Blogs from Latvia, Europe - page 5

Saturday 11 July: Igor picked us up at 9:15 to take us to the bus station so that gave us plenty of time to get ourselves packed and organised. We got to the bus station with time to spare and the bus was away close enough to on time. We had been pre-warned that there were extensive road-works on the main highway in Latvia so there would be about half an hour added to the journey. The bus wasn’t very full and was pretty well equipped. We headed south through the Estonian countryside, stopping after just under two hours at Pärnu. The bus filled up here and a group sat in front of us and in the vacant seat next to Heather. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to be acquainted with deodorant. We soon crossed the border ... read more

Today we biked about 15 miles for a total of 472 miles. Warm, but not hot. No rain but breezy at times. After breakfast, wondered about some. Met at the Bike shop for our 2 planned bike tours today. Marcus, who is a transplanted Aussie, took us on a tour of the Kipsala, the Citadel and Art Noveau neighbors. Looked at redevelopment and refurbishment of Russian Wood Historic homes. Most have been torn down, but there is a movement to save this old relics from the Russian Empire ( not Soviet). They are mainly in Kipsala, on the other side of the river from Old town Riga.We also visited the Art Noveau area and identified several fascinating buildings in ... read more

Today we biked about 6 miles for a total of 430 miles. The weather warm, felt hot at times, but in the shade you could still feel some coolness in the air. Had a fine breakfast at our Hotel - Livonia in Sigulda. Biked to the train station, but they changed the earliest time to 13:49 which we did not like. We ended up taking the bus, which was cheaper. For packing the bikes on the bus it was 2.30 € for both bikes. Pleasant ride. Riga is a big city with all the usual accoutrements. It seems much bigger than Tallinn. Bobbie and Gary are staying in the Opera Hotel. We are staying in the Cinnamon Sally Hostel - 4 bed dorm room. Shared shower and bathroom. A step down from we had gotten used ... read more

We biked 45 miles today for a total of 393 miles. Today it was cloudy initially, but became partly cloudy the rest of the day with frequent sun breaking through. We left our last home at 10:30 am, after a fine breakfast. Went to the A1 highway which was under construction, but we negotiated this without problems. Briefly passed through Salacgriva and turned to go down Limbazi - Ragana road. The first 10 k of this road was gravel. This was a challenge, which we managed slowly but surely. There was light traffic, but this included several loaded logging trucks making there way down the road. All vehicles kicked up a lot of dust, the logging trucks were the worst. Biked to Pale for lunch. Bought provisions and ate at a colorful bus stop. Not much ... read more

Heute war Riga dran. Ich komm mir schon so vor wie ein Japaner, der ganz Europa in 7 Tagen macht. Bei mir sind’s zwar nur Litauen und Lettland, aber auch zu wenig Zeit. Aber Arzttermine vorher und hinterher haben mich eingeengt. Jedenfalls war Rigau irgendwie ein Reinfall. Ich wagte mich, wie schon in Vilnius, ohne lange Unterhose aus dem Hotel - und das war ein gravierender Fehler. Es war saukalt und regnete immer wieder und mich fror meistens. Mit dem öffentlichen Bus fuhr ich ins Stadtzentrum und machte eine Stadtrundfahrt mit einem Hop-on-Hop-off Bus, in diesem Fall allerdings nur Hop on, den bei diesem Wetter dachte niemand daran irgendwo off zu hoppen, der nächste Bus kam in zwei Stunden. Schließlich war ich die einzige, die vor der Endhaltestelle ausstieg - ich ging zu den Markthallen. Sie ... read more