We arrived to Riga on Monday morning. Even though the weather forecast promised rain, we were lucky to have pleasant weather with sunshine. After we left our bags in the hostel, we headed to Turiba University where we listened to an interesting lecture about sustainability and got to see the campus. Also, we met Diana who was going to travel with us to Tukums region.
The next day our journey to Tukums began. After a while, the city view changed to the countryside and the roads got narrower. Our first stop was “Forest House” which was in Kemeri. The building has a long and interesting history from Soviet times. Also, the way it was built was beautiful. This gave us our first taste of the cultural heritage of Latvia. The person who worked for Kemeri National Park gave us a comprehensive lecture about the area. It was a pity that we didn’t have time to go for a little hike to see the quality of nature trails. Even though the forest around us has a lot of similarities if we compare it to Finnish nature, it has its own uniqueness.
Unwinding on the Barefoot trail
After the visit on Kemeri National Park, we briefly visited Kemeri water tower and the park around it. We were surprised by the beautiful smell of the rose garden, which was still blooming in October. We headed for lunch in Valguma Pasaule where we ate a traditional Latvian dish, meatball soup. Then we got to experience the Barefoot trail, which was probably the best experience of the whole trip for all of us. Walking barefoot in nature on different kinds of textures was an amazing experience. I feel like we all have walked barefoot outside during summer in our childhood. However, I would have never thought that could have been turned into a unique experience. Also, how relaxing walking barefoot is in the end. I had never heard about this concept before so for me this experience was unique. The utilization of local herbs in the footbath and hot drink after the barefoot trail was cherry on top.
From Valguma Pasaule, our field trip continued to the last destination of the day. We visited a farm which is famous for wicker weaving. The place was well taken care of and truly a hidden gem in the middle of the forest. They also offered accommodation, which was new and luxurious. Sustainability was clearly important for the owners. They utilized natural resources.
As mentioned before, Latvia was a new and quite unknown country for me. Especially outside of Riga. However, the field trip showed me how innovative small-scale entrepreneurs are, and how sustainability seems to obvious standard. It comes out naturally for them. In this way, these entrepreneurs are pioneers in sustainability. This should be the case for all entrepreneurs in the tourism industry.