Rīga and around

City Hall Square, Rīga, Latvia

We left the Latvia-Russia border after being denied entry into Russia because of our motorhome Vanni (see blog 'Into Latvia'). So we drove west, to Rīga.

Rīga is the capital of Latvia, and we found a camping ground just across the river from Rīga’s Old town. The next morning, we visited there. 

Rīga is over 800 years old and the historic old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We made our way to City Hall Square which has many beautiful historic buildings, and made it our starting point for sightseeing. 

We found Rīga to be very walkable, and attractive.

Marg in a tiny cobbled street of Rīga’s old town

As we zigzagged through the tiny cobbled streets, we decided our focus was to find out how to get Vanni into Russia.

So we visited the Russian Consulate where we found dozens of people queuing in the stairwell. We joined the queue, not really knowing what to expect, and eventually were let into a crowded waiting room. Everything was written in Cyrillic so we were hoping that we were in the right place. 

After a long and anxious wait, we found an official who spoke English, and he showed us the papers that we needed. The tension in there was palpable and we were relieved to get back onto the street.

Rīga's traditional Balsam Liqueur

After that, we headed back to camp to make arrangements for Vanni’s papers to be prepared and sent to us from the Czech Republic, then we returned to Rīga old town. While there, we spotted a little bottle of the local Balsam liqueur, which we bought to take back to Vanni (30% alcohol – very medicinal!!). 

We saw so much in the old town on this second trip in, including the historic burgher houses, Nativity Cathedral, St. Peter's Church, St John’s Church and the Dom, the city wall and Powder Tower, and more. 

Rīga is a very vibrant city and we loved it. 

The next morning, we walked back over the river to the city market which is absolutely massive.

Marg at the market in Rīga, Latvia

It consists of five large halls plus a huge outside area with lots of veggies, fruit, meat, fish, and clothes etc.

We found a small stall run by a local Latvian woman who, along with her family, makes beautiful felt slippers. 

Leigh was keen to buy some as she always feels the cold on the top of her feet.

Ten minutes later we both had a pair of brightly coloured felt slippers to take home

....and very toasty they are too, when it gets a little cooler at night here in Vanni.

Marg at the beach at Jūrmala, Latvia

After several days in Rīga, we decided to see more of Latvia, so drove west toward the coastal town of Jūrmala, supposedly the largest seaside resort in the Baltic States.

Seeing more of Latvia seemed like a good use of our time, as it was going to take around 2 weeks for Vanni’s papers to be arranged, signed by a notary and couriered to Rīga from the Czech Republic.

So we paid a toll to pass through the national forest, then stopped at what we thought was the centre of Jūrmala. But it was very low key. Then we found a walkway to the beach, which was quite lovely.

The roadside fish stall in Lapmežciems, Latvia

Next, we drove along the coast road that borders the Gulf of Riga, to see the small fishing villages around there. On the way, we found a roadside stall and bought some smoked herring for lunch.

Pleased with ourselves, we stopped at the next village which was Lapmežciems. This is a wee fishing village renowned for its smoked fish, which we had just bought. 

Driving on, our next stop was the village of Engure. 

Its name in Livonian means an eel place. We stopped for a look at the channel there, then found a beach where we had our newly acquired fish for lunch.

Marg on the beach at Mērsrags, Latvia

Not long after, we arrived in Mērsrags. This is a small yachting and fishing port with a lovely sandy beach. 

Nearby was Kaltene, a small village famous for its several kilometres-long stone beach, which is not typical for this region. We walked along the beach, finding it very windswept and haunting.

Our next stop was Roja which has an old port that was once used by ancient Vikings. 

Our target was Cape Kolka (Kolkasrags), the point where the water of the Gulf of Rīga meets the Baltic Sea. We hoped to find a campsite there for the night.

Marg at Cape Kolka, Latvia

We arrived at the Cape and stopped to admire the lovely beach, which has very fine yellow sand. It was deserted with only a few tourist, windsurfers and fishing boats.

Then we found a campsite just back up the road a bit, and decided to stay there. It was a lovely site fronting onto the beach, with few other campers.

We went without power, as the only power points were close to the toilets which were long drops, and we used Vanni’s shower as the camp showers were cold water. We are not overly fond of a cold shower!

The steps inside the lighthouse in Mazirbe, Latvia

The next morning, we drove south west along the Baltic Sea coast to Mazirbe which has an impressive lighthouse. After paying our 1 lat (about NZ $2) we climbed 265 steps to the top.

It was very windy up there but the view was great, although the slope on the top outside balcony was outwards, and gave us a very uncomfortable feeling that high off the ground.

Mazirbe is one of twelve Livonian villages along this, the Livonian Coast. Livonians are originally a Baltic-Finnish people indigenous to northern Latvia and parts of Estonia.

Mazirbe village is tiny with about 100 residents. The area is very isolated and it would have been hard to make a living there. The 18th century church, the community house and the lighthouse seem to be the main sights.

One of the cow statue in Ventspils, Latvia

Driving on, we arrived in Ventspils, the third largest city in Latvia. It was an attractive drive into the city as they have lots of lovely gardens and floral art, and a most amazing collection of cow statues.

