... but before that, the story since Ventspils.
We spent a day or so in Ventspils waiting for the wind to drop and used the time to take a bus to Kuldiga, site of Europe's widest natural waterfall - the Ventas Rumba. This waterfall is no less than 249m wide when the river's in full flow but, to be honest, with a fall of only about 2m, it's not the most spectacular sight! Worth a picture though.
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| Kuldiga's landscaped garden which leads to... |
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| ...Europe's widest natural waterfall! |
Kuldiga's a pleasant town and we took a stroll around before catching the bus back. Strangely, it was really difficult to buy postcards there. We asked in several likely looking shops before finally finding a choice of 3 in the tourist information centre.
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| Kuldiga's town hall square... |
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| ... and, er, their Bart Simpson! |
On the 15th June we set off for Roya where we intended to rest for a couple of days before sailing the rest of the way to Riga. After all the wind we'd had, naturally there was very little when we wanted to sail. We managed about 3 hours of pure sailing, but the remainder of the 68 miles was covered with the assistance of the engine.
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| Business Class in flight catering |
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| The entrance to Roya's harbour |
Roja existed as a small fishing village since the 14th century. Most of its growth took place in the 1960s and 70s, so there are no historic buildings to see there. Sailing ships were built along the nearby shoreline in the early part of the 20th century and the fishing industry experienced rapid growth from the 1930s.
Roja actually became a town in 1969 and, during the years of Soviet rule, the famous collective farm "Banga" flourished there. There's a big building in the port area with "Banga" signage, but it looked deserted.
Nowadays, apart from a still active fishing fleet, it's primarily a summer resort.
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| Er... a sailing ship. It'll never float... |
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| Sandy beach, obviously... |
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| ... with a blue pig on it. |
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| Cyclone in the harbour |
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| Roya's rocky beach with the Grand Stone of the Sea in the foreground. Delivered by glacier, apparently |
A couple of nights in Roya gave us an opportunity to unwind, do some shopping and clear some of the washing mountain (no end to the glamour...). Then it was an 0525 departure on 17th June for Riga which was some 60 miles away. We didn't have to leave at that time - no tides, remember? - but it meant we'd arrive in time for cocktails in our orangery. We're civilised, don't you know?!
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| The entrance to the Daugava River. Riga's about 8 miles upriver |
Before we got far up the river, we stopped for fuel. We'd had to do a fair bit of motoring recently - totalling nearly 30 hours - so we'd need about 30 litres. Unfortunately for us, a large Belgian motorboat was in the process of refuelling when we arrived at the fuel berth. They invited us to tie alongside them while we waited, which was just as well as they had to take on nearly 1,000 litres of fuel! That was enough from what the skipper said to take them almost 500 miles, provided they kept to an economical speed. I thought my sister would like reading that. 1,000 litres of diesel Ju and not a catalytic converter in sight!
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| Nearly at Riga now |
Having read about the night club adjacent to the Andrejosta marina, we decided to stay at the marina on the opposite side of the river. This meant we'd have to walk an extra km or so to reach the Old Town, but we thought it'd be worth it for a decent night's kip.
It was definitely a wise choice. We'd arrived on a Saturday and at 2300 we could hear quiet music wafting across the river. When I woke up at 0300 it could be heard quite clearly - they'd obviously turned it up - but it was still unobtrusive. Given that we were about 1km away, we thought it would have been deafening in Andrejosta marina. According to a German we'd met in Ventspils who berthed there, it was! He told us it continued until 0600 and they got very little sleep. I had warned them!
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| View from our berth. Capitalist to the left and communist to the right? |
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| Another view from our berth, with the Old Town in the distance |
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| Replica Viking ships might seem a bit naff, but look at the work that's gone into this one |
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| Crossing the bridge on our way to the Old Town. A cruise liner cometh |
Riga has had a varied history. In 1201 the German crusader bishop Albert von Buxhoevden chose Riga as the strategic location for his fortress. The German settlement became the headquarters for the subjugation of the region and prospered as a member of the Hanseatic League of trading cities (yes, them again!).
It was ruled by Sweden from 1621 until 1710 and experienced a 19th century heyday under the Russians. It was the capital of an independent Latvia between the World Wars and suffered badly during World War 2.
In 1944 Riga was "liberated" by the Red Army and there followed almost 50 years of communist rule. There are still more ethnic Russians in Riga than Latvians.
Since Latvia regained independence in 1991 (yes, that recently!) Riga has flourished. It is now a major tourist destination and has more museums than you can shake a stick at!
History lesson (almost) over!
We spent the Sunday wandering around Riga's Old Town. Once again, given the devastation it suffered in World War 2, it's pretty impressive.
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| Riga Castle. The primary workplace of the President of Latvia |
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| Dome Cathedral, on Dome Square. |
One remarkable example of reconstruction is the House of Blackheads pictured below. This was constructed in the 14th century when it served as a guild for unmarried merchants. It was ravaged and pillaged in World War 2 and rebuilt in 1999. Yes, most of it is less than 20 years old!
