Lady Hamilton 2019

KIHNU

Day 43 Monday, 1^st July 2019

In the morning I do two loads of washing and post the Blog on Riga.  Malcolm goes to the fuel station near the Port office and tops up on diesel.

The island is 7km long and 3.5km wide and has four villages and a population of 502!  In the afternoon we go for a walk down long straight roads, lined with pine trees.  We’re heading to the church but get to the small shop and buy Magnum type lollies, mine is Pistachio, with pistachio green icecream inside and nuts in the chocolate coating , and Malcolm chooses a mint one.

Walk on to the church along another straight road, and I photograph wild flowers along the verges.

This is St. Nicholas’ Orthodox Church: the islanders are mong the minority of ethnic Estonians who adhere to the Russian Orthodox religion.  This pretty little church at the centre of the island dates from 1786, with some additions from 1862 and it says 1902 over the gatepost.  Unfortunately it’s closed today, apparently you have to book in advance.

This is the Kihnu Museum, right opposite the church.  Looks very Swedish!  It was the island’s only school until the new one was built behind in 1974.

Many of the women still wear their traditional striped skirts nearly every day.  The lady in the Museum poses for me.

In December 2003 Unesco declared the Kihnu Cultural Space ‘a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible  Heritage of Humanity’. This honour is a tribute to the rich cultural traditions that are still practised on the island – song, dance, the celebration of traditional festivals and the making of handicrafts.  The customs have remained intact for so many centuries thanks to the island’s isolation.  We see many videos in the Museum of dancing women, all wearing striped skirts and headscarves, wedding parties and traditional handicrafts.  They keep sheep on the island so these jumpers are handknit from their own wool.  My Dad would have loved these jumpers – he was a wool merchant. 

‘Kihnu Jonn’ (Enn Uuetoa) was a sea captain and it’s said that he’s sailed on all the world’s oceans.  He drowned in 1913 when his ship, ‘Rock City’, sank off Denmark on what was to have been his last voyage before retirement. He was buried in Oksby but in 1992 his remains were brought home to Kinhu.  Kinhu Jonn was the first to cross the ice in winter, probably from Parnu, to get to his island home.  There’s a prominent display in the museum but we found this as we were leaving the harbour.

I buy honey and two make-up bags in patchwork, all made on the island, from the museum.  The museum entranced us both – such a beautiful history and so much to see.

Walk back along the long straight road to the Port, collect my dried washing, and make tea: chicken breasts and penne with peas tonight. 

Found this painting in the Museum.  It depicts seal hunting on the ice in Winter.

Tomorrow we’ll find a seal conservation area in the sea just north of Kihnu.  We have only seen 3 seals in the Baltic last year and none this year.  We’re not surprised that there are almost none in the Baltic – especially in the Gulf of Riga!

 

RIGA TO KIHNU (an island in Estonia)  76 miles

Day 42 Sunday, 30^th June 2019

Left the marina at 6am.  As we’re travelling up the river the yachts from the Gulf of Riga Regatta come back  –  we see ‘Irisha’, our next door neighbour in Roja, and four other yachts.  We wonder what happened to them when the wind whipped up on Thursday?

We take it in turn to have a sleep as the disco started at 11pm and pounded all night.  There’s very little wind today and we have to motor-sail for 76 miles.

We hoist up the Estonian flag.  Again we see no yachts and no ships – we’re the only boat in the village again!

And there are no other yachts in the harbour but we have a lovely surprise …. there are brand new pontoons in Kihnu, we were expecting stern buoys.

The harbour master is a young woman but she’s busy helping the ferry which comes from Munalaid, 40 km southwest of Parnu.  As long as ice conditions allow, according to my guidebook, from at least mid-May to the end of October (!), the ferries run two to four a day.  It must be high season now, so the ferry comes in four times a day and stays here overnight.  The ferry takes cars, cyclists and pedestrians.

The very new showers and toilets (and a sauna, for which you have to pay 20 euros) are in the building where the harbour master’s office is situated.  And there’s a new washing machine and dryer too!   Might avail myself of that tomorrow. 

Cycling is very popular on Kihnu – Malcolm counts at least a 100 for hire near the harbour office.

A Swedish yacht comes in too but they’re not very friendly.  We eat a tin of beef casserole, the last of the potatoes and fresh beans –  we only arrived at 6.30 pm – so that’s 12 and a half hours. A very long day! 

And the Harbour Master flies the Union Jack in our honour.

RIGA

Day 41 Saturday, 29^th June 2019

More than 750 buildings in Art Nouveau architectural style in Riga!  We stroll up and down Alberta iela taking in all the Art Nouveau houses, with peacocks, tangled shrubs and bare-breasted heroines, giant masks and medusa-like snakes.  There’s lots of tourists around – as always in Riga – but we’ve seen a big cruise ship come in too.

