#43 LATVIA

My first trip to Latvia was special because we were visiting old friends whom we'd met in Nanjing over a decade earlier, so we got to experience Latvian hospitality at its finest!

We arrived to the capital, Riga, by bus from Estonia and spent a few days there enjoying the cute medieval town and a surprise photoshoot that a friend arranged for us. After that, we went east to the countryside to another friend's country home. Amidst walks in the snowy forest and sweating in the wood-fired sauna, we filled our bellies with the meats of wild beavers and boars her dad had hunted, home-cooked delicacies and cakes made by her mother, and lots of beer and drinks. These were good times!

As I write this blog post, now years later, while on vacation in Malta, I'm getting a craving for a big plate of beaver sausages and a slice of medovik! Maybe it's time for a return trip to the Baltics to catch up with our friends again, and escape the summer heat of the Mediterranean :) 


Riga, 2013

Out for a walk in Sauka Ezers, 2013

Wild boar - Riga, 2013

Dinner at Linda's house: karbonade, potatoes, and "wild beast" sausages - Ratulani, 2013

Sauka Ezers, 2013

Photoshoot with Bruno - Riga, 2013

Photoshoot with Bruno - Riga, 2013

Breakfast at Linda's house: salads, fish, and galerts (wild boar head cheese) - Ratulani, 2013

Ratulani Diet House :)

The best friends always pose with antlers! Ratulani, 2013

Karums, chocolate-covered vanilla cheesecake bites! Ratulani, 2013 

Medovik at Linda's house - Ratulani, 2013

Vaverite and meringue - Ratulani, 2013

Sauka Ezers, 2013

Riga, 2013

Galerts "wild boar head cheese" - Ratulani, 2013

Sheep testicles in cream sauce - Riga, 2013

Sauka Ezers, 2013

Pelmeni - Riga, 2013

Sauka Ezers, 2013

Cheese and meats - Riga, 2013

Pickled herring - Riga, 2013

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