Latvia

Red rocks and castles

Latvia I and Latvia II to those who just joined the trip.

This funny face is one of the landmarks of Ieriku Nature Trail in Latvia. There are at least fifteen of them, hidden in different places for the visitors to discover.

Recently I discovered another funny face, although not in Latvia. It seems that one can find them anywhere in the world 🙂

The Zvartes Rock is one of the most popular and scenic devonian sandstone rocks in Latvia. It is 44 m high. Locals come to the rock for a swim – very shallow river Amata deepens around the rock creating a natural swimming pool.

Red sandstone rocks can be found in many places in Latvia. I have visited a few trails marveling at the beauty of these natural formations. This one is the Gutman Cave in Gauja National Park.

To get to the cave, I took a cable car ride.

Gauja National Park is one of the most beautiful places in Latvia. There are more than 500 cultural and historical monuments, and it is open for the outdoor sports like hiking, boating, cycling and skiing.

Visitors are gathering for an open air piano concert in the Sigulda castle grounds.

Speaking of castles – there are many beautiful castles in Latvia, and one of them is situated in the central part of the country. Cesvaine Castle housed a local school for many years. Jealous? 🙂 I sure am. After the fire in 2002 the roof was replaced, and now the castle looks like a fairy tale. The castle park is another hidden gem, mysterious and romantic.

Not only the castles – every old country house looks beautiful.

Endless fairytale pine forest smells so good! They say this fragrance can cool global warming.

forest

Baltic sea is beautiful in any weather…

fog

… and at any time of the day.

sunset

And how can I forget those cute fishing villages and delicious seafood?

To finish this blog, there is another vintage car we have spotted. Another Volga.

This is all I wanted to share. Hope you enjoyed these photographs from Latvia. I am sure that many things changed since that trip, but the Baltic Sea is still there 🙂

My holidays are coming to an end. Next week I will travel back home and fight jet lag for another couple of days – comments are disabled for this post because I won’t be able to answer them. Thank you for understanding, talk to you later on 🙂

Have a happy weekend and a great week ahead!

Along the Baltic Sea, from North to West

While I am enjoying the time with my family, you can enjoy another few pictures from Latvia 🙂

In summer 2013, we started our journey from the beautiful, pristine clean fishing town of Salacgriva in the north of Latvia. This lighthouse was built in 1925. It is not operational anymore, but still good enough for a picture. The weather was not summery early in the morning, but we decided to keep to the plan. On our way south the sky started to clear and the sun peeked through the clouds. Natural reserve Vidzeme Stony Seashore was our next stop. We didn’t walk the 8 miles long trail, but visited some sandstone cliffs and caves, and marveled at the huge boulders and pebble-covered beaches, very unusual for the Gulf of Riga.

Even the sand was different, and sure I haven’t seen such a huge spider anywhere else.

After a long walk in the beach and dunes we went further south to our last destination – The White Dune in Saulkrasti.

I am standing on the top of the White Dune. The weather remarkably improved, and I took a picture of a group of tourists crossing River Incupe on their way to the beach.

From this point, the river edge looks like a silhouette of a face.

This is another picture from the trip. Me in action 🙂

photographer

This images of an operational lighthouse Akmenrags was taken a week later. To get there we had to drive a long way through the beautiful pine tree forest. The lighthouse was built in 1864 but destroyed in World War I. It was rebuilt in 1921 and then in 1957. We were so lucky, because the lighthouse was closed for repainting, and open to the public just a day before we came over.

This is a light emitter, but I don’t know a thing about how it works.

lighthouse

The inside of the lighthouse is painted green!

What to do with paint leftovers? 🙂

Speaking of green. During our travels we had seen many interesting cars, like this green vintage Volga.

A few words about Liepaja, the city where I stayed. This is an outdoor photography exhibition in the ruins of the riding manège in Karosta, a former military part of Liepaja.

This picture was taken in 2010. I came to Karosta to meet with a famous photographer, only to learn that he recently died.

