Postcard from Jurmala

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Jurmala garden
We took the day off on Monday to visit a town not too far from us. Four years ago when we visited Jurmala, we flew in from Prague, but now it's only a 45 minute bus ride from our house.


Much smaller than Riga, Jurmala is to the west on the Baltic Sea. It's THE place to access a beach for tourists from central Latvia or even farther east. We purposely went on a gloomy Monday because we heard that the crowds were so large on the weekends.
Vendors selling wares




Since it's so touristy, in many ways Jurmala reminded us of Riga with all the restaurants and souvenir vendors on the main walking boulevard. I imagine that this year is much slower with the travel ban from Russia. I know this is a favorite spot of Russian tourists in summer because it is easily accessible by train from St. Petersburg.



Picture from 4 years ago



Since it's on the sea, we, of course, spent some time with our feet in the sand, strolling on the beach. It was interesting to see how shallow the shore was. People could walk rather far out and still be only knee deep in the waves. As you can imagine, the water was freezing so far up north. I was surprised to see children playing in it as if it was warm.
Older beach front resort



We saw some stately wooden buildings in the town, obviously built in the early 20th Century. It must have been a tourist beach town back then as well.


Old fire station in Jurmala


We had a very enjoyable day visiting the beach and eating dinner in Jurmala even though it rained on us. I'm sure we'll go out there again - when the weather is sunnier.




Statue of knight slaying a dragon
Beautiful Orthodox Church

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