July 18 to 29, Latvia:

We perceived a difference as soon as we crossed borders. It is true that so far we have only visited the coast (and often the more turist places) of Lithuania, but the feel of this country is a bit different. The way people dress and the kind of shops and even the quality of the stuff in the shops are a bit down. The thing we loved the most is the amount of nature...so unspoilt!

The Baltic countries have a low population density and there are only 2 million people living here, so what we have a lot is super fresh air, forest, lakes, rivers and more forest. The villages are really small, lots have "manors" (like estancias or small castle), a castle (or its ruins), the old wooden houses, plenty of very beautiful and new houses with huge land and often a few blocks of apartments in poor state; almost with an abandoned feel plus an abandoned factory here and there.

Riga: from the art nouveau buildings (oh, so majestic! why today buildings cannot be done with such artistry and exquisite thought?) to  the beautiful crafted parks with fountains and bridges to the plethora of coffee shops and restaurants with bands....



Riga has everything you need to have a good time!... and a reflective one too, as we stopped in the numerous buildings remembering the Jews that were killed here... we never knew how big it was the population here but at one point there were 200 synagogues around!! No one of them left, just rubble to remind us of terrible times.

After a few days in Riga we drove to Sigulda to do more bike riding on the Gauja National Park. This one was very much like an Indiana Jones adventure, with broken bridges an all! There are lots of camping everywhere and at every turn there is a volleyball court. Another peculiarity is driving from one village to the other and finding lots of "typical" restaurants and coffee shops along the motorway.

At Cesis we decided to have a rest. Nettled in the bush, on the river; we spent 2 days just relaxing, eating BBQ and nothing else. The coming and going from one place to another, finding and sleeping each night in different places, driving and walking or biking....sometimes we (...well I!) just want to do nothing!

I felt refreshed after the rest and what the coincidence but we just landed on "Cesis annual festival" day! Never expected to see so many people, market stalls and bands! It was a great Saturday afternoon, the weather just great and listening to rock Latvian music was fantastic!

We saw them in the river the other day, all kind of rafts, from canoes, to kayaks to just simple few pieces of wood fixed together....this seems to be the "thing to do around here", paddle down the Gauja river...we have to do it!

and we did it....30 km! Slept very well last night :)