The Ham Nomads

17 Aug 2015. <LV> Ventspils —

Today was simple — go into Ventspils, do some shopping, look about, and then get to the ferry terminal by 10pm to check in and board the ferry to Nynashämn. Easy!

We left Spāre after a leisurely breakfast and made our way to Ventspils. Not far, so it only took about an hour of driving.

How many petrol brands have we seen?

The little railway gatekeeper's house
had flowers planted around it!

We were looking for a shopping centre, so let the Garmin take us to a likely-looking spot, the Tobago Shopping Centre. This had all we needed — a large Rimi hypermarket, and a lot of other specialty shops. We took our time and did the shopping we needed, than ate lunch in the van in their car park. Then we walked a little in the immediate vicinity — not much to see really, but we immediately discovered two things about Ventspils — ever since the CowParade event was held here in 2002, cow sculptures have remained in residence throughout the ciry, and the whole city is filled with floral decorations, including some that can be called sculptures in their own right — and then they have combined the two with a huge floral cow (or is it a bull?) just opposite the Tobago Shopping Centre.

Surprised to see manual grass-raking!

Even a children's playground full of cows!

So we decided to go to the beach! There were signs pointing to a beach recreation area on the outskirts of the town, just south of the port area. Sorry Brisbane — this is a really good, sandy beach that rivals the Gold and Sunshine Coasts. Very popular with the locals. But, of course, their swimming season is so much shorter — and the water temperature never gets up to the 20-21C that we get in Queensland — today was just after midsummer, and the water temperature was 14C!

After enjoying the beach, we went over to the Ferry Terminal car park to settle in to wait for the boat. Check-in started at 8pm, but we got there way early so we could relax, explore, have dinner, watch a movie. The whole thing was so relaxed, we're surprised we didn't just go to sleep and miss the boat. But we didn't!

As we were queued to board, we were amazed at the driving skills of the truckies, some of whom were reversing their semis up the ramp and onto the second vehicle deck (of three). This was a big ferry!

Little Gertie and her big friends!

Distance driven — today, 38 miles ( 61 km ); to date, 26,128 miles ( 42,049 km )