Discovering Moments: Latvia 08/08/2011

Highlights

Meeting an amazing couchsurfing with a brilliant smile (Dace), preparing dinner as a group (with all the chatter in the kitchen), looking across a beautiful valley and just having a chat, walking in the forest and getting caught in the rain, having dinner with Dace, her friend and her friends young daughter and ending up playing with the daughter (it is so great to talk with each other in our own language and not understand but somehow carry a conversation).

View Across the Valley

As the bus from Tallinn starts to wind its way through the streets of Riga, I start my usual scan of the city to try to begin to obtain some sort of orientation. As I look across the new city, a certain amount of interests builds as I will also be staying with a new couchsurfing host (Dace) that I have not met before. I will actually not be staying in Riga, but rather a small town about 1 hour away called Sigulda. However, I have organised to meet my host in Riga and we will travel together to Sigulda but not until the afternoon. After the bus arrives I collect my bags and head for some local markets that I saw from the bus window on the way in.

The markets are a buzz. As I first enter the open air section there is a huge selection of fresh fruits and of cause berries which I have now become accustomed to see everywhere. The berries are always such a bright addition to any stall and every time they seem to catch my eye. I find a little perching place among the stalls where I simply people watch. The interactions, the expressions, simply the faces both fascinate me and keep me captivated. Finally I pull myself away to explore the markets a little further. I enter a covered section, which quickly becomes evident that it is the meat hall as a full carcass is whisked past me. Being inside the sounds seems to be magnified and there is an excited chatter that fills the hall. I slowly pass the display cases trying to guess what all the different cuts are. Occasional a man with a butchers apron passes me with what I can only describe as an axe that looks like it has come from the time of knights. As I walk further through the hall, a loud thud beckons my attention and I get to witness the medieval axe skilfully crafting the various cuts of meat.

I begin to contemplate heading into the old city which is about a 10 minute walk away when I receive a message on my phone and Dace asks whether I am able to meet her at the bus station immediately as she needs to head back to Sigulda somewhat unexpectedly. I reply that that is not a problem and I head to the entrance of the bus station where we have agreed to meet. As I stand on the curb of a city that I do not know, in a country I arrived in about 2 hours earlier, waiting for a ‘red car’ to pick me up with the drive named Dace, I smile and think to myself when people ask why I couchsurf, this would certainly be one of the reasons. There are 1000s of possibilities that could result in the next five minutes, regardless of what they are, one thing is certain, I am about to make a local friend.

Dace finds me without any trouble and she is also accompanied by a friend of hers. She says that we are also off to pick up another couchsurfer that will be staying with her before we head to Sigulda. While we are on the way to pick up the second couchsurfer, a Frenchman by the name of Henry-David, the three of us have a really nice conversation and immediately I feel that this is going to be a positive experience for me.

After arriving to Dace’s place we drop off our bags and then head out to do a little exploration of Sigulda. One of the stops that we make is the old castle of Sigulda, which has views across a lush green valley. We walk along a short track and over a newly constructed boardwalk, the smell of newly cut timber still lingering. When I had first arrived in Latvia, the weather had not been so nice as it was raining and overcast. However, as we reach the lookout platform, the sun is breaking through the clouds and the valley before us is bathed in sunshine. In the distance there is a second castle which sits proudly among the trees, the deep maroon of the bricks adding variation to the deep green of the trees. Behind me is a ruined castle, basically only one large wall remains which had originally been construction using large rocks. There area in front of the wall has been converted into a stage and there are about 30 rows of seats waiting patiently for the next show so that they may be filled.

We decide to sit for a while on the platform and just enjoy the scene. The sun is now setting and we are facing it, allowing our whole bodies to be blanketed in the warmth of the moment. We start to chat about all manner of things and in that moment, watching over the valley, listen to the stories of my new host, I realise that my mind is free.

The following photos are taken from in and around Sigulda