Latgale Trip V3 [99% ULTIMATE]

Walk from the fortress to – an Orthodox cathedral of brick and five gold domes. Unlike Rīga’s tidy churches, this one is raw. Inside, no pews. Worshippers stand. Women kiss icons. A deacon chants in Old Church Slavonic. I light a candle for my grandmother, who fled Eastern Europe in 1944. The flame trembles. So do I.

I open my notebook. Words: clay, fog, rope, ferry, candle, rooster, silence. Not a travelogue. A lexicon. latgale trip v3

A detour. Kaunata is not on most maps. It has a Catholic church (white, modest) and a Soviet-era cultural center (concrete, boarded). But behind the center, a miracle: a across a narrow strait. Operated by Jānis, 67, who has pulled the rope for 30 years. Cost: €0.50. We cross in silence. He points to a house on the opposite shore: “Mans tēvs tur dzimis. 1923. Viņš runāja tikai latgaliski līdz 20 gadu vecumam. Tad nāca latviešu valoda. Tad krievu. Tad atkal latviešu. Tagad – klusums.” (My father was born there. He spoke only Latgalian until age 20. Then Latvian. Then Russian. Then Latvian again. Now – silence.) Walk from the fortress to – an Orthodox