Smiltynė Ferry Terminal (Klaipeda to Curonian Spit)

28 May, 2016 | Railway / Bus / Ferry | 90 seen

Klaipėda city is separated from Curonian Spitby Curonian Lagoon. For connection of two shores across the Curonian Lagoon,  Smiltynė Ferry Terminal is operating.

Taking a ferry from Klaipėda to Curonian Spit is always full of joy short journey where passengers can smell the Curonian Lagoon, watch the white seagulls and terns flying closely around the ferry and indulge them with the windy fresh air. There is no doubt that Smiltynė Ferry Terminal is one of the main transportation companies in Klaipėda which is very appreciated not only by local inhabitants but by thousands of Klaipėda guests too.

In a row at Smyltine Ferry Terminal

For crossing this strait in a car (3 persons) we had to buy a ticket for about EUR 13 (round-trip)

Waiting rows at Ferry terminal

There is one row for locals (With permit) and two general rows at Smiltyine Ferry terminal. 

See timetable.

Planting an Apple Tree (Doch Melbi / Daughter Melbi / Дочь Мелбы)

27 May, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 11 seen

Recently I introduced my dear readers with Edward The Brush cutter, today allow me to introduce you with a new sort of an apple tree we planted in our rural house as part of home remodeling works.

Meet Doch Melbi / Daughter Melbi or Дочь Мелбы (In Russian). Bought at Kuldīga market from the tree nursery Bētras (Latvia).

Digging a hole for planting an apple tree

Planted at the end of April 2016.

Daughter Melbi

About Daughter Melbi (Дочь Мелбы)

• Vigorous tree. Starts fruiting in 3-4 years. High resistance to frost. Resistance to scab - medium. Yield, early appearance of fruit variety.
• Ripening time - mid-August
• Weight 100-130gr fruit. Yellowish-white surface with bright striped blush
• Storing 1 month
• Flesh is white, juicy, flavorful medium density. Excellent sweet-sour taste

Chili Pizza in Palanga

23 May, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 13 seen

Chili Pizza is a popular Lithuanian pizzeria chain. Today we paid a visit to one located in Lithuanian beach town of Palanga. 

Chili Pizza in Palanga, Lithuania

Located in multi storey building on lively walking street in Palanga, very close to the Sea Bridge, this place serves traditional Lithuanian cuisine, which is pretty European, thus there are few Lithuanian specialties you should try once in Lithuania. For example big stuffed dumpling called cepelinai or  didžkukuliai, no, it's not the same as Georgian khinkali, according to Wikipedia:

Cepelinai or didžkukuliai (singular: cepelinas) is a popular dish in Lithuania. They are a type of dumpling made from grated and riced potatoes and usually stuffed with ground meat, although sometimes dry cottage cheese (curd) or mushrooms are used instead. So named because their shape resembles that of a Zeppelin airship, cepelinai are typically around 10–20 cm long, although the size depends on where they are made: in the westerncounties of Lithuania cepelinai are made bigger than in the east. After…

Sea Bridge in Palanga

22 May, 2016 | Tourism objects | 23 seen

Sea bridge in Palanga is probably the most popular tourist attraction in Lithuanian beach resort town of Palanga.

It reaches into the sea for 407 metres and is shaped in the form of letter L. The pier provides a chance to see the shore from a different perspective while going for a walk, at the same time, it is still opened for small tourist ships in summer.

Sea bridge in Palanga

Palanga Pier was first constructed in 1884, in order to revive the Palanga port. The steamship that was also purchased at the time allowed to successfully transport passengers and different goods to the port of Liepāja (Latvia). Unfortunately the pier soon became impossible to navigate due to sand that was brought closer to the pier during storms.

Under the Palanga Sea Bridge

After year 1888 the Palanga Pier gained popularity as a place to visit while going for a walk, which established a new meaning for the pier. Strong wind and waves of the sea damaged the pier over time, therefore reconstruction was carried out in 1998. After the reconstruction Palanga Pier has become an even more popular place among locals and city guests.

Walking Street in Palanga

21 May, 2016 | Tourism objects | 28 seen

Palanga is a nice little beach resort town in Lithuania. The city features a walking street, with many cafes and restaurants, local art and craft and so on.

Unfortunately I didn't figure out what name does this street wears, so lets call it just Walking street in Palanga. Turns out, this is the first geo - tagged post from Lithuania at this blog, thus I have visited Lithuania countless time prior, including Palanga. 

We arrived to Palanga from Liepāja, straight from Royal Fontaine hotel. One of our goals here in Palanga was to find Amber museum (we didn't find it), so we parked our car and just started to walk.

