Riga, Latvia - Day Trip to Jurmala

After another POSH bus ride and a short walk we settled into our hotel in Riga, Latvia; our final city on this trip. Riga, at almost 57 degrees NORTH latitude is located on the Gulf of Riga in the southern Baltic Sea.

Our plan was to spend one day checking out the sights in Riga, with one day trip to the seaside resort area of Jurmala, and another day trip to scenic Sigulda. However, once in Riga we decided to skip the day trip, over an hour each way, to Sigulda, and spend another day in Riga.

We liked Riga; in fact, it was fabulous. It's lively, located on the water, has great architecture, plenty of vegetarian food, and good transport. And it seemed to me that the non-locals in Riga, including us, seemed to be visitors rather than tourists. Does that make sense?

This post covers our day trip to Jurmala, an area of seaside resorts and health spas located to the west of Riga and accessible by train. In fact; in 1911 a direct train between Jurmala and Moscow was established.

After checking the 3-day forecast, the weather for a day trip to Jurmala looked best for our first full day in Riga, so off we went on the 9:20 train.


From the train, we get a good look at the National Library of Latvia as we head out of the city.


Our first stop will be at Kemeri National Park to walk on the Great Bog Boardwalk. Sun-Ling loves boardwalks and this one makes her top five list for sure. Here's Kemeri Station (mentioned above).


The Great Bog is a raised bog, similar to bogs in Ireland. The boardwalk trail is about 4 kms long with an observation tower at the midpoint. As usual, we encountered a group of children on a school outing.





The boardwalk "floats" on the surface of the bog. It was tempting to step off the boards into the squishy bog...




... or poke a stick into a particularly slushy looking spot.




Rainwater is the sole source of water in the bog.


The observation tower.














We had a few minutes to look around Kemeri before catching the train to Dubulti and the seaside resorts. Many of the buildings in Kemeri were in need of repairs.




Dubulti Station is pretty cool.


This Lutheran Church dates from 1909 and looks the part.


Typical wood house. Although this one is a now a museum dedicated to the Latvian poet Aspazija. This building was her home for many years. Great museum with some cool digital displays.






And we kept walking east to the resort town of Majori, the main/central part of Jurmala.








It was cool and breezy. No one was in the water.








Along the main drag.






The old Post Office.


And a view of Riga as we approached the station on our return.


I was starving so we ate dinner at a "self-service" restaurant in the station. The eggplant "stacks" (left) were tasty: two slices of eggplant topped by a slice of roasted pepper, topped by two slices of zucchini, with melted cheese over the whole thing.

Vilnius, Lithuania

Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, has Lithuanian, Polish and Russian heritage. We spent two days there including a day trip to the lake resort town of Trakai.

First, we have a cold beer.


Locals start a run from in front of the Cathedral Bell Tower.


View from our apartment.


The Literatu Street Project with plaques honoring poets and writes; and some nearby graffiti that caught my eye.






This canal marks the end of the Old Town and the beginning of the Užupio Respublika, an artists district which has a viewpoint.








The Cathedral Square is a popular hangout in the evenings.




The Town Hall is the central building in the Old Town. Also a place to hangout in the evening.




Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, with its painting of St Mary, is a busy pilgrimage site at all hours of the day. Here, with the chapel closed, pilgrims are praying out loud in unison on the street below.


We set out early Saturday morning by bus to Trakai where there was a weekend festival ie the Galves Cup Festival which is centered around a weekend of sailing on Galves Lake. From the bus station, we walked into town passing some food stands and traditional wooded houses.


Then we visited the castle which is on an island in Galves Lake and practically in the middle of the regatta.






The start of the sailing regatta was one of the coolest things ever, having never before seen the start of a sailing regatta. The boats in front of us jockeyed back in forth behind the start line, sometimes appearing as feverish chaos and other times as synchronized order.






And there were singers in traditional costumes.


And a parade. What a great festival!


Back in town, we visited the beautiful synagogue.




And watched the velobaras "cycling bar" pedal by.


Being the capital of Lithuania, there is a modest Changing of the Flag ceremony each Sunday at noon. Check out the guys in medieval costumes at back left.






The Market Hall.




Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, again.


There are many churches in Vilnius; in fact, the June 1938 National Geographic describes Wilno, then part of Poland, as a "City of Churches".










On Sunday there was Sports Fair of sorts near the Cathedral where some young men where working hard to drum up interest in American Football. They told me they were players for the Riga Lions in the Baltic Sea League; then tried to recruit me to be a coach when I told them I was an American.


One can buy Sierra Nevada alus "beer" in the supermarket in Vilnius although the price is over 3 US dollars a bottle. Yikes!


And finally some evening/night shots from atop Castle Hill. As the calendar moved towards the summer solstice and we traveled farther north, the days became longer and longer, so much that getting true "night shots" meant losing sleep as the sun set after 10pm and "night" did not start until after midnight. All the shots below were taken between 10pm and 10:30pm.