Riga & Latvia
Two days of the trip to Lithuania were spend in Latvia. Now they are in the European union there are no bordercontrols anymore. But the roads are pretty bad, so it took us 4 hours to travel the 300 km from Vilnius to Riga. Riga has a very different feel from Vilnius. As it is situated on the coast it
was one of the medieval hanse cities. With a lot of German influence, therefor the medieval houses have much more of a west european feel to it. A very beautifull city, but not as different as Vilnius is. We did spend a lovely day there going into a few of the houses and looking at it all from the outside. Amongst the highlights were the cats house famous for two cat castiron statues on the roof and in the new part of town the very big russian church. Unfortunately I could not take pictures in there as it was fascinating
. And very busy as well. We drove back to just over the border were we spend the night in Lithuania. Getting to Birzai was an adventure as well, we had to travel over a dirt road which made for 20 very uncomfortable kilometers. But they are working on the road so it will get better.
The next morning we looked around Birzai a little but it was the only morning with rain so pretty sure we were back in Latvia to have a look at two castles today. The first Bauska was a medieval stronghold, part rebuild and part ruin. It was a nice mix. Most of the texts in the
museum were also in English and it was fun to look around in the ruins later. Closeby was Rundale palace, and this really was a palace! In the style of Versailes, or in the Netherlands het Loo. The same style of gardens. It was well worth the visit. We were allowed to take pictures inside and we spend two hours looking at all the decorated rooms. Nice here was that they were still working on it so we could see two rooms that still needed t
o be renovated and to see the painstaking work this is. Not even to mention what it costs to do this right!It was already five o'clock when we left here and there was one more stop before we would drive home. This would be back in Lithuania and it was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen 
and I am not even that religious. The hill of crosses started with one cross to oppose the russians who forbade all forms of religion. The cross was removed. But the next night there were two crosses, who were removed. And so on, and so on. Today there are 200000 crosses on the hill. And although the russians are gone, still crosses are being added to it everyday. To me it is more a monument to resistance than a religious site. It shows the power of people to resist.
was one of the medieval hanse cities. With a lot of German influence, therefor the medieval houses have much more of a west european feel to it. A very beautifull city, but not as different as Vilnius is. We did spend a lovely day there going into a few of the houses and looking at it all from the outside. Amongst the highlights were the cats house famous for two cat castiron statues on the roof and in the new part of town the very big russian church. Unfortunately I could not take pictures in there as it was fascinating
. And very busy as well. We drove back to just over the border were we spend the night in Lithuania. Getting to Birzai was an adventure as well, we had to travel over a dirt road which made for 20 very uncomfortable kilometers. But they are working on the road so it will get better.The next morning we looked around Birzai a little but it was the only morning with rain so pretty sure we were back in Latvia to have a look at two castles today. The first Bauska was a medieval stronghold, part rebuild and part ruin. It was a nice mix. Most of the texts in the
museum were also in English and it was fun to look around in the ruins later. Closeby was Rundale palace, and this really was a palace! In the style of Versailes, or in the Netherlands het Loo. The same style of gardens. It was well worth the visit. We were allowed to take pictures inside and we spend two hours looking at all the decorated rooms. Nice here was that they were still working on it so we could see two rooms that still needed t
o be renovated and to see the painstaking work this is. Not even to mention what it costs to do this right!It was already five o'clock when we left here and there was one more stop before we would drive home. This would be back in Lithuania and it was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen 
and I am not even that religious. The hill of crosses started with one cross to oppose the russians who forbade all forms of religion. The cross was removed. But the next night there were two crosses, who were removed. And so on, and so on. Today there are 200000 crosses on the hill. And although the russians are gone, still crosses are being added to it everyday. To me it is more a monument to resistance than a religious site. It shows the power of people to resist.
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