Walking / cycling street in Palanga

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Palanga

Armenian restaurant in Palanga

Readers os my blog are already familiar with my love to Caucasian Cuisine, unfortunately, this time I didn't tried this place.

Palanga

Rally Kurzeme 2016

20 May, 2016 | | 3 seen

Sport photography has always been interesting for me. I don't feel pro enough to call myself a sport photography guru, as I understand it involves fast zoom lens as well. 

Today I was equipped with kit 18-55mm lens and 70-300mm telephoto lens - the overall result - pretty good, some photos are even made in auto mode.

Rally Kurzeme 2016

We booked a Royal Fontaine hotel and had a chance to observe rally in front of our hotel.

Old Soviet car VAZ and Estonian Team

Above photo is taken using Auto mode - excellent.

Rally Kurzeme 2016

Navy ships at Liepaja Channel

Piece of Life

Hotel Fontaine Royal Review In Liepāja

19 May, 2016 | Hotel reviews | 11 seen

Set in a converted factory building along the Tirdzniecības kanāls, this laid-back hotel with quirky, royal-inspired interiors is 8 minutes' walk from the Liepajas theater and 6 km from tours of the Karostas Cietums prison.

The eclectic, colorful rooms come with TVs and Internet access. Budget rooms share bathrooms, while upgrades have en suite facilities. Family rooms sleep up to 6 people, and suites feature gilt furniture, seating areas and/or whirlpool tubs. Breakfast is offered for a fee (EUR 6, as of 2016). There's also a casual eatery, a cozy bar and a nightclub. Other amenities include a 24-hour gym, an indoor pool & a full-service spa.

It was actually not a planned stay here, as we were planing to stay either in Palanga or Klaipeda today, but an accident with our car happened on Grobiņa - Bārta road (clutch mechanism was broken), we had to call for auto evacuator, and since it was a Saturday evening already, the best we could have today - just get car to Liepāja town and wait for next week for car to get fixed (unplanned expenses). We were not in mood to stop our planned route to Lithuania and decided to book a hotel here and rent a rental…

DIY - Bed Frame King Size Rural Style

18 May, 2016 | DIY | 13 seen

One of the most important furniture elements in your master bedroom definitely is a bed. This time I decided to build a bed frame by my own.

Last year we bought four mattress and used them in old single beds. I decided to combine them and build a King or at least a Queen Size bed. To accomplish this task I studied a few tutorials, see 21 DIY Bed Frame Projects – Sleep in Style and Comfort.

I ordered planks from local carpentry, the total cost for such bed about EUR 30.

Single Bed Frames

To free up the space in the room I had to take those two out and put them in front of the house. A tripod (in background) is a must have for a decent photography.

Planks

I have four supportive corner beams (15cmx15xm) approximate 60cm height. The carpenter dude already did cuts in beams where to attach supportive planks.

Author of this blog captured in action - grinding boards

Adding nice finishing. Remember the tripod from the first image? Very nice way to make self-portraits (timer)

Installing bed frame

The bottom line of mattress are about 36cm from floor (why 36cm? I have…

Burning Branches

17 May, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 8 seen

Few days ago we did the Big Spring tree and branches trimming, we were left with many piles of branches, the only reasonable solution to get rid of them - burn them.

We waited for overcast day and made three fire places today. Thus we didn't burned all of the branches today, we did a pretty good work today.

Making a fire place near fish pond

In contrary to the weather forecast, instead overcast day we got crystal clear sky and pretty warm day, which made me a bit nervous about safety.

Burning branches in Apple orchard

Flying Fish over Venta Rapid in Kuldīga

16 May, 2016 | | 13 seen

This was my second attempt to photograph flying fish over Venta rapid this year, first I did it around April 20, but didn't choose the right position and the weather was damn cold (sky were totally gray). 

Second time, on April 29,  it was crystal clear sky, which in result got me a little bit boring photography, but hey at least captured some of the flying fishes this time.

The best place to photograph flying fish over Venta rapid, is by directly installing a tripod in front of it, Which means you'll have to climb down the rocky stairways and cross the muddy river-bed (your foot will be wet, so better take rubber boots).

The Venta Rapid

Not the best day for landscape HDR photography (which I did), as the sky are totally clear and makes a boring scenery. I changed my lens to 70-300mm and got at least the flying fishes scenery.