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| House of Blackheads. An unfortunate name! |
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| Street scene |
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| Riga's Nativity of Christ Cathedral - a planetarium and restaurant in Soviet times |
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| The Freedom Monument. Built in 1935 on the site of a statue of Peter the Great |
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| The Laima Clock |
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| The Powder Tower. Dates back to 1330 and now houses part of the Latvian War Museum |
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| The Swedish Gate |
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| Monument to those killed in 1991 when people took to the streets following the threat of direct rule from Moscow |
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| The Three Brothers. 3 buildings from 3 different centuries |
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| Flower market |
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| Inside one of the 5 market halls, They were originally Zeppelin hangers! |
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| Another attractive square in Riga |
The picture below is of the roof of the Cat House. Before World War 1, the merchant who owned the building was denied access to the Great Guild because he was a Latvian and only Germans could join. He therefore put 2 statues of cats with their backs arched and their tales up onto his roof, positioning them so that their backsides faced the guildhall. After a lengthy court battle the merchant eventually gained entry to the Guild and turned the cats around.
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| One of the 2 statues on the Cat House's roof |
On the other side of the Daugava River from Riga's Old Town is Victory Park. This houses the Victory Monument, which celebrates the liberation of Riga by the Red Army. It's a controversial monument and there have been 2 unsuccessful attempts by Latvian Nationalists to blow it up. It is mighty impressive as I hope the pictures convey:
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| The Victory Monument |
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| Detail shot. This is huge and appears to have been one block of stone |
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| This is also huge... |
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| ... that's Jos standing there to give perspective! |
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| Buskers in Town Hall Square. They were making a packet! Jo mumbled something about them being young and pretty... |
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| The Town Hall |
We decided to get the bikes out and go on an excursion into the Bikernieki Forest. The picture below shows Jo grimacing under the hail storm that greeted us when we got there! Fortunately it didn't last long.
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| Jo. It's June. And those white balls are hail stones! |
I said above that the history lesson was
almost over and here comes another bit.
Bikernieki Forest was the site chosen by the Nazis for the execution and burial of around 40,000 Jews and other "undesirables".
40,000.
Think about that. Apparently 26,000 were killed in just 2 days.
There is a memorial featuring a field of jagged stones huddled together into sections - each representing the city from which Jews were deported.
This is a very moving place. The monument itself is supplemented, hardly the right word I know, by smaller memorials that mark the location of nearby mass graves.
How can people kill so indiscriminately because of reasons of race or religion? I just don't get it.
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| The concrete arch and path that leads to the monument |
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| The Monument itself |
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| The section of the monument that relates to those from Riga who were killed |
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| One of many mass graves in the forest |
If you think it couldn't get any worse, I'm afraid it did. The picture below shows some of the foundations of the Great Synagogue which was built in 1871. On 4th July 1941, 3 days after invading Riga, the German Secret Police together with a local auxiliary police unit, poured fuel over its furnishings and set it alight.
With over 400 Jews inside.
Who had no means of escape.
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| The ruins of the Great Synagogue |
In total, around 70,000 Latvian Jews and 20,000 other Jews were killed in Latvia following the German invasion.
On a more positive note, the picture below shows a memorial to those Latvians who put their own lives on the line to save Jews. Very brave people indeed.
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| Memorial to the Latvians who risked their lives to save Jews |
We couldn't leave Riga without visiting the Motor Museum. The highlights of this had to be the dummy of Stalin sitting in the back of his limo (apparently some men are more equal than others...) and that of Brezhnev in the driver's seat of the Rolls Royce he crashed!
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| Stalin's in the back! |
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| And Brezhnev's in there |
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| I wouldn't have wanted to be the other driver involved (assuming there was one) |
The museum also housed some examples of the Russian cars that citizens would have to wait many years to be able to buy. According to the information boards, the proud owners had to quickly become mechanics!
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| A Russian car |
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| And another |
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| That sidecar looks familiar! Not a Neval bike though |
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| More Russian Cars |
The museum also had a section celebrating racing cars like this 1938 Auto union V16. 520 bhp and no driver aids - or comfort!
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| Auto Union V16 |
After 5 nights in Riga, during which time we were the only visitors to our particular marina, we set sail for the Estonian island of Ruhnu. This is a small island with about 60 inhabitants, but a popular tourist destination in the summer.
We thought it would be quiet but, of course, the calendar had now ticked over to 23rd June - Victory Day - which, naturally, is followed by 24th June - Midsummer's day.
These holidays mark the start of the summer holidays and, as I write, Ruhnu's harbour is squeezing in more and more boats - and I mean squeezing in, as a recent arrival has literally filled the space between us and the next pontoon, squashing all fenders in the process. I think we're in for a noisy night...
Finally, some pictures from our stroll around Ruhnu today:
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| The harbour, with the sea visible beyond the wall |
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| The world's biggest barbecue? |
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| The road to town |
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| Is this art? The scene of an accident? Who knows! |
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| A Ruhnu house with sauna in the foreground |
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| This is presumably where the residents collect their mail. Outside the Post Office |
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| Ruhnu's 2 churches. The wooden one is from 1644. The other from 1912 |
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| The wooden church |
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| The museum |
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| The airport (really!) |
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| The harbour again, with the ferry in attendance |
Tomorrow we head for the island of Saaremaa.
Oh, I nearly forgot! What's the title about?
Well, could you be sure that the person you were looking at was 28 and not 32? Well, it turns out the person selling tickets at the Motor Museum couldn't be sure whether the person she was looking at ~(me) was 56 (my age) or 60.
"Would that be a senior ticket sir?"
Grrrrrr!!!!!
Thanks for reading.
