Today we drive to Zaube, an hour or so out of Rīga. We will make an early start from there tomorrow morning. Anita and Gunta will come down with Ziedonis and me to see us off, and perhaps also walk part of the way.
The house at Mežaparks has been a tremendous place to stay in Riga. It has been beautifully and painstakingly renovated by Gunta and Ziedonis and has 3 levels (and a converted cellar that may one day have a sauna but presently has a bath, shower and washing machine). During the height of the song festival it accommodated Gunta and Ziedonis (and their dog Strīpa), 4 of us, Mark, 3 Mačeni from Sydney and 2 Bērziņi from Adelaide (and occasional overnighters).
The dwelling has a common wall with the adjoining place (which is a mirror image) and is on a large treed block. The house, and most of Mežaparks, was developed by German architects in the years before the First World War. Our house will celebrate its centenary in 3 years time.
Mežaparks is about 6km from central Rīga and is serviced by the no. 11 tram. We are about 400m from 2 separate stops. The trams come every 7 minutes and follow a timetable. They are old and basic, and you can buy a ticket from the driver. They have a simple ticket verification system and fearsome ticket inspectors. During the Song Festival, the whole tramways fleet must have been ferrying people to the open air stadium in the forest adjacent to the suburb.
The forest is about 2km by 3km and is generally wild forest - conifers, oak and others which I don't recognise. Apart from the stadium which holds 20,000 performers and 45,000 spectators, there are playgrounds, a disused skating rink, an open air theatre, restaurants and the zoo. It seems to be an important recreational area for Rīga and particularly at weekends it is really buzzing.
There are formal roads through the park, but also countless paths and tracks, and a disused railway. I have been using it for training and can generally find my way around. I need to keep reminding myself that the sun is always in the southern part of the sky.
One side of both the suburb and the forest borders on a huge lake. It is over 1km across, though apparently it freezes in winter and you are able to skate to the other side. In winter, the locals come by tram with their skis and use the trails in the park. There are some great photos of Mežaparks at http://mezaparks.blogspot.com/.
On the other side of Mežaparks are 3 important cemeteries - Meža kapi, Brāļu kapi and Raiņa kapi. Rainis was a much loved Latvian poet and his grave is in the cemetery named after him. Brāļu kapi is the war memorial for Latvian soldiers. It is very impressive and is dominated by a statue of Mother Latvia. Anita's uncle, Vaidelotis wrote a book about the cemetery and the sculptor, Kārlis Zāle. Latvian cemetries are always well cared for and treed and the graves do not dominate. They are more like cultivated forests. When I have been walking in the countryside, I try to detour through the local cemetery.
Mēza kapi (Forest cemetery) contains 2 plots where Anita's (Apsitis) relatives are buried. One has her paternal grandmother, Bella, and her four sons - Visvaldis and Renee (who died in childhood), Vaidelotis and Anita's father, Ziedonis. Vaidelotis had 2 sons, Didzis and Mārcis.
The house at Mežaparks has been a tremendous place to stay in Riga. It has been beautifully and painstakingly renovated by Gunta and Ziedonis and has 3 levels (and a converted cellar that may one day have a sauna but presently has a bath, shower and washing machine). During the height of the song festival it accommodated Gunta and Ziedonis (and their dog Strīpa), 4 of us, Mark, 3 Mačeni from Sydney and 2 Bērziņi from Adelaide (and occasional overnighters).
The dwelling has a common wall with the adjoining place (which is a mirror image) and is on a large treed block. The house, and most of Mežaparks, was developed by German architects in the years before the First World War. Our house will celebrate its centenary in 3 years time.
Mežaparks is about 6km from central Rīga and is serviced by the no. 11 tram. We are about 400m from 2 separate stops. The trams come every 7 minutes and follow a timetable. They are old and basic, and you can buy a ticket from the driver. They have a simple ticket verification system and fearsome ticket inspectors. During the Song Festival, the whole tramways fleet must have been ferrying people to the open air stadium in the forest adjacent to the suburb.The forest is about 2km by 3km and is generally wild forest - conifers, oak and others which I don't recognise. Apart from the stadium which holds 20,000 performers and 45,000 spectators, there are playgrounds, a disused skating rink, an open air theatre, restaurants and the zoo. It seems to be an important recreational area for Rīga and particularly at weekends it is really buzzing.
There are formal roads through the park, but also countless paths and tracks, and a disused railway. I have been using it for training and can generally find my way around. I need to keep reminding myself that the sun is always in the southern part of the sky.
One side of both the suburb and the forest borders on a huge lake. It is over 1km across, though apparently it freezes in winter and you are able to skate to the other side. In winter, the locals come by tram with their skis and use the trails in the park. There are some great photos of Mežaparks at http://mezaparks.blogspot.com/.
On the other side of Mežaparks are 3 important cemeteries - Meža kapi, Brāļu kapi and Raiņa kapi. Rainis was a much loved Latvian poet and his grave is in the cemetery named after him. Brāļu kapi is the war memorial for Latvian soldiers. It is very impressive and is dominated by a statue of Mother Latvia. Anita's uncle, Vaidelotis wrote a book about the cemetery and the sculptor, Kārlis Zāle. Latvian cemetries are always well cared for and treed and the graves do not dominate. They are more like cultivated forests. When I have been walking in the countryside, I try to detour through the local cemetery.
Mēza kapi (Forest cemetery) contains 2 plots where Anita's (Apsitis) relatives are buried. One has her paternal grandmother, Bella, and her four sons - Visvaldis and Renee (who died in childhood), Vaidelotis and Anita's father, Ziedonis. Vaidelotis had 2 sons, Didzis and Mārcis.
Didzis was the first member of the family I met in 1987. He met us at Tallinn as we came off the ferry from Stockholm. In 1989, he flew to Moscow to meet us at the airport. Didzis was then the Musical Director of the National Theatre in Riga and we enjoyed a rich cultural experience on those first few trips. Gunta was his first wife. They came to Australia in 1990 and travelled to central Australia with us. Didzis died last year and is also buried at Meža kapi. In another part of the cemetery, Anita's paternal grandfather, Jānis, and his second wife, Irene, are buried.Vaidelotis and Anita's other cousin, Mārcis trained as architects. Mārcis' wife, Nita, and their older son, Jānis, are also architects. The younger som, Matīss, is a civil engineer. They live at Jurmala (sea-side) which is the other side of Rīga and is a very beautiful area, though threatened by inappropriate development.
Anita's mother, Velta, was an only child, so that Anita's relatives in Latvia are now basically limited to Mārcis' family and Didzis' two daughters, Annija and Adele.
By contrast, Andrējs and Viktorija and Rudīte and Andis travelled all over Latvia visiting countless relatives. I hope to spend more time with Mārcis and Nita when I finish the walk. Jānis will meet me at Zebrus Ezers late on the walk and may walk part of the way with me. We are planning to compete as a team in the rogaining championships in Estonia.
I have enjoyed my time in Rīga, particularly living, to a degree, as a local - travelling by tram, trolley-bus and train, shopping and talking Latvian. But now is the time for action. My latest calculation anticipates a total distance for the walk of 748km over 25 days. It all seems pretty daunting at the moment!
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