Life on the Farm

Sunday

Breakfast: potatoes, European sausages, eggs, yogurt, cereal, fruit, an assortment of breads and buns.

Drizzling rain, but all were aboard the bus by 10:00am with our local guide.  Our first stop was the Panga Cliffs.  Very interesting limestone cliffs right down into the sea.  The water was crystal clear.  An earth cache was our first find of the day.

Straight ahead...Helsinki about 70kms

Every town has a swing

On to Angela where there were a collection of wooden windmills to view and go inside.  Steps up to the first platform offered a chance to walk outside.  The upper levels were found by 2 inside sets of stairs.

Horses

And goats

And sheep....oh and a cache!

A medieval church (complete with a cache) was next.  Very interesting figures on the wall and stained glass windows.  It has been restored but it's so interesting to know that these places have been here since the 1300's

A beautiful poppy field!

Rhonda

Caron

Our second earth cache was a meteorite sight where one if the holes is a small lake.  It is a very peaceful spot.  Bonus was another traditional cache.  This was also our lunch stop.  As we were heading in, a bus pulled up carrying the National Girls Choir of Estonia who were on their way to Russia for a competition.  They provided a short concert for us in front of the museum...voices were exquisite.  Each was dressed in the local costume of their region.

Lunch was Estonian food.  We had a veggi/meat soup which was a very filling meal.

The last stop was a grocery stop for those who needed snacks.  Back to the farm for a rest, doing laundry or exploring the neighbourhood.

6:30 was dinner time at the farm....  pumpkin/ginger soup, breads, roast chicken, potatoes, 3 salads.  Dessert was strawberry smoothies and fresh strawberries!  Need walk to wear off the dinner.  

PS We are upping the details on the food because I know S. wants to hear about it!

Good-bye Latvia....Hello Estonia

Saturday

Awoke to a very sunny, warm day and after another yummy breakfast, set out for some last caches, sightseeing and shopping.

First stop was St. Peter's Church to ride the lift to the top of the tower.  As we had to wait until 10:00 for the church to open, we revisited a cache that was a no find yesterday, and were successful today.  Back to the church to be first in line up the tower.  The views of the city were phenomenal--- 360 degrees looking down and out of Riga.

We shopped our way back to the hotel where we had to be checked out by noon and stored our luggage in the back room. Then set off for the Tea House for another unusual cache.  Since we had to sample some tea, the banana/caramel dessert became our lunch!!  Another cache on the return and we were ready to set off for Estonia in a 15 passenger van towing a utility trailer for the luggage.

A pleasant drive through forest, farmland and occasionally along the ocean from Riga to the ferry terminal to sail us to the island of Saaremaa, Estonia.  We are ensconced on a farm in various configurations of cabins.  We have a 2 bedroom with sitting room we are sharing with 2 of the single women on the tour.  The roof is thatched! 

The photos show more than words can describe. 

Vodka by the glass in Estonian store

On board an Estonian ferry

Our rooms at the top

Our room

Our sitting room

Within 15 minutes of arriving, we were served a gourmet meal prepared by the hosts. Roast pork, potatoes, hot vegetables, beets, salad, cucumbers, homemade bread with homemade garlic butter.  All the veggies came from the farm garden.  Dessert was rhubarb cake with fresh strawberries.

Dinner!

It took a 15 minute walk to let everything settle before beginning this blog and then heading for bed.  Breakfast is at 8:00, can't wait!!!

Rocking and rolling to Riga

Thursday

The sun was shining as we had our last breakfast in Nida on the Curonian Spit.  Two mini vans arrived to drive us to Klaipeda, where we boarded a coach for the drive to Riga, Latvia.  The journey took about 7 hours in total.

The landscape was varied....large grain farms, mini forests, smaller farms with veggie gardens, and smaller cities with a mix of old and new buildings.  The weather too was varied..sun, cloud, cloud bursts,and back to mixed sun and cloud. The road from Klaipeda to the border of Latvia was really smooth....once we hit the Latvian border it was a little more bumpy....so much for doing the blog on the bus!

