Hiking through Turlava: the Curonian Kings' heritage and wooden bears
Continuing their series of hikes across Kuldīga municipality's parishes, a group of friends explored Turlava's centre and Ķoniņciems, meeting local heritage researcher Inita Peniķe along the way.
Continuing a series of hikes across the parishes of Kuldīga municipality, a group of friends and their dog Deizija chose Turlava this time — a place none of them had visited before. Their planned roughly eight-kilometre loop was meant to cover the parish centre and the village of Ķoniņciems, once home to the Curonian Kings.
A tidy centre steeped in history
The car was left near a park with ponds that also houses a disc golf course. Today's centre grew up around the former Lipaiķi parsonage, whose building now serves as a culture house, while the former servants' quarters hold the parish administration and library. The parsonage includes a memorial room for Karl Ferdinand Friedrich Amenda, born in Lipaiķi, who was a friend of Ludwig van Beethoven. The centre is decorated with blooming flowerbeds, small named footbridges, and wooden sculptures, including a family of bears by one of the houses.
Wind forces a change of plan
As the group headed out of the centre toward Ķoniņciems, sudden strong winds set in, prompting them to abandon walking along the highway in favor of driving instead. In Ķoniņciems they met Inita Peniķe, who married into the well-known Peniķis family and actively researches and promotes the heritage of the Curonian Kings. She described the village's history, repeatedly damaged by fires, and the unique status of the Curonian Kings, who for centuries retained their freedom and the right to manage their own land while most of their ancestors' peers were bound to noble estates.
A hillfort and a sunny finish
On the way back, the group stopped at the Lipaiķi hillfort, an old burial site where fallen crosses and overgrown graves remain visible. Bad weather disrupted the full hiking plan, but the day ended on a sunny note in Īvande, where the friends walked the Dzirnavezers trail and picked mushrooms and berries.
