The linen and bees, the unique roof and water lilies. All in one day.

Upcoming day was supposed to be busy. And, indeed, it was.

The morning started with a guided tour of the open-air museum. The museum consists of several authentic houses, filled with objects of everyday life of people that lived here many-many years ago. I have always loved (and still do) such kind of places - they are like a time machine.

What was interesting for me is the fact that Latvia was a big producer of linen. Now the fabric-production is not big anymore but in the past people did this exclusively. Looking at the mechanisms and tools that people were using to transform plants to a piece of tissue, you realize how genius human thought is and how much ingenuity lays in the hands of human.

On the pictures is the way people lived: large rooms, where all the family lived at once, carved furniture, smoked walls, modest, but the most necessary furniture.

The story of our guide was entertaining, I wish we could see more, but there are only 24 hours in a day, and it already was time to move on. There were people waiting.

The next meeting – a beekeeper, Aivars. Even if calling him just a beekeeper is not enough: he is making honey, bee houses, honey wine, and engaged in therapy I had never heard about before – apitherapy.
I didn’t have a clue about this therapy but straight away I was taken to a small house without any explanation - just “sit and relax”. Sitting on a soft bed and listening the surroundings I noticed a light hum of bees. After I put my hands under the thin mattress and felt a slight vibration and pleasant warmth. The reason to all this is that we were sitting on beehives...
 

The sense of the therapy is to pass bee vibrations through your body, feel the smell of a bee house and get their warmth. It was good, truthfully.

A bit later Aivars accompanied us. A talk with a pleasant drink, probably, is in the tradition of Latvia (as in other countries). Aivars brought a golden, to be more precise, honey-colored drink - homemade honey wine with three kinds of berries. Nothing similar I had ever tried before. And soon as I did it, I realized that the drink is wonderful. So if you have a chance, do not be hesitated by the lack of grapes in this wine just try it and fully enjoy.
Aivars came to beekeeping not at once: he made a study in engineering, worked as a teacher, and only now he is fully committed to bees. As he said, it takes all his time: he is taking care of bees during the summer, in the winter times he builds bee-houses and always helps his wife with the bee therapy.

 

Taking care of little yellow-blacks is not easy: bees of Aivars do not live permanently in one place, he "walks" them regularly - drives bee colonies to seasonally flowering fields, feeds them and takes care of them.
 

 We were always wondering how to identify the “true” honey from something that just has its name and color. Aivars answered: honey is always good when people work with bees correctly. Honey should not be made too fast, but with patience and care towards bees and their work. The beekeeper should work with the right tools, in the right clothes, in a proper mood. And the honey that is good for you is the very one you taste and find pleasant.
Another question appeared: how much honey per day is good for a person to eat. The answer was as follows: one gram of honey per kilogram of your body weight. That’s simple.

Aivars’ honey, I really, really liked it. It was sweet, but not cloying, of a nice golden-brown color and of soft floral taste. Even if our backpacks were not light, we couldn’t not get a jar of a wonderful honey with us.

The next point of our interest was unusual, especially for girls: masters of traditional Latvian roofs and authentic houses. Stephan already for long was wondering how a traditional Latvian roof of wooden shingles is made. And so it happened that in Vecpiebalga exactly those craftsmen are working. They restore houses with already a long history and build new ones for Latvian traditions lovers.
The visit, I must say, amazed and inspired me too. Inspired by skillful people and by the beauty of their work. I hope Stephan will tell you about them a bit more. But I would say that it increased my already huge desire to build a house. And there is not a big difference if I am a girl or not!

After that we went to see the mayor of the city - vibrant and flourishing woman, Ella. She is the first female mayor in Vecpiebalga and first mayor, who is taking care of the city already for 16 years. And she's doing just great! Seeing how the small town is developing all the time, you can just respect and shake hands.

 
By the end of this super busy and interesting day, we walked a little bit in the town. For me the biggest and most pleasant surprise was the lake. The lake’s surface was covered with water lilies. I was enjoying these flowers many times but on pictures. I have never seen them in real, and here it is –the huge lake that is like a blooming field.
 

  

As we understood, one family takes care of the lake: the purple lake they got from the grandfather. He made it possible to enjoy 60 types of water lilies at once!

When we were there lot of flowers had already faded, but it was more than enough to enjoy. I am sharing this beauty and wish everyone to see it in real.