Caron & Grant from New Zealand and Jennifer from Singapore

 

Riga is very different from the cities in Lithuania.  It is larger and more cosmopolitan, but the old town retains its charm and history very well.  Taxis drove us to our hotel because Nevyana thought our suitcases with rolling wheels wouldn't survive the cobblestones.  We are in the heart of Old Town in a lovely hotel.  Within half an hour we were off to the Occupation  Museum.  We entered in brilliant sunshine and exited to pouring rain an hour later.  It was a very sobering hour reading and viewing the photos of Latvia's, and in particular Riga's history of occupation from the turn of the last century to the present.....The Republic of Latvia was founded on 18 November 1918. However, its de facto independence was interrupted at the outset of World War II. In 1940, the country was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union, invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany in 1941, and re-occupied by the Soviets in 1944 to form the Latvian SSR for the next fifty years. The peaceful Singing Revolution, starting in 1987, called for Baltic emancipation of Soviet rule. It ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, and Latvia declared the restoration of its de facto independence on 21 August 1991. ...from Wikipedia

 

To reach our dinner required another taxi ride starting out in rush hour traffic, but eventually going against the traffic.  The buffet was huge, offering an incredible choice in all food groups.  But, you paid for each item separately....a small salad plate (you filled it with as much as you wanted) was 2.8€, a piece of fish in wine sauce was 4€,  pork cutlet 3.2€.....total for one dinner including a glass of cider was 8€.  There was no one throwing uneaten food into the garbage as we see at our buffets. (the Euro has just started to be used in Latvia in the last few months, we were really happy that we didn't have to get another currency!)

A bus ride and short walk returned us to the hotel.  Opting to do some caches, (as daylight stays until about 11 pm), we followed through some of the old town to the Dome Church, the Swedish Gates and the "three brothers"---3 houses in a row dating from 1450 to the 17th century.  At most of the eating establishments, there was live musical entertainment from classical to pop to a 5 piece band playing jazzed up Latvian folk music which had the audience dancing and clapping and thoroughly enjoying themselves.  From here we headed home for some rest to be ready for tomorrow!

Russian folksingers

Friday

It was raining when we got up and went down to our delicious buffet breakfast...... We met in the lobby at 9:30 to meet with a guide....James, who was talking us on a walking tour of Riga.

We started in some of the same places that we had discovered the night before with our geocaches....but this time with commentary. James is a Brit who has been living in Riga since 2005

Riga is a world famous for it's Art Nouveau architecture.....it has 750 buildings from that era more than any other European city. All the buildings are intertesting....there is so much restoration going on in this city.......scaffolding and workmen working on so many buildings. We walked through beautiful parks.....all so clean (in fact everywhere in Lithuania (except for that first day) and Latvia has been so clean....no litter anywhere streets, sides of highways..... and the gardens so beautiful and well kept. James said they have a program where the unemployed (and there is minimal welfare) can go and get work in the parks doing work in the gardens and city to keep it clean. They can also get retraining programs free. He led us back to Old Town, all the while keeping us interested and entertained with his funny stories about Riga.

With the tour finished about 12:30 we headed for the outdoor market....The Central market is the biggest I've ever seen....the indoor part housed in 4 huge hangers that were used by the Germans Zepplins for WW!!!! And the outdoor area was massive too......fruits, veggies, meat, fish, cheese, bakery items, clothes and the flowers were amazing.....the scent of the sweet peas and freesias and roses.....sigh....I wish I could bring some home!

Nevy and a couple of others set off to buy us fixings for a picnic and the rest of us wandered through the market for an hour....then found a park to picnic.....delicious.

The picnic

The afternoon was free so Nevy led some of us to the newly opened KGB building...The Corner House, where the KGB (the societ secret police) imprisoned, tortured, killed and humiliated many thousands of Latvians over the period of their occupations. A very surreal experience to know what went on in the house that was in the middle of the city.......

We walked back towards the hotel (my feet were getting a little tired).....it took us about another hour to get back because we stopped at stores and street stalls along the way....I did a little buying and Carol did a bit of looking (finding quilting fabric is not easy here she is having to find fabric items that she can use for her next travel quilt!)

