A Day in Ventspils, Latvia

Yesterday we had the opportunity to travel about an hour and a half north of Liepaja to a small town called Ventspils. Ginta, one of the caretakers at the orphanage, and one of her friends took us to Ventspils for the town celebration. Each year the town celebrates the anniversary of its founding. Ventspils is 719 years old yesterday! That is nearly impossible for us to comprehend as Americans. The town is a beautiful quaint coastal port town which most of the Swede and Dutch sailors choose to use rather than Liepaja. The homes look to have been kept up for hundreds of years and still carry much of the original architecture and feel. It is also evident each time a family expanded and they added on to their home because the brick or stones vary from the original. Another common thing is that the streets are made with either cobblestone or river stones. Both are very beautiful though I must say I like the river stone streets the best. With years of driving and walking on, they have a polished look which shows the stones character. For the most part it is all granite stone but rounded shapes and sizes.

When we arrived we went to a small home a few blocks from the water where we met an interesting lady who spoke no English nor do I think she understood it either. Through a gate betweens the homes we followed a brick path to the back of the building where we walked into a small garden that contained varied vegetables and flowers. Scattered along the fence and pathway were fruit trees as well. I really wanted to pick the last ripe cherry I saw on the tree…but I didn’t figure that would be too polite. After a few minutes of Latvian conversation we left the home and headed to the promenade along the waterfront, this is where the festivities were taking place. Music, dance, beauty contests, booths with the handiwork of local artisans and food all lines the promenade. Yes, the center of it all was an area with a large crowd…this is where the “strong man” competition was taking place. Aleks and I would have stayed and watched the whole thing but the ladies wanted to keep moving and see the art as well. I have no idea what the food we selected was called but I do know that it was good. We passed on the pig snout and opted for the cooked pork on skewers with potatoes and shredded cabbage. Dill is a favorite herb to cook with here. A flavor which brought back a lot of memories and a taste which I had nearly forgotten. It is used with sour cream to make a cream sauce for potatoes, fish, chicken or whatever else happens to be on your plate.

While in Ventspils we also found another amazing park. This one was filled with families…unlike the park in Liepaja. Granted, it was the weekend but there were families everywhere and smiles on the faces of most of the people. Ventspils seems to be a happy town which is weathering the financial crisis of the country well. They have industry there, and active port as well as both an oil refinery and electric plant. Latvia has also figured out that wind is a viable source of energy. They have huge wind turbines throughout the countryside.

After leaving Ventspils we headed back to Liepaja but made a slight detour into a small fishing village where we had a wonderful meal. Not the quickest service but the food was great. Unfortunately due to the not so quick service, we missed the sunset on the water. Sunset is about 10:00pm and sunrise is about 5:30am right now. If you plan to visit Liepaja, make sure your room has black out curtains or you have one of those classy face masks to cover your eyes.