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2012-09-10

Re-post. Latvian vacation. Part 2


Re-post
6th July. Kuldiga and Riežupes sand caves. Sunday morning was cloudless and warm, so the idea to stay near the sea sunbathing and swiming in almost lake like waters for a whole day was ideed very tempting. And, while originally we'd planned to leave for our next destination - Kuldiga - early in the morning to have more time for sightseeing, it was already past noon when we'd finally took off.
Kuldiga's old bridge over the river Venta and Venta's Rumba - low but wide waterfall near the bridge - were worth seeing. But the most captivating part of our Sunday's sightseeing was Riežupes smilÅ¡u alas (sand caves). These caves are located quite close to Kuldiga and they are really worth seeing. Caves were once used for digging white sand for glass and originally they form some 4 km lenght labyrinth some 10-15 m underground near a small river Riežupe. Into these caves one can go only with guide who can tell lots of stories, legends and believes associated with the caves. Of cause it's up to the visitor what to believe and what not. But the expierence is really nice. You go underground into labyrinth of the darkness, damp and cool sand (it's always + 8 C there all year round) with only fluttering light of candle to show you the way. In some places the labyrinth is quite wide and high and a small group of visitors can stand full height. And in some other tunnels ones, especially tall, must almost double in order to go forward that low is the cieling there and sometimes that narrow gap between tunnel walls. And at the end of the underground excursion the guide asks visitors to blow the candles and go into narrow tunnel in complete darkness. That is quite strange and exciting expierence - the cieling is very low and if one isn't carefull enough one can bump to it with head, the path is narrow and at some moments you brush a wall with your shoulder. Then quite suddenly the cave gets wider and you see timid sunlight coming around the corner. Gosh, how hot the wether seams after the coolness of the caves.

Kuldiga and Riežupe's caves visited time to restock our supplies and go back to the sea. On the way back to that nice seaside it starts to rain, but luckily when we finally reach our destination and start to unpack our things, it goes away. This last night was windless and mosquito-free. And it went real nice with this big and hot campfire, barbecue, and venturesome board game 'Alias'.
There was nowhere to hurry that last night as Monday was for going home already.
 and we could enjoy a long and nice evening near fire all night long. 7th July. Cloudy Monday morning turned into rainy noon and while we packed and cleaned our campsite we all were more or less wet. But wet clothes and tents weren't very bad as we were heading back home.
The last and only stop (for sightseeing ) was near JÅ«rkalne. We took a minute to go to see steep shore of the Baltic there. It was still raining, but though all we expected to see was something quite alike steep coast near Giruliai we decided to take a look. From the top of the ledge it wasn't all that different, but going down to the water was worth the effort.
Some 9 p.m. we were home already. Tired, but full of good impressions.

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