Then to the Riga Art Nouveau Museum to see what’s behind these elaborate facades.  The interiors have been completely restored to resemble a middle-class apartment from the early 20^th century.  I like the stencilled friezes around the rooms – we’ve put one up the stairs in ‘Norlands’ as our house was built in 1906 at the heart of the Art Nouveau craze. 

 

We love the ‘aga’ in the kitchen, and it has a refrigerator too.  And the stained glass in the dining room.

 

We follow the wonderfully lavish stairway up to the 5^th floor to find the apartment of Janis Rozentals, one of Latvia’s most celebrated painters. 

After feasting on art nouveau we cross the park and see these soldiers outside the Castle.  We wait ages to see them marching up and down, which they were doing when we arrived, goose-stepping and arms folded,  but they only have a comfort break in the back of the sentry box!

It’s raining now so we shelter in the Riga History and Navigation Museum, founded in 1773.  This is the oldest museum in the Baltic, situated in the old cathedral monastery, where we’ve been before in the cloisters.

Did you know that Scarborough was a trading port in the Hanseatic League?  We didn’t!

Love this huge wooden statue of St. Christopher. This statue of the Virgin and Child on a crescent moon  was stolen by the Germans in WW11 and taken to Germany and returned many decades later to this museum. 

The neo-classical Column hall, built when Latvia was part of the Russian empire, has a picture of Peter the Great on the end wall and Catherine the Great on the ceiling (whose biography I read earlier!).

 

Again we go to the Rimi supermarket and catch the tram back to the boat.  We’re setting off to the Estonian island of Kihnu tomorrow so need to be provisioned up.  And the disco plays from 11pm until 6am – but we’re wearing ear plugs.  Hope we can hear the alarm at 5.15 am!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RIGA

Day 40 Friday,  28^th June 2019

Malcolm’s busy with fuel from the filling station and changing the oil filters, and I go to the Latvian National Art Gallery, which is full of paintings by Latvians! I like this picture of girls coming out from a factory.

I take a photo from the roof terrace  of the Art Gallery of the Nativity of Christ Cathedral which looks very Russian Orthodox.  I check later with my guide book and it is!

RIGA

Day 39 Thursday, 27^th June 2019

Head off to the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia 1940 – 1991.  All these Baltic states have suffered so much.  Taking advantage of the Hitler – Stalin Pact, Latvia was occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940.  A year later Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union and occupied Latvia.  After the war, Latvia was re-occupied by the Soviet Union.  As a result of the occupations and World War 11 Latvia lost about one third of its population.  Tens of thousands lost their lives in the Holocaust, political murders, war action, in inhumane conditions in the Gulag and Nazi concentration camps.  Tens of thousands fled from Latvia at the war’s end fearing the return of Stalin’s regime.  Only on 21 August 1991, Latvia regained independence.

Did you know that in 1989 the ‘Baltic Way’ – a peaceful political demonstration – about two million people joined hands to form a human chain, spanning 675 km, from Tallinn to Riga to Vilnius?  This was to demonstrate a popular desire to be independent of their Soviet rule.

I love this teddy bear – so like mine.  This little girl refugee is at Visby on Gotland.  She must have fled there at the war’s end – hopefully with her parents.

After that we did the Dome Cathedral and cloisters.  This enormous (once Catholic, now Evangelical Lutheran) cathedral is the largest medieval church in the Baltic.  There are old stone tombs dotted on the floor and walls – eminent citizens would pay to be buried as close to the altar as possible!

This is Bishop Albert von Buxhoeveden who founded Riga in 1211.   He was on a crusade against the northern ‘heathens’ – the Balts, the Slavs and Finno-Ugric people – and it became a stronghold for the Knights of the Sword. 

Walking past the House of Blackheads. This was built in 1344 for the Blackheads guild of unmarried German merchants.  The house was decimated in 1941 and flattened by the Soviets 7 years later.  Somehow the original blueprints survived and an exact replica of this fantastically ornate structure was completed in 2001 for Riga’s 800^th birthday. 

 

Then St.Peter’s Church.

We’re going in a lift 72 m up the steeple, for 9 euros each. The spire was added in the 17^th century and instantly became a signature element of Riga’s skyline.  In 1721 the spire was destroyed in a blaze despite Russian emperor Peter 1 personally rushing to the scene to extinguish the fire.  The spire ended up being destroyed in WW11 and was resurrected again.

