Following our Day of Leisure, we had a long travel day, broken up with a visit to a palace in the - you guessed it- Baroque and Rococo style.
The drive from Jurmala to Rundale Palace which, as far as we could tell is in the middle of nowhere, was close to two hours. We were greeted by a pleasant young guide who explained in impeccable English that he hadn't conducted a tour in English for about ten years.
 |
| the grand entryway |
 |
| Rococo! Silk wall coverings and plenty of gilt- note the small room designed only to display Chinese and Japanese porcelain |
 |
| detail of one of hundreds of putto, a cherub like figure representing the omniprasence of God |
 |
| The Gallery- like those in most of the palace, these floors are original |
 |
| the ballroom- decorated in white so that the splendour of the dancers would not be overshadowed |
 |
| a recipe for pot pourri, as "these were smelly times" |
 |
| the Duke's desk with a map of Latvia |
 |
| More silk covered walls, with a tile covered stove in the corner- the main source of heating for these palaces. The stoves were placed in the corners of conjoining rooms. |
 |
| A bathroom with a tub on the left, water heaters in the centre, a bidet and a toilet |
 |
| the bathtub and sink |
 |
| the king bed that was actually a king-sized bed, with two stoves |
 |
| the behind the scenes access to fueling the stoves |
 |
| a lounge chair for resting while spending seven or eight hours having one's hair done |
The palace is one of the most visited sights in Latvia, but it seemed almost empty to us, especially after touring the palaces in St. Petersburg. Built from 1736 to 1740 by architect Italian Francesco Bartomomeo Rastrelli, the creator of the Winter Palace, it was originally the summer residence of the Duke of Courland. Like many of the other castles and palaces we have visited, this one has been painstakingly restored after suffering intentional damage by occupying German soldiers and later by the Soviets.
The Palace Garden is sometimes called the Versailles of Latvia, and, in fact, it was modeled after it. Construction occured at the same time as that of the palace and has retained its original layout. The colours are glorious!
Then it was back in the car for the long drive to Klaipeda, Lithuania- just over three hours, although it seemed longer. Our vehicle this day was another 20 person van and our driver had about seven words of English, which is six more than we had of his language. (We try to learn to say Thank You in each country.)
The Lithuanian countryside is considerably hillier than that of Estonia and Latvia, which is pretty much saying nothing at all, as those two countries may almost vie with the Netherlands in terms of elevation changes. We also saw farm animals, where previously we had only seen fields and orchards. And, of course, we saw lots of pine forests. Everything is lush and green- we feel that the one time it rained on us may be a lucky break.
We are staying in an apartment hotel in Klaipeda, with a highly rated Armenian restaurant. We had a great meal there and a comfortable sleep in our suite.
 |
This painting made me dizzy! And hangs crookedly! Not condusive to enjoying my beer.
|
Comments
Post a Comment