Kuldīga – The People Have Spoken

Day 12 – 421 km mark.

I had been so conflicted while staying in Ventspils.  Where should I go next:  Užava or Kuldīga?  In the end, I allowed the matter to be put to democratic vote via Latvia Weekly, who ran a poll on 6th June via their Facebook page to ask readers which town should be my next destination after leaving Ventspils.

Kuldīga was the winner, with 58% of voters choosing it over Užava.  So, that’s where I headed on Saturday 8th June.  Don’t quote me on this, but it may very well be the first time a touring cyclist’s itinerary has been crowdsourced.  I would be very interested to hear if anybody knows of this being done by another long-distance cyclist.

I had already been to Kuldīga before on two occasions, but that was quite some time ago.  Arriving in Kuldīga again after several years reminded me of what I liked about it in the first place.  Kuldīga is a very photogenic town that should be raking in the international tourist euro.  Alas, the majority of people outside of Latvia have never heard of it.

A Stender’s restaurant – not to be confused with the pizza place – on Liepājas iela.

Kuldīga is home to the widest waterfall in Europe, but definitely not the tallest.

The would-be tourist to Kuldīga could spend all day exploring the streets, snapping off photos.

And when finished taking photos, those so inclined might partake in a few pints of the amber stuff at a place such as Pagrabiņš, which was once a prison.

Pagrabiņš

As it happens, I was so inclined.

I only stayed in Kuldīga for one night but, frankly, I regret that.  I wish I had stayed around for at least another day or two.

After a night in Kuldīga, I departed to visit somewhere very special:  Alsunga, the home of the very special Suiti culture.