Baltic Sea, special.

Lativa is a tiny country compared to the Russian Federation or the USA, or China. When I first visited it, I have never thought I would get to love it more each year.

Today's post is about its sea. Most of you have been to the Black , the Red, the Dead Seas, the ocean is unparalleled as well. The Baltic Sea is somehow different.

For those who have goose pimples just when  temperatures fall below +20 Celsius, the Baltic Sea may feel like the Arctic Ocean.  Despite being rather cold, it has the charm that you won't get anywhere in the South.  Faded colours don't bother, excite or exhilarate,  they have a more relaxing, unwinding influence.

Enjoy the slide show here. 

On the bright side the sea is perfectly good for exercising yourself. It is not for over-pampered Indians, "Floridians" or  Africans. It will never be warm enough for them. At the same time no other sea will clear your mind and freshen up your body momentarily after immersion.  Even in the middle of summer your body tightens up, frosen at first, getting the hottest wave of blood all over you afterwards. That will undoubtedly improve your health like no aspirin or healthcare can do. I once got rid of a bad cough by plunging into ice-cold water.

Well, plunging... It's not that easy, you can't actually plunge into the Baltic Sea. It's shallow.  One wades into the blue hazy distance for a long time in order to plunge in the end. And again, it's advantageous  for those who travel with children, or those who want to see where all the putti go on holiday.  On a warm day putti, chubby and pinkish, with blue eyes and blonde curls are all around the beaches. Mothers never worry about the creatures too much since they wade knee-deep in the sea.

Another thing I like about the Baltic Sea is its rejuvenating influence on my skin. It's not like after swimming in  the Red Sea, when you wash away the salt right after splashing around to prevent skin irritation . It's more like mineral water you're swimming in, it has milder impact on your skin, smoothes out wrinkles and makes your skin glow.

I always travel off the beaten track mostly discovering wonder spots, untouched and almost pristine.

Jurmala is a popular tourist destination in Latvia, it holds a pop music competition "New Wave" which attracts Forbs list people. It's more likely that not the competition itself attracts them but young singing (or just walking to and fro) starlets arriving at Jurmala in hords of short-skirted young ladies at that time.   The cosy Jurmala art nouveou style country houses are all around creating the atmosphere of 19th century and all that stuff...

Regardless all those exciting attractions (except those short-skirted ones, not so exciting to me) of Jurmala I  direct my bike further south, 10 kilometers from Jurmala, to Ragaciems. The sea is deeper there, cleaner. The beach is never crowded, and always clean.

The above pictures were taken in August, the weather was cool and the sea looked like mercury overflowing the brim of the sea bowl. Riding along the coast was weird, so unrealistic the surface looked.