Wherever I travel, I always try to seek out time in nature and on water. That’s why I have chapters in my book on “Boats” and “Nature”. So it was no different on my recent exploration of the Baltic countries. And of course my son Steen and daughter-in law Kristi are avid hikers and nature enthusiasts too. So as we drove from Estonia to Latvia to Lithuania, we made a point each day to explore their national parks and nature preserves.
Both Estonia and Latvia are restoring bogs- wetlands often connected with evergreen forests that provide the acid that makes them bogs. In both countries they have built boardwalks so visitors can actually walk out in the bog and see the plants up close- Bog Rosemary, Heather, a blueberry species, and other plants I recognized from their relatives in Minnesota.
Latvia is heavily forested- in fact they say while other countries are concerned about deforestation, Latvia is actively culling forests-not clear cutting!- to manage all their trees.
We also had a great outing to the Baltic Sea, not far from Riga. We had some secluded areas to explore the shore, as well as a very busy beach area on a hot day with lots of fat women in bikinis! (Pardon my critical opinion!)
Lithuania is more farmland, but we did explore a nature center around OLAs- sinkholes caused by the dissolving limestone. We took picnic lunches while we were driving across these small countries, so we searched out picnic areas, and then could hike their well-kept trails.
In Krakow, Poland we walked the Planta, a wooded trail that surrrounds old town. Even in a city, they kept a touch of nature.
It is always good when visiting another country to find that they are very concerned about the environment-both preserving and managing their beautiful natural resources as well as paying attention to climate change and recycling. What a difference between northern Europe and much of the global south!
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