We got up bright and early to head out to the Riga Airport to pick up the Addcar rental car I’d reserved for eleven days. We were excited about the chance to get away from touristy Riga and the freedom to explore the Baltics on our own that only a car could offer.
Our first destination was Rundale Palace, a Versailles-like palace in the south of Latvia near the town of Bauska. I planned to head on from there to spend the night in Birzai, Lithuania, the “capital” of a special beer region in the north of Lithuania. Since we planned to drive back across Latvia to Estonia after visiting northern Lithuania, I navigated us to the westernmost route suggested by Google Maps so we could take a more easterly route when we headed north again and not have to retrace our path.
A short time out of Riga, we found ourselves driving through green fields, farms and small villages. The road was excellent and uncrowded. Our first detour was to check out the old windmill pictured in the top photo above. Not far from the town of Jelgava, we detoured again at Eleja where the ruins of an old plantation manor beckoned.
A multi-lingual sign provided photos of the old manor building and informed us that the Russian Army had burned down 18 of the plantation buildings, including the main house, leaving only the steward’s house and a servant’s house. It’s a familiar story of pillage and destruction that we found repeated all over the Baltics and Belarus. The ruins at Eleja aren’t a major site, but they are part of a bigger picture that we would have missed without a car and the time to wander and stop.
A short distance beyond the Eleja ruins, we reached our first major destination of the day: Rundale Palace (Rundāles Pils). Rundale Palace is one of two opulent palaces built by the dukes of Courland, an independent duchy that once occupied a portion of modern day Latvia, but no longer exists. As with so many of the sites in the Baltics, it was heavily damaged by wars, but was restored. The extensive restoration spanned the years from 1972-2014 and was finally completed in 2015. The results are the impressive Rundale Palace and Museum.
Before starting our visit to the museum, our stomachs demanded food. We enjoyed a traditional lunch (and beer, of course) at Bālta Māja, a rustic restaurant situated between the parking lot and the palace entrance. Our friendly waitress spoke enough English to get us by. At €5+ for lunch and €2 for beer, prices were very reasonable.
Pleasantly full, we continued the short walk from Bālta Māja to the palace museum.
With prices starting at €4 for adults, the Rundale Palace and Museum is a bargain. We had the option of the €4 “short route” or the slightly more expensive €4.80 (€6 in high season) “long route.” We opted for the long route and were glad we did since that added living quarters to the state rooms which comprise the short route.
After exploring the palace, we headed outside to visit the extensive formal gardens. They promise to be spectacular in bloom, but were austere this early in the season. There’s an oriental “folly,” an open-air theater, gazebos and more.
With plenty of time left in the day, we retrieved the car and set out for Lithuania. Driving through Bauska and onto the A7, we were at the border in half an hour. Northern Lithuania is very rural and our main reason for going to the area was to try kaimiskas, a unique style of beer brewed only in that region. In making kaimiskas, the wort is never boiled and that’s just plain weird. We desperately wanted to try it. The town of Birzai claims title to the beer capital of Lithuania, so I booked us a hotel room there with plans to try a large brewery with a tasting room and restaurant in town. En route, though, we hoped to find some of that elusive local beer to try.
Having read about lots of small farm brewers with no discernible address, I decided we should try a larger outfit, Butautu Manor Brewery, located in a country manor house used as a party venue and also housing a small brewpub. I tried emailing with them about tasting, but never got a response. Knowing it was a gamble, we decided to chance a drive to the brewery anyway.
Just across the Lithuanian border, GPS steered us off the A7 highway and onto a dirt farm road. We probably should have turned around right then but the lure of rare beer pulled us on. The road degenerated with every turn until we found ourselves in flat, open fields. With only a mile or two to our destination, we came upon a wide, muddy patch in the road. Not wanting to concede defeat, David got out to test whether we could drive into the field and around the mud and water. I’ve done my share of rural driving and was shaking my head. If we stuck the rent car there, it was a long, long way to help and good luck finding someone out here who spoke English. Even David the Beer Lover had to admit we were thwarted. Making about a 15-point turn, we head back the long, winding, muddy way back to the highway.
But wait! Back on the highway, GPS found a re-route that wasn’t as far as I feared and we were back off. In less than thirty minutes we arrived at Butautu only to find the manor house and restaurant beer pub closed. Aargh. Oh well, it was pretty and we got to see more storks. So, we headed on to our nearby destination for the night, Birzai.
About 20-25 minutes later, we pulled into Hotel Tyla just outside the town of Birzai and overlooking a scenic lake and inland. Fishermen in small john boats were just pulling in across the street when we arrived. The area and Hotel Tyla were set up for outdoor sports and recreation, but things were slow this time of year. We loved the quiet and the smell of the clean, fresh air. At around $55/night for a bedroom with balcony overlooking the inlet and including breakfast and free parking, we were happy. (Using Topcashback, we had another 4% rebate coming, too. Small change on this one-night stay, but Topcashback rebates add up to hundreds of dollars for me on travel and other purchases.)
After checking in and dropping off our luggage, we headed back into Birzai to visit the Alaus Kelias restaurant and brewery. They’d been great about responding to my emails, so I knew we wouldn’t be disappointed. We were surprised, though, at the pleasantly upscale restaurant and the extensive beer tasting on offer. There’s also a free small museum of the brewery upstairs.
Despite the menu describing an 8-beer tasting, their special-made beer platter is set up for and provided 9 beers to taste. A written tasting guide was all in Lithuanian, but Google Translate helped us get the gist of things. The so-called “mini” tasting also came with a plate of assorted snacks.
And, finally, we got to try a kaimiskas. No, we weren’t in a little farmhouse, but it was kaimiskas nonetheless, unboiled wort and all. It was like no beer we’d tried before: apricot yellow and so cloudy as to be completely opaque; tangy and low in carbonation, it tasted predominantly of fresh straw. I wouldn’t want to drink it all the time, but it was interesting and certainly not bad. I’m glad we got the chance to try it.
Practical stuff re Addcar: I researched lots of rental options and found Addcar to offer the best value in the Baltics with unlimited miles. It also had good reviews for its Baltics operations. We used Addcar both for a 4-day rental in Vilnius (€68) and this 11-day rental from Riga (€180 rental+€15 cross-Baltic-border fee = €195 total). We were happy with Addcar both times and had absolutely no problems with the vehicles or the service. They did take a €450 security deposit charge on our credit card which they promptly refunded upon return of the car. The Addcar location at the Riga airport is just off-site, so requires a free shuttle. Since I didn’t have active phone service and was having some issues making the local call necessary to summon the shuttle van, I paid the Tourist Info office in the airport a small fee to make the call for me. In minutes, a van arrived to take us the short distance to the rental office and lot.