It’s soaring red-brick interior is relatively unadorned, except for heraldic shields mounted on the columns.  A colourful contrast is provided by the art exhibition staged in the side aisles – but none that I like! This was the weathervane – and there have been quite a few.

After that to the Rimi supermarket and home on a tram (the tram reminds the skipper of Liverpool where he was born) which drops us right by the marina. 

RIGA

Day 38  Wednesday, 26^th June 2019

Set off for a walking tour taking in the main sites of the Old Town, guided by Lonely Planet’s ‘Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania’ on my Kindle – we soon got lost!

This is the copper-topped Freedom Monument – very important to Latvians where they celebrate many events – affectionately known as ‘Milda’.  Surprisingly, during the Soviet years the Freedom Monument was never demolished, but it was strictly off limits.  People seen placing flowers at the base were persecuted.

We sneaked up an alleyway and found these old fortified walls.

The Riga Castle:  it was the official residence of the President of Latvia , or did until the fire of 2013.  It’s due for renovation and the museum is situated elsewhere.  The castle was built as the HQ of the grand master of the Livonian Order in 1330.  

These are the Three Brothers:  old houses spanning many centuries.  

And finally this is the Powder Tower, near the Arsenal.

Got back to the boat for lunch and the Harbour Master arrived and charges 25 Euros for each night we spend in this grotty marina!  The most expensive in the Baltic because the owner charges the same rate as for his property and this marina covers a huge area, with the berths being very oversize.  The Harbour Master from the marina across the river kindly delivered our locally refilled Camping Gaz bottle, only 12 Euros, so that’s much cheaper than the UK.

In the evening we go to the Terase Restaurant (where our toilets and showers are hiding at the back), and the waitress tells us,very nicely, that there’ll be a long wait as they’re under-staffed and have many people dining there this evening.  All the glamorous people – many in high fashion with big expensive cars – are dining here so we have plenty of people-watching while we wait for our meal, which takes over an hour to come!  Our waitress brings us a complimentary dessert after the long wait – she’s rushed off her feet this evening and she’s very sweet.

ROJA TO RIGA   (56 miles)

Day 37 Tuesday 25^th June 2019

Leave at 7.45 am and motorsail all the way with the main and genoa out.  We pass a few anchored ships and see one huge ship coming out of Riga and one entering the channel towards Riga.  We arrive at Riga and have to motor down the River Daugava for 8 miles.  It’s not as busy as Gdansk, Poland, although we saw a military hovercraft coming out.

 

 A container ship being emptied by a crane and the ferry coming out just before we enter the marina ‘Andrejosta’, near the Old Town.

 We’ve seen on Captain’s Mate, courtesy of the Cruising Association, that the marina is very run down and has a noisy disco from 11 pm until 6 am every Friday and Saturday.  We hope to stay 3 nights in this marina but there’s a storm brewing in the Gulf of Riga and the skipper says that we might not be able to leave until Sunday.  There are only two yachts in the marina.  The covering on the pontoons are lifting and there’s even a hole in ours.  And there’s no-one to take our lines!  I feel very disappointed. 

Malcolm goes in search of the toilets and showers.  They are at the posh restaurant on the quayside but not very salubrious for yachties.  He manages to book dinner for tomorrow night – again wooed by all the pretty waitresses at his beck and call!

We cook tea and plan the days ahead – and watch two episodes of ‘Mad Men’!

I might take a break from publishing the Blog in Riga but I’ll definitely summarise our 4 or 5 days in Riga for all my readers.  Thank you very much for reading the Blog.

 

ROJA

Day 36  Monday, 24^th June 2019

Have a leisurely breakfast after a long day.  Blog all morning and try to get the laundry done at the hotel.  I’m told to wait until the owner comes in  at 1 pm.

Another boat comes in and they’re flying the red duster – more Brits!  But they (3 men) tie up at the Yacht Club across the river so we can’t say hello. 

We are having a very chilled day:  Malcolm scrubs the water-line with his home-made gadget and cleans the decks (all the men are cleaning their boats!).  Later I polish the chrome at the bow and the stern.

We try to go up the river on a path but M thinks there might ticks in the undergrowth and we’ve got shorts on (not trousers tucked into socks as an anti-tick precaution!).  Ticks are very prevalent in all the countries round the Baltic Sea.  Tick bites can cause Encephalitis or Lyme Disease. 

We go to the small supermarket and buy Magnums – they seem to be widespread in Latvia!  We love these small huts – we should have them in Whitby!

 

The skipper of the boat who tied us up last night says the Gulf of Riga Race is starting tomorrow at 5 pm after the presentation at 3 pm.  The race is going to the Estonian islands north of here.  He’s got lots of stickers to put on his boat – he’s got number ‘9’ and many stickers from sponsors.  He’s even shown me a photo of him lowered over the side of his boat in a harness, polishing the hull.  The guys on the boat next door, called ‘Irisha’, have been very busy hosing down and microscopically polishing all day.  Can’t think they do any polishing at home!

