We don't know whether our hosts were in bed or out but there was no sign of them when we packed up and headed to Ventspils. In Michael Palin's New Europe series he visited Venstpils as there was a huge radio dish built to intercept radio signals during the cold war. Unfortunately it wasn't on the tourist map and must be well tucked away in the densely wooded areas for we couldn't find it. What we did see, though, was a signpost to the 'Castle of the Order of Livonian Knights'. That sounded intriguing and vaguely Pythonesque so we decided to visit there instead.
This was one of the oldest medieval fortifications in Latvia, dating back to 1290, although it has been remodeled and extended through the years the central defense tower is still a key feature including an 'arms passage' which was a narrow brick stairway from the knights bedroom to the battlements.
In the grounds there was the opportunity for the kids to try archery.
Ventspils main function has been a busy port and the opposite bank to the castle was pure industrial.
The soviet era housing looked a bit severe too.
But to make us MK'ers at home there are a number of cow statues that adorn the town, maybe they should twin the towns.
We headed onto Kuldiga and passed a lakeside campsite on the way that Vanessa had previously got the details for. We tried Kuldiga first to see what it was like, it was a dump, not just potholed roads but dirt roads except for the in and out. So we turned round and headed back to the lakeside camp. As we were carrying wet gear again we rented a cabin, but first we had to wait for a function to finish. It must have been a village fete or similar; loads of locals and marquees, loudspeakers, pa's and europop. Still, the wait allowed us to set up the tent and it dried pretty quickly.
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