After a couple of hour with my feet up out we went again. A lot of the group went to a organ concert at the cathedral around the corner from the hotel. We decided to walk a bit and then go back to the square we were in last night with the jazzed up folk music and have dinner. Apparently the band that we really liked last night was from Russia and tonight band (really good too) is a famous Latvian folk music band.....again they had a bunch of people up dancing.

Back at the hotel there is a band playing (very loudly) outside our window.....Carol is asleep....I don's think I'll sleep for a while!

BUT.....I LOVE RIGA!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS I wanted to add more pictures but the wifi keeps shutting down....so it will have to wait.

Wheeling down the Spit

Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday morning we were up bright and early to catch a 7am bus to the Curonian Spit on the Baltic side of the country

We were in the top of a double decker comfy bus which traveled on a great 4 lane highway, stopping only a couple of times to pick up and drop off passengers. We traveled to Klaipeda and then the bus went on a little ferry for a quick 10 minute ride to the top of the spit. Then we traveled down to Nida, a little seaside town......actually a little lagoon side town about 4km from the Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian enclave (state/province ) between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea. The territory is geographically separated from the rest of Russia, and it owns the first 44 kilometers of the spit (about half) that is attached to land. Kind of like Point Roberts.

Our hotel

Our hotel was about a 15 minute walk from where the bus stop was, we dropped off our luggage and then started exploring. The Curonian Spit is on the UNESCO heritage list, because of geological features......large sand dunes. Nida is a very cute little town with a board walk on the lagoon side and a beautiful beach on the Baltic side. The houses in the town have a German influence....this was and still is a vacation spot for many Germans. Thomas Mann spend summers here, there is a museum in his home and the area is said to be big influence in his writings.

The homes have lots of colour and gingerbread scroll work....and most of the homes have fabulous flower gardens. There is also a collector of very unique artistic weather vanes along the board walk. There are lots of people visiting, walking, biking, sailing, fishing, wind surfing.....

Weather vanes

Tourist, fishing, sailing town

Wind surfers way out there

We went out for a dinner of pancakes with fish (I know it sounds horrible but it was crepes wrapped around minced fish.....very delicious) with the group then went off to get some supplies for tomorrows big adventure!......a 40 km bike ride down the spit!!!!

Wednesday

Milda, Mevy &  Rhonda & Jack from Melbourne

After another great breakfast buffet at our new hotel, we set off down to catch the bus to Juodkrante (back up the way we came the day before). Here is where we picked up our bikes to ride back to Nida. Our tour guide for this adventure is young local girl Milda, who did a great job of guiding us and stopping and giving us information along the way. Our first stop was a heron and cormorant colony 3km down the road......hundreds of birds nesting and squawking........

Then back up the road we just came from about 5 kms to the Witches Hill.....a wonderful park and walk. Along the way large wooden carvings of fantasy creatures from Lithuanian folklore.....friendly creature carvings going up the hill and evil creature carvings coming down the hill. And just before we got back to our bikes a father and daughter playing music in the middle of the forest near some dancing creatures. A great place to visit.

The group

Sheri (Sheryl) from Chicago

Then back to the bikes and the ride.....the trail is paved all the way, it starts on the Baltic side and then about half way, at one of the sand dunes (where there is an Earthcache, fancy that!) we switch to the other side of the road the Lagoon side. There was only one big hill and a couple little hills and the rest of the ride is fairly flat, through forests, stopping at the beach on the Baltic side for our picnic lunch and to hunt for amber on the beach. We started the actual trail ride about 11:30am and with our few stops were back in Nida about 4:30pm.......tired but we made it.....both Carol and I did a great job....no spills (I had one close call but saved myself at the last minute) It was a fun time getting to know our new tour mates.

Picnic time

Coming for amber

After cleaning up we went out for dinner and the a bit of grocery shopping to stock up on supplies for our 6 hour bus trip to Riga Latvia tomorrow.

A well deserved cider break!

PS we started to write this on the bus this afternoon......the roads were nice and smooth and I got out the computer.....then we hit Latvian roads......very bumpy and I had to give up....so now I sit at midnight......