An integral element of any rural farm is a pond – if only so that you can take a swim after a hard day’s work in the fields or after an energising sauna.
The rural idyll can often be found, perfectly intact, in Latvia’s small villages, with their narrow unpaved streets, fences made by hand using traditional methods and birdsong outside the window.
When visiting one of Latvia’s many countryside properties, even if there is no river, lake or other swimming spot nearby, you will often find a pond in which you can fish or take a swim.
Latvia has a fully-developed road infrastructure. Rural asphalt roads are available with relatively little traffic, were traffic restrictions can be arranged.
Back in the day, the Daugava served as the water artery “from the Varangians to the Greeks”, i.e. from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean basin. Enthusiasts of history are renovating the old Viking ships and once again embarking on long and difficult journeys.