Flying fishes over Venta Rapid

Learn more about Venta Rapid and some of photography tricks I have tried here: The Venta Waterfall (Rapid) - Widest In Europe

DIY - Kitchen Cabinets With a Sink

15 May, 2016 | DIY | 10 seen

I have always loved to construct and develop some new things, I love to spend my free time by figuring out how to improve space around me, that's why probably for a second season I have been doing home remodeling works by my own. In today's article, not about my adventures from home remodeling, but a simple trick how I improved the temporary living space around me - kitchen cabinets with a sink.

Lets start with what we got here:

Old Kitchen Corner

Yup, it sucks, as you can see, it is overloaded with household cleaning products, the old plumbing is just catastrophic (that's how it's done in these parts of Word) and it just urgently needs and upgrade. Luckily the solution is neither expensive nor too much complicated.

For fixing this issue I spent just above EUR 100 (EUR 85 for kitchen cabinets, EUR 33 for sink, and EUR 6 for plumbing gear)

Lets start fixing this

Installing kitchen cabinet

Prior installing this cabinet I removed old sink and old plumbing (make sure you close the water tap before removing plumbing). Cabinets are from local…

Kuldīga Food Market

14 May, 2016 | Shopping Venues | 45 seen

Kuldīga Food Market (Kuldīgas pārtikas tirgus, in Latvian) is located on Aizputes street 2a in Kuldīga, Latvia.

Frankly speaking I have no idea why they call it a food market, as from food there are little to nothing to choose. Instead this is a great place to buy plants, seeds, wood products (spoons, decorative wood figures), honey and yes, they have a small stand selling smoked fish. Does it sounds like a food market? 

Kuldīga market

Flower plants for sale

Honey

Prices are in EUR

Strawberry plants

Bought here a dozen of strawberry plants, paid just EUR 4 total

Wood products

Edward The Brushcutter AW-BC620TH Trimmer

12 May, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 60 seen

Meet Edward, our newest team member to help us out in our home remodeling works. I first met Edward at local DEPO DIY store in Liepāja, Latvia. The sales person wanted me to buy  a Jasper, as Jasper was listed just under EUR 100. In my mind I had already allocated about EUR 400 for a new brush cutter / trimmer purchase and I asked to the salesperson can he show me something more powerful than Jasper?

I was introduced with many never heard brand names before, when Edward popped up. Sales guy told me - hey take a look on Edward! I asked who the hell is Edward? Ahh - you know, some Chinese guy, but really great guy. Edward  AW-BC620TH was listed for EUR 220, but owners of DEPO loyalty card could own it just for EUR 189. 

I took a look on Edward's technical capability, enjoyed that it features both string and knife nozzle and it runs on petrol. So I opted for Edward after some 10 minute wondering around Jaspers, Hetchs and other never  before heard brand names.

There were still few formalities to pass, before acquiring Edward, like to get other buyer and ask his DEPO loyalty card to be…

The Big Spring Cleanup Part 2 - Trimming Trees and Branches

11 May, 2016 | Home Remodeling | 12 seen

After the successful Big Spring cleanup of territory surrounding our rural house, and after masonry works with chimney it was time to get rid of old and broken branches.

Frankly speaking I thought it will be enough just to cut one broken branch from our apple orchard and trimming some smaller bushes in garden. Turned out I was wrong. After all we trimmed many trees and way more branches. For this task I hired a professional saw guy, which I was already familiar since last summer's home remodeling works. We made a first barbecue picnic today as well. 

Let me show exactly what we did today:

Cutting trees and trimming branches

Some good firewood for winter can be made from some trees.

Man with a saw in action

Guntars or Guncha how we call the saw guy is a wonderful guy, he is master of many tools, but the chain saw is his heart thing. I was just amazed seeing him in action, how virtue this guy works with a chain saw. Just amazing.

First Barbecue this season - Chicken wings - yummy

Cutting osier shrubbery 

Some major fish pond works are planned for this…

Former Kolkhoz Spartak

10 May, 2016 | | 10 seen

It was on a still and tranquil Friday evening when we took our cat Tiger on a walk. I took a tripod and camera and just documented were we went. Turned out we were walking with our cat at former kolkhoz Spartaks territory,

A kolkhoz was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to emerge in Soviet agriculture after the October Revolution of 1917, as an antithesis both to the feudal structure of impoverished serfdom and aristocratic landlords and to individual or family farming.

Former kolkhoz "Spartaks"

Located in Laidi parish, Kuldiga district, Latvia, nowadays this former kolkhoz Spartaks seems is used by locals to store a firewood and some small animals.

Nearby fish ponds

Skew roof

Seems these guys need a little help in roof works

Transformer building

Piece of Life after all!