Kuldīga, in western Latvia, is a small brick town with a waterfall, and it is nicer than that sounds. The Venta river drops over a low, wide ledge right beside the old centre, and the Venta Rapid, about two hundred and fifty metres across, is billed as the widest waterfall in Europe. It is only a couple of metres high, so do not expect a roar, but the sheer breadth of it, with the old town behind, makes a gentle and slightly surprising picture. In spring, around April and May, fish leap up the rapid to spawn, and locals gather on the bridge to watch.
The bridge is a story of its own. The brick arches that cross the Venta were built in the nineteenth century and are among the longest of their kind in Europe, and they are just as attractive from below as from above. The old town clusters around it, with wooden houses, narrow streets and cobbles, and in 2023 it was inscribed by UNESCO. Kuldīga was once the seat of the Duchy of Courland, and Duke Jacob, who ruled in the seventeenth century, founded colonies as far as Tobago and Gambia, which is a lot of ambition for a province of this size.
On a motorbike, this is a restful place to break a long day between Klaipėda and the Estonian islands. Latvian roads in Kurzeme are flat, straight and generally good, with forests of pine and spruce, and a few stretches of gravel if you leave the main road. Traffic is light, but timber lorries and sleepy farm vehicles can surprise you. Watch for speed limits through villages, which are tightly enforced.
Kuldīga has about thirteen thousand people, so fuel, food and cafes are all easy. Look for cafes near the Venta, where terrace seating gives you the waterfall view with a coffee and a slice of something sweet. Alsunga and Skrunda, farther off, are much smaller. It is a good town to walk after a day in the saddle.