Country: Latvia
Distance travelled:
Weather: Sunny and warm

We were a bit slow in getting up this morning with nowhere important to be and the opportunity to get the sheets washed was too tempting for us to hurry away from. I had an easy morning of it until the receptionist turned up. Once I could pin him down, it was to find that the washing machine wasn’t working so that plan went down the drain. Since we had a water supply and a beautiful sunny day however, I decided that if the sheets couldn’t be washed, I could at least get some clothes clean so I dug out the portable washing machine and set to.

In between the wash and spin cycles, I spent time researching our next country, Lithuania, picking out several places we would be interested in visiting. We have just over thirty days to reach Venice where we are to meet Dad and Pam and pick up our Vegemite supply. We also rang our good friends Lyn and John and had a long chat via skype, giving them a tour around the van using the camera on my ipad.

Before we left the area of Riga, I wanted to visit a Holocaust Memorial with a difference. This one, located in near the town of Salaspils just outside Riga, had been erected by the Soviets in 1967 on the site of Stalag-350-s, a “police prison and work education camp” established in October 1941 by the Nazis. We parked nearby in a quiet carpark and strolled along a path through pine trees to the open area of the former camp now embellished with a number of huge statues imbued with the usual Soviet symbology – The Invincible, The Mother, Solidarity, Defeated.

Located under a huge marble slab in the area of the original camp gallows is a metronome sounding out at an almost inaudible level. This additional symbology is supposed to put one in mind of a heartbeat. Generally this former camp, like most others, is gone but for the remnants of foundations now planted with roses although there was one area festooned with many children’s toys since a large number had died here. We had come primarily to see the massive statues and were not disappointed however the rest of the memorial was also worth the visit.

Eventually we had to leave, taking the road west to Liepaja located on the Baltic Sea. The car park we were headed to had been mentioned in another blog we read but when we arrived, I wasn’t sure it was the correct place. There was quite a lot of foot traffic, mostly people heading down to the beach since it was such a sunny day. I left Mark searching for a wifi network we could use and got out my bicycle to scout around and see if there was any other option. It was pleasant riding around the park and along the beachside walk although I caught only glimpses of the sand and water because of the line of trees and shrubs. Eventually I had to admit that we had the correct place and I headed back to tell Mark.

By the time I had packed away the bike, Mark told me the wifi network he had found and connected to had disappeared again. We relocated the van to a less busy side of the car park and as it grew dark, ate dinner and went to bed.

Wild Camping at Liepāja