Staying in a Real Baroque Palace for less than $100
Latvia, for us, was on the most surprisingly awesome countries that we’ve visited. Usually, when visiting former Soviet countries all you see is depressing communist architecture and cityscapes. Latvia is different, Riga was a welcoming, pleasant city that has not been overrun by the tourist industry.
The rest of the country is, well, empty. Lack of employment opportunities after the fall of the Soviet Union led to the population of Latvia actually decreasing by around 25% in the last 25 years. The population is estimated to continue its decline into the future absent any intervening measures. As such, driving around the countryside, while beautiful and devoid of traffic, is a bit eerie. Entire villages seem to be abandoned as those who haven’t yet left the country have moved to Riga for economic opportunity.
In addition to abandoned villages, the Latvian countryside is dotted with beautiful baroque palaces built by the nobles hundreds of years ago. Many of the palaces are sadly abandoned and have fallen into a state of disrepair. Fortunately, other palaces have been converted to museums, schools and hotels.
One such palace that has been converted to a hotel is the Mežotnes pils. The palace was commissioned by the famous Catherine the Great of Russia as a residence for… get this … the tutor of her grandchildren! Nowadays the palace operates as a hotel whereby rooms can be booked for $70.
When we stayed there we booked an upgraded room which had windows on three walls with views overlooking the back gardens. Due to the remoteness of the hotel, it seemed as though we had the place to ourselves. The corridors and halls around the building are well preserved and have a museum-like quality. Walking around the hotel we felt as though we had the place to ourselves. The hotel restaurant served excellent traditional Latvian fare. Outside, a folk band performed traditional songs around a campfire late into the night. Overall, we loved the entire experience and were able to explore the nearby Rundale Palace the next morning as seemingly the only visitors.