In my previous blog, there is a picture of some pieces of amber I picked up in the beach. What you see in the picture below is a hourglass monument filled with 50 litres ( 13 gallons) of amber! These pieces of amber were donated by people of Liepaja in 2003. I think it was a wonderful idea.

I lived in a lovely room with a balcony, facing Liepaja Lake. There was a swallow nest with two chicks. In this picture you can see a mama swallow feeding her offspring a Damsel dragonfly.

There was a tiny apple tree at the porch. One night I came home late and saw a hedgehog under the tree. I have read that it is a myth that they eat, or carry the apples on their sharp spines, and I wondered what else was he doing there, under the apple tree?

The Holy Trinity Lutheran Cathedral is one of the most remarkable places in Liepaja. Until the 1912, its organ was the largest mechanical organ in the world with its 131 stops, 4 manuals and more than 7000 pipes. The organ was built by one of the best organ builders of that time H. A. Contius. The Cathedral was built in 1750, and the tower was finished in 1860. I made three attempts to climb up the tower, but failed and had to return: anonymous carpenter who made the narrow stairs was a minimalist and didn’t add any handrails. I changed my tactics and mingled with a group of tourists: if you are climbing up in a crowd there is no turning back. The tower is 55m (180f ) high, and I am very proud of myself for finally making it up to the top.

Every Sunday afternoon I went to the cathedral to listen to the organ: renowned organists and students perform for free for one hour on Sundays ( donations are welcome). I had an unforgettable time there.

One more blog post about Latvia to follow 🙂 Thank you for taking the trip!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Duke Jacob and the portal

Kuldiga

In the centre of Kuldiga town in Latvia, there is a portal with Duke Jacob Kettler stuck inside. On my stay in Latvia in 2013, we went to Kuldiga to attend an annual festival, and it is where I first met the Duke and learned his fascinating story.

Born in 1610 in Kuldiga ( then Goldingen), Jacob was the godson of King James I of England. He studied in Rostock and Leipzig University, traveled Europe and learned many useful skills. In 1642 he became Duke of Courland, and his knowledge and willpower helped him build ‘Curonian Empire’. Manufacturing and international trade bloomed under his rule, and he also started shipbuilding. In 1651 he sent a fleet to build Fort Jacob on the Gambia river in West Africa. In 1654 he conquered Tobago. The colony on Tobago was named Neu Kurland (New Courland) and consisted of 80 families and soldiers.

In the beginning of the 17th century, Australia was discovered and claimed by the Dutch. Duke Jacob decided to colonize Australia, and got a blessing from the Pope Innocent X. Unfortunately the Pope soon died and the new Pope didn’t support that plan.

During the Northern Wars, Duke and his family were taken prisoners by Swedes in 1658. In the next two years his colonies were attacked and taken away, and his fleet destroyed, but after the War ended, Duke Jacob rebuilt the fleet and retook Tobago from the Dutch. He died in 1682, and was remembered as a just ruler who knew Latvian language.

This is the castle guard’s house that was built in 1735 using the rocks from the Duke’s castle that was destroyed by Swedes in 1702.

Kuldiga

Beautiful brick bridge across the river Venta was designed by an engineer Friedrich Stapprany and built in 1874. It is one of the longest and widest brick bridges in Europe, enough for two carriages going in opposite directions to pass each other. A beautiful piece of architecture surrounded by gorgeous scenery.

Kuldiga

View from the bridge.

Kuldiga

Ventas Rumba, a 2m high and 240-270m long rapid is on the other side of the bridge. I am standing in the place where the Duke’s castle used to be. In his reign, local fishermen placed baskets over the waterfall to catch the migrating vimba fish. Annual Flying Fish festival takes place in April to celebrate the ancient fishing practice.

PS I didn’t cross the river.

Kuldiga

River Aleksupite runs through the old town winding between the walls of the old buildings. There was a special lottery going on at the festival. You could buy a plastic ball with a number, and together with the other participants, toss it in the river. There is a very slim chance that your number wins – only five balls reached the finish line.

Kuldiga

After the lottery is over, the famous Aleksupite race starts…

Kuldiga

… followed by the carnival. This Bacchus caught my eye 🙂

Kuldiga

I was also amused by the Duke and his escort.

