Pie Jana Liepaja

... backpack on my back and the small one in front. Quite a sight.

Liepaja has retained much of its past although much in poor shape. In late 1800s it was apparently a thriving resort town. Many beautiful homes with a large, wooden, Russian architecture. Some have been restored and are majestic. The tourist map from the Info center is very good and provides a good walking route to get a feel for the ...

... as well. Another slightly offbeat side trip, but it's what it's all about. Further north on the coast is the town of Liepaja, where we stopped for dinner in an old 17th century coaching inn. We had a great night sipping wine and polishing it off with tumblers of traditional Absinthe. BLOODY HELL! Boy did it knock our socks off! We hardly even remember making it back to the van, nor putting ...

... to bed quite early. Th 2 nights we talked was very good, she's in LOVE with Italy and i hope that she will manage at some stage to live there. She's a very busy girl, and still hosting people all the time, (she's booked till midd October) It's just normal for her, quite big flat and very confotable sofa, so why not make other people be a part of it.... I have so many other things to say, like the pasta dish that Ance she made me when i arrive to her place yesterday ...

... entrance and staircase were a complete mess (unfinished renovations). The rooms and bathrooms were actually fairly nice, though needed some finishing touches still. This should be a good hostel once it is finished. There's a big kitchen and nice common area with comfy couches, air hockey table, free internet, and a flat panel TV with DVD player. Mary-ism #9: Mary was pretty excited to see that all the ...

... over, under and in between these imposing structure, which are now cast at odd angles like an MC Escher picture by the power of the Baltic waves. These structures then give way to another tree lined beach which is clearly also being rapidly eroded as trees lay strewn across the sand and tilted against the cliffs from which they has fallen. After another Kilometers the fortifications begin again and this time there are more preserved example and as I trace ...

Our short stay in Liepaja just wasn't long enough. Our hostel was about 2 blocks away from the beach and it bloody rained. That didn't stop us from going to the beach though. We went out one night with some people from the hostel, but mainly just chilled out playing air hockey, wathing DVD's and drinking.

Not yet having had enough of beaches, but not wanting to extract any more cash, I moved on from Klaipeda up to Liepaja, about 100km up the coast, in search of the Latvian equivalent and (from what I had heard) a rather fantastic hostel. I was a little disappointed. The hostel I had been intending to stay at was closed for renovation, so ended up in a nice enough, but fairly anonymous place ...

... building was reasonable with lots of offices and a small cafe. The room wasn't ready for us yet, but we were able to leave our packs and head off into town. The first thing we found was the market, it seems that every town in these parts no matter how big or small, has a daily open air market. They sell everything from shoes, to fruit, to fish, you name it, its here and very cheap. We bought some fruit as most of the local cuisine seems to ...

Not much to tell here. I'm still travelling with Jon towards Riga and now it's Latvia! Again different money, different funny language and different people. For once even differed kind of accommodation: There's another XY-Beach-Sea-Festival taking place and we've finally found accommodation in an old Soviet Military-Prison ...

... you, for giving me a harbour where I can stay. I find, I am the luckiest person in the world, for having such true friends. We returned to the beach. Suddenly the ice cracked. My foot broke through the ice and dived into cold Baltic Sea water. Nothing else happened. We walked on carefully. For the rest of my impressions from Liepala, see the pics :-).