The view from the bridge of the racing boats and Lady H.

We eat in the Mare Hotel Restaurant in the evening but it’s an hour before we’re fed as it’s very busy with yacht crews.  We have a snack plate for 2 for starters – mostly bland cheese and fried onion rings with garlicy toast – very filling and lots of calories.   After that I have butter fillet (fish, very meaty) and M has chicken with chanterelles.  The waitress delivers my washing  in the bar and it’s still quite damp – I have to drape it over the doors down below in Lady H.  We’re now hooked on ‘Mad Men’, Series 2!

VENTSPILS TO ROJA (IN THE GULF OF RIGA)  71 miles

Day 35  Sunday, 23^rd June 2019

Radio Port Control on Ch 9 to ask if it’s safe to leave the Fish Dock at 6am.  We put up the mainsail and stow our lines and fenders in the marina for there might be a residual sea as it’s been very windy yesterday.

Scottish Viking comes into port as we’re leaving.

I have a sleep in the forecabin for 2 hours as I’ve taken two Stugeron (for seasickness).  We’re going North from Ventspils and then eastwards across the top of the peninsula where the Baltic Sea meets the Gulf of Riga at Cape Kolka. With light winds and a big following sea we were forced to motor-sail most of the way to maintain decent progress for the 71 miles. 

Cape Kolka has a lighthouse 6 km from the shore, guarding a massive sand spit.

Locals claim the Cape’s waters are littered with more shipwrecks than anywhere else in the Baltic.  Centuries ago bonfires were lit at the Cape’s tip to guide sailors around the protruding sand spit. Today the solar-powered Kolka lighthouse guides vessels to safety.  Built in 1884 it sits on an artificial island.

The entire Kolka peninsula was occupied by the Soviets as a high security military base, strictly out of bounds to civilians.  The path stretching south from Kolka towards Ventspils used to be a secret runway for Soviet aircrafts – today it’s the widest road in Latvia!

Roja is a very squashed port with the Yacht Club on one side and the Mare Hotel’s moorings on the other.  It’s very full and a guy beckons us in to the pontoon by the bridge – we’re right by the Mare Hotel.  He’s not the Harbour Master but takes our lines very courteously and we find out later that he’s on board a yacht that’s participating in the Gulf of Riga Race.  It’s 6.30 pm when we arrive – it’s been a very long day.

It’s Midsummer’s Eve tonight but I’m so tired I go to bed before any celebrations start.  What a shame! 

VENTSPILS

Day 34  Saturday 22^nd June 2019

Fabulous amounts of oil and shipping money have turned Ventspils into one of Latvia’s most beautiful and dynamic cities.  

 

We walk to the Livonian Order Castle along the Osta Street Promenade, where there’s another cow!  This is the ‘Travelling Cow’ – it’s been all round the world!  The Venta River separates the Old Town from the colourful port on the opposite riverbank. 

The castle is oldest building in Ventspils, as well as the oldest medieval fortress which has been able to keep to its original size. 

It’s quite modern inside, with a cutting-edge interactive local history and art museum, and with a very substantial modern wooden staircase between each floor and going up the tower.  We look into all the rooms, but the labels are mostly in Latvian.  These are costumes from the late Iron Age (we think!) and a fireplace and cooking stove.

 There’s a slide show in  cinema of photos from 1900-1918, 1918 – 1940 and 1940 – 1990, when the Soviets left.  We’re pleased to see the Queen (1953) and the Beatles (1964) in the World section for every year.

The view from the Tower towards the Old Town.

There’s lots of well-kept and interesting architecture in the Old Town – like the Lutheran Church, the Digital Centre (in what looks like the Town Hall), a very modern library and this art nouveau building. 

 

Have a lunch in a trendy café in the Old Town Hall Square and wander up to the Market Square, although the stall holders seem to be packing away their wares.  Then we make our way through Ostals, which was built between the Fish Dock and the Old Town to stop sand overwhelming the town.  Pretty wooden houses here and cobbled streets.

We can’t see anyone in the Seaside Open-Air Museum, which has fishermen’s huts and houses and fishing boats through the ages.  It also has a steam train and a narrow gauge railway which used to connect the fishing villages – but no sign of that either!  We stroll through very pretty Jurmala Park with wooden playground equipment and lots of huge anchors to the beach.

The Blue Flag beach with the South Promenade in the background – I just failed to take a kitesurfer but he’s taken to the shore now.  A bit rough out at sea!