Blog Archive: August 2022

Church hill Daugavpils

| Churches and Monasteries | 24 seen

Baznīckalns or Church hill in Daugavpils is said to be one of the main tourist attractions in the city. This was one of the rare times I visited Daugavpils and I must admit I didn't had any clue what should we see here and just Google for the top attractions and Church hill or Baznickalns was atop of the list.

Every traveler who wants to be acquainted with Daugavpils should definitely visit Church Hill which has gathered the churches of four different confessions.

Daugavpils Church Hill is located a clear distance away from the city center, in the Jaunbuve neighborhood.

This neighborhood was built in 1865 after the approval of the land-use plan for then named Dinaburg (one of the earlier names for the city of Daugavpils). At that time, Jaunbuve consisted mainly of one-storied wooden houses. At the end of the 19th century, red brick buildings started to appear as well. At the turn of the century, the population was beginning to grow.

The congregations of most religious denominations started to have more followers. The need for building churches appeared in this area. Martin Luther Cathedral (18 Novembra Street) was the first to be built…

Evening on the Vilgāle Lake

| | 11 seen

It was already past 8 PM, I was just finished tiling the bathroom at our Vilgāle apartment when my fiancee and kiddo arrived to pick me up. My best part gave me the drone and said - it's a beautiful evening to fly a drone.

I looked around and agreed. The Vilgāle lake was covered in mist, the Sun was setting. Beautiful. 

Look at the beautiful rooftop on the bottom left.

Across the lake there is Vilgale village located where we own a Soviet style apartment

Piece of Life

Demolishing tiles, Hydroisolation for bathroom

| Home Remodeling | 17 seen

A few weeks ago I did the tile job in the kitchen and hallway for our Vilgāle apartment. In the end, I was not happy with the result, not happy with the tile job (which could be done better), and not satisfied with the visual looks. 

At one point I decided to list this apartment for sale as it is, with asking price EUR 25,000. As I didn't get any request during more than 7 days, I decided I still want to sell this flat but I will make it look better, will finish bathroom. 

One of the first things I decided to remove tiles in the hallway and install laminate flooring. I will leave tiles just in the kitchen. 

I was not happy how tiles looked together with laminate flooring and decided to decrease the overall surface with tiles and leave them just in the kitchen area. the actually tile removal was not hard, but bit complicated, and required some arm strength. 

In parallel I started hydroisolation in bathroom. once done I'm looking to tile here too.

I was actually looking for some epoxy flooring, but was not able to find what I need and decided to continue with tiling bathroom floor.

Cost so far:

    …

Guesthouse Pirts Baudas

| Hotel reviews | 13 seen

Guesthouse Pirts Baudas is located in Ilzenes parish, Aluksnes county. The property is 24.1 km from Alūksne, and guests benefit from complimentary WiFi and private parking available on site.

We booked this place during our day trip to Valka and the area. I thought this place will be much closer to Valka, but it turned out about a 2-hour drive with a distance of some 130km. Though the drive was spectacular with stops at places like Gaujiena, Trapene, Lizespasts.. city of Pskov in Russia seems to be closer there than Riga. Anyhow.

The vacation home is fitted with 2 bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen with a fridge and an oven, and 1 bathroom with a shower and a hairdryer. Towels and bed linen are offered in this accommodation.

We were greeted by open-minded local millennials and cat Mirdzina. Enjoyed the bath and peppermint from the garden. In total, we paid about EUR 116 on Booking.com for a one-night stay. I would love to return here and stay longer.

Highly recommend, book on Booking.com