
First we went to the beach of Jūrmala, a resort town not far from Riga. It’s very pretty with the cutest wooden houses! And it was nearly empty because the sun didn’t shine. It had a real fairytale air about it. :)
The we vistited Šlokenbeka Castle (Gut Schlockenbeck) which apparently is the oldest existing castle in Latvia from the Livonian Order.
In Sabile we saw the world’s most northern vineyard...
...and a scary exhibition of... dolls...
We ate at an awesome kafejnīca in the middle of nowhere. The old man who owned the place didn’t know a single word English and being unprepared we didn’t know a single word Latvian. We were ready to dispair when it turned out he knew German! And awesomely good at that. I had the tastiest pelmeni I ever had.
Kuldīga consists mostly of rather small (wooden) houses. It’s still half asleep and at least half of the houses have to be (and are!!) renovated, but it’s so pretty and magic that I really just wanted to stay.
Also, I really like their practical approach to things. Like, where they tie construction tape...
In Kuldīga you can also find the Ventas rumba, Europes widest waterfall. It’s not very high but still very neat. (It’s kind of hard to see in this photo, but at least on it in its entirety. xD)
Also you can find a famous brick stone bridge which also has some record. Maybe it’s the longest in Europe? Sadly I forgot. :/
The landscape around Kuldīga and the Venta is simply breathtaking in its simple awesomeness. :)
The next day we had to drive to Klaipėda in Lithuania but before we crossed the border we made another stop in Latvia.
Ēdole is a village in Courland and is at least somewhat know for its castle, aptly named Ēdoles pils, "pils" meaning castle. :) It belonged to German (or Prussian or whatever) aristocrats, the von Behrs, the longest time and was named "Schloss Edwahlen".
There was nobody there and when we knocked, a woman opened and gave us some sort instructions and wound up a musical clock for us which she placed on the piano and then we were free to explore the castle and go anywhere the doors were open. It was very interesting!
I thought the atrium was the prettiest! :)
We also cimbed the castle’s tower from where you have a magnificient view over Courland!
Our last stop in Latvia (for now) was in Liepāja where we visited the Holy Trinity Church and saw the university which I thought had a pretty main building. :)
And since that’s it for Latvia for now at least, I end this post here. It’s already getting to long... ;)
My next post will have pictures of Lithuania and tons of them at that! :D I guess I will also put some more pictures of Latvia in there, since we crossed it again on our way to Estonia.
So, stay tuned for post number two! It will only take
ETA: Part 2 can be found here.
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-20 03:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-20 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-20 03:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-20 10:16 pm (UTC)Gern geschehen! :D
no subject
Date: 2010-09-20 07:38 pm (UTC)Und ansonsten sieht auch alles sehr schön aus! *__* Eines meiner Favouriten ist das hier, weil ich sowohl verfallene Gebäude als auch Wasser liebe *__* ich glaub an der Stelle hätt ich ne 4GB SD-Karte mit Fotos vollgehauen *g*
Freue mich schon auf die nächsten Fotos in ein paar Monaten *_* >D
no subject
Date: 2010-09-20 10:20 pm (UTC)Ey, dann solltest du unbedingt mal nach Kuldiga! Da gibt es noch einige solche Stellen! :) Aber die verfallene Mühle war schon sehr beeindruckend! Und ich hab auch EINIGE Bilder davon...
Ja, der kommt. Man weiß nicht wann, aber er kommt. xD
no subject
Date: 2010-09-21 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-21 09:08 pm (UTC)Das Lied fängt in Lettisch an, dann kommt Litauisch und am Schluss Estnisch. Die Menschenkette ist einfach eine sehr coole Sache. Ich wusste da vorher auch nichts drüber. Eigentlich ist es schade, dass das nicht so "präsent" ist.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-29 04:36 pm (UTC)Am besten gefallen mir aber die historischen Gebäude und die passenden Frauen dazu. Herrlich!!
Ach danke mal wieder für die schönen Bilder! :D :*
no subject
Date: 2010-09-29 05:33 pm (UTC)Davon hab ich auch sehr viele Fotos gemacht. xD Das Glück ist mit den Doofen, dass wir da ausgerechnet da waren, als die ihren historischen Tag oder Nachmitag hatten! :)
Ha, gern! :) Freut mich, wenn es wen freut, sie anzuschauen. :D