Talsi

---

From Liepaja I took a bus to Talsi, a small town about midway between Liepaja and Riga. There I met up with Julija and Ingo, and stayed at Ingo and Jeva’s family’s country home (friends of Julija).
Again, I failed to get pics that do this place justice. The story of this family’s country home is a story that is very similar to that of many Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian families. It is a home that was originally built by Jeva and Ingo’s great-grandparents around the turn of last century, that was then taken over by the Russians in the 1940’s. For about fifty years the house and the whole farm was lived in by a Russian family. Most Latvians in the region became part of communal farms that the Soviets installed throughout occupied territory—private property, like the property lived on by Ingo and Jeva’s family, became property of the state.
It was only ten years ago that the family got the farm back. I was very curious about the process they went through for reacquiring the land and the house, but each time I asked the only response was ‘it is a very long and complicated story.’ Since then they have fixed up the house, sold all of the farm animals, and now spend most Summer weekends at the house, tending the garden, picking fruit from the fruit trees, and swimming in the pond.

I have been struck by how much the landscape in Latvia and Lithuania resembles that of North Carolina and Virginia, particularly the piedmont area.

---

Photos

Farm in Talsi
The old farm house

Comments

[Steve]

Will! I can't believe you're in Europe! The pictures look amazing. From the pictures, it does almost look like they could've been taken from NC. Ruby sent us your blog, so I'm sure we'll all get to read about your exciting travels.