Once through Latvia

From the city to the marsh.

The Kemeri National Park is located just outside the gates of Riga. So we make our way there and take a short hike on a nature trail, right through the marshy landscape. Hardworking people have laid out a 3.5km long path with wooden planks so you can experience the marsh directly.

It's an extraordinary landscape, with small 'lakes' and its own vegetation. The trees grow a maximum of 15m in the soft soil, so from the lookout tower you have a great view of the entire area.

Even our son found it so exciting that he didn't fall asleep, despite bedtime.

With these beautiful impressions, we drive north for a change. Our destination is a campsite near the town of Roja. However, the way there is quite arduous. The connections between the country roads are exclusively gravel roads. It's quite arduous to drive 10-20km on these roads with the Nugget. Both for humans and machines.

Unscathed but not really relaxed, we arrive at the lovingly landscaped campsite, right on the Baltic Sea. A beautiful place, with a small animal enclosure, restaurant, and everything we need. Nice neighbors are also included. Only the tap water is - as is often the case in Latvia - undrinkable.

After a few hours of playing on the beach and chatting with the neighbors, it's time for bedtime. Henry is getting better at going to bed in the past few weeks. Sometimes he can't wait, which is probably also because he looks forward to Mama's only meal of the day. Annika started weaning him at night some time ago, which has been surprisingly successful so far. Then he usually sleeps for almost 12 hours and wakes up full of energy around 8:30 am.

So it is also the next day. Mama and Papa made plans at night and decided to continue driving. So off to Cape Kolka. However, we only take a short look at the natural spectacle of the crossing waves and undermined trees there and continue to Pāvilosta.

By chance, we end up in a parking lot where you can spend the night for a small fee. Located right on the beach and with a snack bar, it's a wonderful place to stay.

But because the weather is supposed to get worse, we only stay there for one night and continue to the border town of Klaipeda. Based on a recommendation from other travelers, we end up at a nice campsite near the cliffs. An entrepreneurial farmer has transformed his front yard and is happy to have all kinds of paying guests during the peak season. We definitely feel comfortable and enjoy the afternoon on the stony beach, where paragliders with tourists in tow constantly fly over the heads of those lying on the beach.

At night, a heavy thunderstorm passes right over us. We are briefly startled by the noise, but Henry is not at all bothered by it.

Before we drive to Vilnius, we made a stop at a campsite in Medaus Slėnis in Šilinė. The place was built by the owner himself, which is really an impressive feat. We were warmly welcomed and had a wonderful stay.

In the evening, I had the opportunity to meet two Lithuanians over 3 to 10 beers. Very warm and hospitable people who try to live a good life with modest means. They earn 600€ a month and have to support their family with that. For me, the situation of the two is hard to imagine and later I think a lot about how lucky we are in 'our little world' in Buxtehude.

We were offered fruit, vegetables, and other things at various campsites. Which we gladly accepted. This time we stocked up on honey and Annika even got a private tour of the beehives.

Here, we had the opportunity to speak directly with Lithuanians and we find these encounters enriching.

But now we're really off to Vilnius...