On friday, the 16. of september my mentor Aija and I went on a bicycle trip with some of her friends. First we had to take the train to Riga, in which I met two German girls that were travelling through the Baltic states, before we met all of the others and took another train to Madona. There we arrived late in the evening, checked in to our hostel, had some dinner and beer in the only local pub and finally went to sleep after some glasses of wine in the hostel because we had to get up early the next morning. When we wanted to leave, I got locked in the toilet, so the others had to get the owner who used some special tools to get me out. It didn't really seem like I was the first to get stuck in there......
So when we finally could start, it didn't take long until the first bike had a puncture, but luckily it was fixed after a short time and we could continue.
My mentor and her friends had told me, that we would be cycling on roads, however I quite quickly understood that Latvian roads are not the same as German roads. Basically, we were cycling on a hilly stone "road", which was a bit dangerous for me, because I didn"t have a mountain bike but a fast city bike with thin wheels, which didn't have any grip on the track - most of the time I was sliding and hoping I wouldn't fall over.
After some 10 kilometres, we finally got to a "real" road with tarmac which we only used for a bit, because then we had reached first destination: a small brewery. We got a very informative tour around the brewery (in Latvian, but Aija translated for me) that ended with a beer tasting. (Some people had told me, that Latvians start drinking beer in the morning - I didn't believe them but now I was there, doing exactly that).
Our next stop was a hotel, where we had some lunch, then a museum in an old railway station and of course, a lot of pretty places for example the highest railway bridge. In the evening we arrived at one of the cyclist's brother's house where we were welcomed with a very tasty soup. After cycling 90 kilometres that day we were very exhausted but happy and sat together until very late that night with snacks and wine and lots of laughter.
I'd like to mention, that the house used to be a dairy farm but the very artistic owner had changed it into a beautiful, charming and very cosy artwork. She also designed a lot of the furniture and pottery herself.
The next morning we didn't get up that early. It looked very grey outside and the weather forecast hadn't been promissing, therefore I put on many layers, but after cycling for a bit the sun came out.
I was quite suprised to see so many forests and so much beautiful nature. Especially seeing happy cows grazing outside delighted me because in Germany they are usually kept inside.
In the end we had to split up due to the state of the old railway tracks we had been following all the time. The adventurous ones of us continued following them even though the path was becoming extremely stony. I chose the easier way on the normal street, which led us directly to our final destination, Riga. When we got on our train that would bring us home to Tukums, I was relieved but sad at the same time because I had enjoyed seeing Latvia from an unusual point of view and in the company of those nice, crazy Latvians.
So when we finally could start, it didn't take long until the first bike had a puncture, but luckily it was fixed after a short time and we could continue.
My mentor and her friends had told me, that we would be cycling on roads, however I quite quickly understood that Latvian roads are not the same as German roads. Basically, we were cycling on a hilly stone "road", which was a bit dangerous for me, because I didn"t have a mountain bike but a fast city bike with thin wheels, which didn't have any grip on the track - most of the time I was sliding and hoping I wouldn't fall over.
After some 10 kilometres, we finally got to a "real" road with tarmac which we only used for a bit, because then we had reached first destination: a small brewery. We got a very informative tour around the brewery (in Latvian, but Aija translated for me) that ended with a beer tasting. (Some people had told me, that Latvians start drinking beer in the morning - I didn't believe them but now I was there, doing exactly that).
Our next stop was a hotel, where we had some lunch, then a museum in an old railway station and of course, a lot of pretty places for example the highest railway bridge. In the evening we arrived at one of the cyclist's brother's house where we were welcomed with a very tasty soup. After cycling 90 kilometres that day we were very exhausted but happy and sat together until very late that night with snacks and wine and lots of laughter.
I'd like to mention, that the house used to be a dairy farm but the very artistic owner had changed it into a beautiful, charming and very cosy artwork. She also designed a lot of the furniture and pottery herself.
The next morning we didn't get up that early. It looked very grey outside and the weather forecast hadn't been promissing, therefore I put on many layers, but after cycling for a bit the sun came out.
I was quite suprised to see so many forests and so much beautiful nature. Especially seeing happy cows grazing outside delighted me because in Germany they are usually kept inside.
In the end we had to split up due to the state of the old railway tracks we had been following all the time. The adventurous ones of us continued following them even though the path was becoming extremely stony. I chose the easier way on the normal street, which led us directly to our final destination, Riga. When we got on our train that would bring us home to Tukums, I was relieved but sad at the same time because I had enjoyed seeing Latvia from an unusual point of view and in the company of those nice, crazy Latvians.
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