Kuldiga

Piratenkoor De Stormvogels from The Netherlands gave a fantastic performance.

Kuldiga

Some viking stuff for sale.

Kuldiga

Visitors and locals enjoying the day.

Kuldiga

Viking food cooked in the open air.

Kuldiga

I guess you have noticed how tidy is the town during the festival that attracted thousands of visitors. This reflects the local mentality – there are special programs that teach people not to litter, and no one in their right mind would do that. Only a drunk person might drop a cigarette butt, occasionally, because I did see a few cigarette butts on the pavement during my stay. A few. But I have seen many people of all ages and genders who put their tiny ticket in the bin after leaving public transport. I don’t want to tell that all the people of Latvia are perfect, though 🙂 There are many very aggressive and quite impolite drivers there, but if you decide to visit, you will be very impressed as to the tidiness of this quite poor country, and the resourcefulness and optimism of the people.

Two more blog posts about Latvia to follow.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Not just a virus

In this picture, I am looking through the natural ‘window’ from a coastal cave. It was chilly outside, and we quite enjoyed our refuge from the elements.

A couple of days ago I went outside first time after a week in bed. It felt like leaving a cave.

Viruses, the tiny things that are not even technically alive, can cause a lot of trouble. The only criteria for being alive they fit in is that they can evolve over time. It is why we need to get a flu vaccine every year. Basically, a virus is a string of DNA (or RNA) wrapped in a protein coat. It doesn’t respond to any stimuli and doesn’t reproduce. It just is. At this stage it is called a virion. The horror story begins when such virion gets in contact with a cell – human, animal or bacterial. Viruses are parasites, they must have a host. The host cell will produce proteins and do the replication for the virus. Some viruses leave the host cell alive, not using its full capacity. Some viral replications cause all the hosts biochemical processes to stop, and the cell will die after the viral replication is finished.

They say that there is a virus for every organism.

The best we can do after we get struck by a virus, is to drink fluids and stay in bed. And I mean it. Complications of viral infections can cause severe illness and death. As most of you, I didn’t believe that anything bad can happen to me after a simple viral infection, but it did, three times. Only a fool doesn’t learn after getting in trouble three times.

In July 1979 I got a viral infection but didn’t stay at home. I should have known better, because I got a life threatening condition after a flu in 1977, but I just started a new job! I was dragging my body to work a whole week until my growing headache forced me to call an ambulance. Our country hospital was 40km away. By the time the ambulance arrived I was only able to tell my name. I don’t have any memory of my first days in the hospital. I have got a severe viral meningitis. Unable to stabilize my condition, the doctors decided to transport me to the capital. I heard a nurse arguing and refusing to accompany me. She was motion-sick and she shouted that she didn’t want to be responsible if I die. Off we went. I was all right but we had to stop a few times for the nurse. My stay in the hospital, all the people I met, all the stories I heard, could make a book if I were a writer. If you haven’t read Cancer Ward by Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, give it a try.

I spent three months in the hospital. On some stage, I was immobile and had to learn to walk again. The man I loved abandoned me. A friend came over, just for a couple of hours. She had to change planes three times to get to see me over the weekend. After she left I decided to live.

I was back home in October. After a month, I went to visit my friend, and the 1979 made another attempt to kill me 🙂

There is an anti-viral medicine Rimantadine Hydrochloride, that was patented in 1965 in the USA. At about the same time, a group of scientists from Olainfarm company in Latvia worked with the chemical and came up with a similar drug, but with a slightly different formula, which explains the difference in administration of the drug. This one is fantastic, and the name is Remantadin. Originally it was created to fight tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), but it is great when used in early stages of any viral infection.

And because I mentioned Latvia, there are some photographs for you to look through. Next two blogs are dedicated to Latvia, because I am going on holidays, and I will be busy. I was lucky to spend two months in Latvia in 2013, but some photographs are taken in 2009. If you haven’t been in the Baltic states, I hope these posts will entertain you.

This is Riga, the capital of Latvia, in 2009.