oneandahalfsabbatical

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Gauja National Park, Laucu boulders and Sooma, Estonia

- August 20, 2017

On 18th and 19th of August, we wandered in the Gauja National Park, around 30 km altogether. We visited the Turaida castle and the Gutmans cave on the first day. The castle is located in the Turaida Museum Reserve, where you can see also the Turaida church, the Rose of Turaida Memorial, a sculpture park and other monuments. In the Gutmans cave, which is the highest and widest in the Baltic countries, you can see inscriptions on the walls from the 17th century. Between Sigula and Krimulda you can travel with a cablecar , from which you even can hang on a rope and slide or do a bungee-jumping. Gutmans Cave On the second day in the Gauja National Park we went to Cesis where we walked in the old town and visited an other castle. We wanted to visited this castle also beacause here there is a very dark tower without windows where you get a lantern to be able to see the stairs so you will not fall down. It seemed to be a funny adventure. We did a half-wild camping near Sigulda as

Chargeback - the friend of every traveller

- August 17, 2017

When we had that bad experience in a hostel in Riga, we were very upset and angry (just to recall: no free parking, no breakfast but has bedbugs in the room and the whole hostel was dirty). We decided to try something which is called chargeback. First I heard it from one of my colleagues, whose credit card data was possibly stolen in a shop, and later on some online gambling was paid with it. In his case, his bank's fraud department spotted the unusual transactions and alerted him. Then, after the chargeback procedure, he got the money back onto his account. In our case, our base of the chargeback was the lack of the services provided (free parking, breakfast), and the poor quality of the room (including the bedbugs, which once you have it in your backpack, you most probably need to throw all your clothes away, because if you don't do that, you bring them to your house and never get rid of them). So basically, all you need to know is that if you pay with your card the wa

Riga, capital of Latvia

- August 17, 2017

Due to the long hike on the day before, we planned only a slower Riga sightseeing. We arrived from our campsite in Jurmala to the city in less than an hour and we found our accommodation also quickly. But here we did not have luck. We hastily booked the room and did not read the comments about the accommodation, so we have choosen poorly. The room, the kitchen and the bath were dirty. The receptionist was rude and what was written on the internet, almost nothing was true. They offered free parking, but it turned out that it was only possible on the street in the evening from 8pm so we paid for the afternoon parking place as much as the accommodation itself (That „funny” receptionist guy told us there is free parking a couple of blocks away, but that district is not safe so he does not recommend it). The only thing what was true is that the accommodation was very close to the downtown. There was a continental breakfast included in the price, but only contained two packages of snacks.

Kemeri National Park

- August 16, 2017

We let the car rest today and walked on foot to discover the national park near Jurmala. First we went to the train station and traveled to Kemeri by train to the center of the park. From the Kemeri railway station we went to the main attraction, the marshland. There is a three-and-a-half-kilometer route on top of planks and footbridges. It is not worth getting off the planks because the soil is very swampy, wherever you can sink into the ground. There is a lookout point at the end of the road, from here you can see the whole area. The former lake is surrounded by pine forest, but only low shrubs and smaller trees living here. From here we went back to the town of Kemeri, Kemeri Park, where long ago, between the two world wars, there were sparkling social life. Even with Moscow, the city was in a railway connection, so famous was the spa center here. After visiting the park, we went to Lake Solka to a bird watching point. Bird watching was not succ

Widest waterfall in Europe

- August 15, 2017

Today we crossed the Latvia-Lithuania border. First we followed a road close to the coastline and then took the direction to Kuldiga after Liepaja, which was our first stop of the day. Latvia is almost has the same area as Lithuania, 64,500 km2, but it is inhabited by less than 1 million, with a total population of 2 million. If Lithuania was not crowded then Latvia is almost empty. Few are on the roads, you can drive well. However, it is quite surprising that on one-digit highways you can see tractors and other slow vehicles ambling. The quality of the roads is similar in both countries. The most important routes are of good quality, usually only two lanes, but often with sloping or broad lanes, but elsewhere, between smaller settlements still have dirt roads. Lots of road constructions going on which slows you down. Reaching Kuldiga, we headed for the waterfall, which is the widest in Europe: 249 meter. But it has the hight of only about 2 meters. Funny sight. We just saw a bu

On the lithuanian seaside

- August 13, 2017

Next day, let's go to the seaside! We choosed the camp called Karkelbeck No 409 . That was named after the Royal Amber Store no 409. The campsite's kitchen was set up in a barn, and the two toilett rooms are located on the side of the barn, almost outdoor, separated nothing but with a swing door. So the facilities are kind of limited. But because we went off season, only a couple of guests were in the camp. Until midnight, when twenty polish Land Rovers (with those roof tents, you know) just falls in. And next morning, when you just try to concentrate on the toilett after your coffee, there is nothing between you and a dozen of polish guys waiting, just one swing door. Anyway, the camping is close to the seaside, and the beach is nice. Lithuania's unmissable sight is the Curonian spit, which lies on a 98 km long and 600 to 2000-meter-wide peninsula between Klaipeda and Lesznoj (Russia). Of the 98 kms, 52 km belong to Lithuania and 46 km to Russia's K

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