We explored the Open-Air museum next to our campsite and it contained an interesting assortment of Latvian buildings and artefacts from the early 19th century onwards.

There was also a small and quaint steam train that did a tourist route around the park. 

It was an easy walk down to the beach which had a boardwalk down onto the sand, and while there were quite a lot of people there, it wasn’t crowded.

Marg in Ventspils, Latvia

The next morning, we walked into town along the River Venta. The centre has a small market square, lots of old wooden buildings and little shops, but seemed to be very quiet and not at all busy.

While the town seemed to take a lot of pride in its gardens, sculptures, public art and cycle tracks, it appeared to us to be suffering economically, having dingy little shops with behind-the-fashion, and rather dowdy clothes and appliances.

We tried to find a nice café or restaurant for lunch but ended up at a Tex Mex restaurant where the food was ok, but not very traditional! 

We moved on the next day, to Kuldīga.

Marg in Kuldīga, Latvia

This is an ancient town with interesting architecture. Many of the houses are wooden with attractive carvings and shuttered windows.

The Old Town is built around a wee river that runs through its centre, with the houses built right up to the water's edge. We walked through the narrow, cobbled streets and traffic-free main street, finding it a gorgeous little town.

It had a much more vibrant, and a warmer feel to it than Ventspils, and we really enjoyed exploring it.

We had a nice lunch at a small and quaint café, then wandered around a bit more. 

Leigh at Ventas Rumbas falls, Kuldīga, Latvia

Next, we walked up to view the Ventas Rumbas, one of the widest waterfalls in Europe at 270 metres. It might have been wide but wasn’t very high.

As we had more days to fill while waiting for our documents for Vanni, after we'd done the above western loop, we drove up the coast on the other side of Rīga, to the east.

We found this coastline attractive but very quiet and undeveloped. 

We couldn’t help thinking that it was a destination waiting to be discovered as it is made up of lovely sandy beaches with good access and a gentle sea, and is close to Rīga.

Legs of our helper who moved the log wedged in Vanni’s bottom

While there, we followed a sign to what turned out to be a lovely beach at Saulkrasti. On the way back, driving down the narrow gravel road....disaster struck! Marg tried to avoid a large pothole on her left, and instead, hit a log of wood sticking out onto the road on her right! 

Bang....crunch! Next minute, we had a thick branch sticking out of Vanni. It had broken a side panel, and was firmly lodged underneath in Vanni’s metal chassis.

We couldn’t move the branch, but luckily a van driver arrived and he and a man in an Audi going the other way, stopped to help us. In fact they couldn’t get past us anyway as it was such a narrow road!

Damaged Vanni back at our Rīga campsite

They managed to move the branch to get us free.....but now we had a side panel that was flapping in the breeze! We decided to head back to Rīga as we would be more likely to get help with repairs in a big city. 

So, Leigh managed to salvage a metal bracket and had some screws stashed away, and by the time she used those and some duct tape to secured it, we thought Vanni was ok to drive……..and two unhappy campers headed back into Rīga. 

Arriving back at Camping Rīga City was like coming home. But the guy on duty looked slightly amazed to see us back again so soon.

Marg dining out in Rīga, Latvia

The next day, we went into Rīga old city and had a meal in a medieval restaurant to try and make ourselves feel better. It was delicious - Leigh had a chop of Red deer and Marg had grilled eel - both very tasty. 

Back at the camp, the manager was very helpful in getting one of the workmen at the centre to find some right sized screws to replace Vanni’s duct tape.

But the good news was that we found a garage that deals with our model of campervan, and the guy there provided us with a quote to have Vanni repaired.

Rīga, Marg and bikes

Then the fates, not contented with stopping us at the Russian border then banging a hole in Vanni, decided that a flat tyre on Leigh’s bicycle would be in order! So we headed out the next morning to find a bike shop to fix Leigh’s puncture.

Trying to get legal documents, a car, and a bike fixed in a foreign city with no knowledge of the local language sure is testing!

We left the bike with a local guy then by chance, came upon a Saturday food and crafts market. We had a lovely time there, where we bought some yummy food to take home.

Marg at Rīga beach

Then we headed back and picked up the bike, and rode a circuitous route home to explore Rīga's attractive riverbank beach.

Back at the campsite later, a van parked beside us that was Czech registered like us. And like us, they were not Czech people, but from Malta.

Then a delightful German woman from Stuttgart came over, as she was born in the Czech Republic and was excited to see two Czech vans. She was very pleased to be able to practice her English and we had a lovely time chatting. 

All this time, we had been anxiously waiting for news of our papers for Vanni to get through the Russian border. Eventually we heard they were on the way. Then, after tracking our package on DHL, we noted it had finally arrived in Rīga....then we spotted a DHL van pulling up at the campsite reception – yes – our papers – Yay!!! 

Within 30 minutes, we were on the road and headed swiftly out of Rīga toward the Russian border, with all fingers crossed! 

This blog describes part of our 6-month motorhome trip around northern and eastern Europe, which began in Prague.