European mountains
Latvia
Gaiziņkalns (312m), May 28 2010
To the main Gaiziņkalns page (maps, route descriptions, other trip reports, etc.)
Riga - our starting point
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Riga, with its cultural history, architecture and nightlife scene is a popular destination also for the Scandinavians. As such, three colleagues and myself booked this Riga weekend a few months ago, and even if the city should keep one altogether busy for a couple of days, I suggested that a trip to the country high point would be the extra event to crown the weekend. My fellow co-workers Rune, Olav and Morten had no prior reputation for bagging country high points, but probably figured that a small outing was in order.
We flew from Ålesund (via Oslo) on Thursday evening, and checked in (just before midnight) at Gutenbergs - a four star hotel - in Riga's old town. The rooms (oozing of history) were quite interesting, and slanting as they were, one learned fast not to put objects on tables with a glass surface. Being located just opposite of the Dorian Gray bar (which didn't close before 3am), I managed to get a couple of hours sleep before roll call 8am the next morning.
Latvian back-country
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By 9:15am on Friday morning, and after a 30-minute where-is that-$€£@!-Avis-rental-office walk, we obtained our rental car and were on our way to Gaizinkalns. I was the designated driver, and Morten (who had brought his car GPS) was the navigator. My plan was to follow the A6 all the way to Plavinas, but a small misunderstanding led us into the Latvian back-country with miles of miles of unpaved roads ahead.
No big worries, though. Seeing parts of Latvia from "the inside" could be interesting. However, enough time on unpaved roads takes its toll, and soon we started looking forwards to reach the village of Ergli, where we suspected we would find a paved road. That said - the villages had paved roads in the town centres, but not on the roads leading in and out. In short, nothing much was going on in the back-country. A notable feature was that whenever we saw cows, there was mainly just one around. Another feature was the the stork nests on top of poles that were no longer serving their original purpose...
At Ergli, we were again back on a paved road and continued to Vestiena. Soon, the Gaizinkalns tower came into view and after a little while, signposts appeared. We were now back on unpaved roads, but the target was close! And 11:53am - more than 2,5 hours after leaving Riga, we reached the Gaizinkalns trailhead. Only a force majeure could prevent us from reaching Latvia's highest point!
On the way to Gaizinkalns
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Two staircases - fully crowded by children by the time we arrived at the trailhead - took us up to the first plateau. From here we looked down on a 30-35 vertical metre skiing slope. From a Norwegian point of view, this was somewhat amusing, but in the end, credit goes to those who have brought winter joy to the Baltic people. Skiing is fun, no matter how long and steep the slopes are.
We passed the school class (or excursion group) in the forest, and reached the top of Gaizinkalns 12:12pm - 14 minutes after leaving the trailhead. This was the first country high point for the others, and my 10th. Not that I'm actively pursuing country high points, but whenever the opportunity comes along...
For some reason, I got a feeling that the others felt this outing was just weird enough to be interesting...
On top of Latvia
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Upon returning to the trailhead, one thing was clear; we would not return to Riga the way we came! Morten took the driver seat (after leaving the Norwegian flag at the trailhead) and I assumed the navigator's role. We took the road to Berzaune, from which road P37 took us down to the A6, and after an uneventful drive back to Riga, we returned to the Avis office (closing at 5pm) 3:05pm . The manager (I assume he was the manager...) was very happy to see us (and his car, of course) and was very impressed with our short time to and fro Gaizinkalns...
A happy (and very friendly) Avis manager
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It was time to celebrate this "big achievement" (as a friend of mine so eloquently put it). A very tasty beer on the Gutenberg's roof was followed by a late lunch near a small marketplace. In the evening, we went to the Blue Cow restaurant where we marvelled, watching Morten annihilate a 450g steak. The rest of the evening (and night) was spent at Cuba - a very "hot" bar near our hotel. The close distance to the hotel got increasingly more important as the evening progressed; the Riga restaurants, pubs and bars seem to only have two toilets each (men/women), and the queues were sometimes out of proportions...
Riga nightlife at the Cuba bar
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The rest of the stay was devoted to sightseeing, relaxation, wining and dining. Riga's old town is indeed a beautiful place, and there is a lot to see. The town centre was packed with tourists, and the Police were omnipresent. After having travelled around in the country, we could not avoid seeing the poorer side of Latvia. The little I captured about the country's rough history - the centuries of war, occupation and battle for independence, has only inspired me to find out more.
Daugava river
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