Will Mawhood
@viljamsmauhuds.bsky.social
Person who says 'no, you're thinking of the Balkans' a lot. Also Deep Baltic editor, and occasional writer of stuff. Ik pa laikam arī tulkotājs.
Always found it oddly charming that one of the main centres for Latgalian culture in very slightly more russophone Rēzekne is... a kebab shop
(And pleasingly, they maintain their all-Latgalian signage policy even at their very popular Riga branch)
(And pleasingly, they maintain their all-Latgalian signage policy even at their very popular Riga branch)
November 29, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Always found it oddly charming that one of the main centres for Latgalian culture in very slightly more russophone Rēzekne is... a kebab shop
(And pleasingly, they maintain their all-Latgalian signage policy even at their very popular Riga branch)
(And pleasingly, they maintain their all-Latgalian signage policy even at their very popular Riga branch)
Not something that seems to be seen as a pressing issue, or which there's even particularly high support for, among Latvian society as a whole. Quite a few people I've spoken to or whose opinions I've read very suspicious/cynical about real reasons for the timing of this
November 3, 2025 at 5:04 AM
Not something that seems to be seen as a pressing issue, or which there's even particularly high support for, among Latvian society as a whole. Quite a few people I've spoken to or whose opinions I've read very suspicious/cynical about real reasons for the timing of this
Interesting to see Latgalian added to Google Translate. Wondering how it would cope with the northern forms - this is from a Catholic church in Viļaka in remote N Latgale.
Water is "ūdens" in Latvian, "iudiņs" in "standard" Latgalian (quotes used advisedly), here "yudeņs"
Water is "ūdens" in Latvian, "iudiņs" in "standard" Latgalian (quotes used advisedly), here "yudeņs"
October 10, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Interesting to see Latgalian added to Google Translate. Wondering how it would cope with the northern forms - this is from a Catholic church in Viļaka in remote N Latgale.
Water is "ūdens" in Latvian, "iudiņs" in "standard" Latgalian (quotes used advisedly), here "yudeņs"
Water is "ūdens" in Latvian, "iudiņs" in "standard" Latgalian (quotes used advisedly), here "yudeņs"
Don't get to see as much live music as I used to or would like to (many wonderful things about living in the Baltics but doesn't quite compare to Liverpool/Manchester in this respect), but I have now finally seen this completely extraordinary band - in Riga- so I'm quite content
October 5, 2025 at 6:10 AM
Don't get to see as much live music as I used to or would like to (many wonderful things about living in the Baltics but doesn't quite compare to Liverpool/Manchester in this respect), but I have now finally seen this completely extraordinary band - in Riga- so I'm quite content
Finally got round recently to reading this book I've had for a while - a lovely concept: guides to countries that don't exist anymore. Their new one is on the Habsburg Empire.
Would be fun, though challenging, to try to do one on the fairly bizarre Duchy of Courland
Would be fun, though challenging, to try to do one on the fairly bizarre Duchy of Courland
September 24, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Finally got round recently to reading this book I've had for a while - a lovely concept: guides to countries that don't exist anymore. Their new one is on the Habsburg Empire.
Would be fun, though challenging, to try to do one on the fairly bizarre Duchy of Courland
Would be fun, though challenging, to try to do one on the fairly bizarre Duchy of Courland
September 23, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Even Sulina is only accessible by water, so the ferries and speedboats that go up the Danube from Tulcea (30 miles away) have to bring supplies
September 2, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Even Sulina is only accessible by water, so the ferries and speedboats that go up the Danube from Tulcea (30 miles away) have to bring supplies
Sulina, at the mouth of the delta, historically a mostly Greek town, but the cemetery has Muslim, Jewish, Lipovan (Russian Old Believer) and even Protestant sections - the latter largely for Brits there for commercial or military reasons
September 2, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Sulina, at the mouth of the delta, historically a mostly Greek town, but the cemetery has Muslim, Jewish, Lipovan (Russian Old Believer) and even Protestant sections - the latter largely for Brits there for commercial or military reasons
Wild horses roam much of the delta
September 2, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Wild horses roam much of the delta
House in the mostly Ukrainian village of Letea, only accessible by boat
September 2, 2025 at 9:37 AM
House in the mostly Ukrainian village of Letea, only accessible by boat
Pelicans on one of the huge lakes in the Delta - 60% of the world's white pelicans live there
September 2, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Pelicans on one of the huge lakes in the Delta - 60% of the world's white pelicans live there
V difficult to do justice to the experience of being there in pics, because it's really about the sheer scale and wildness of it, but I'll try a few
September 2, 2025 at 9:34 AM
V difficult to do justice to the experience of being there in pics, because it's really about the sheer scale and wildness of it, but I'll try a few
Commented this in an interview last year (on the debatable subject of Eastern Europe), and after a second trip to the Delta in two years can confirm still true - both in general amazingness and lack of foreign tourists. Can't say I completely regret it, but Europe is missing out
September 2, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Commented this in an interview last year (on the debatable subject of Eastern Europe), and after a second trip to the Delta in two years can confirm still true - both in general amazingness and lack of foreign tourists. Can't say I completely regret it, but Europe is missing out
Funeral of Romania's first post-'89 president, Ion Iliescu, being shown on TV at a cheap lunch place in a medium-sized town in northern Transylvania yesterday
August 7, 2025 at 4:20 AM
Funeral of Romania's first post-'89 president, Ion Iliescu, being shown on TV at a cheap lunch place in a medium-sized town in northern Transylvania yesterday
First up, sand caves, bats and revolutionaries in Courland
July 24, 2025 at 2:22 PM
First up, sand caves, bats and revolutionaries in Courland
The extraordinary eclecticism of Hardijs Lediņš's "stationary discos" in the late '70s in Riga - (Lediņš features prominently, as more than one of Pärt's works saw its first performance at events curated by him)
July 8, 2025 at 10:51 AM
The extraordinary eclecticism of Hardijs Lediņš's "stationary discos" in the late '70s in Riga - (Lediņš features prominently, as more than one of Pärt's works saw its first performance at events curated by him)
My first ever Midsummer (Jaanipäev) in Estonia - interesting to hear from Estonians that they consider Latvians much more traditional in their celebrations (Midsummer is called Jāņi in LV) because they usually make flower crowns etc
June 25, 2025 at 5:47 PM
My first ever Midsummer (Jaanipäev) in Estonia - interesting to hear from Estonians that they consider Latvians much more traditional in their celebrations (Midsummer is called Jāņi in LV) because they usually make flower crowns etc
Morning from a floating sauna on a lake in a forest somewhere in western Latvia
June 20, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Morning from a floating sauna on a lake in a forest somewhere in western Latvia
Risti translates literally as "cross". "Ristimägi" - hill of crosses. Although as often in places in Estonia including "mägi" or "mäe" there's absolutely no discernible change in elevation.
May 28, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Risti translates literally as "cross". "Ristimägi" - hill of crosses. Although as often in places in Estonia including "mägi" or "mäe" there's absolutely no discernible change in elevation.
This was supposedly where they carried out their last act of worship before leaving, and so people leave crosses to commemorate them and for good luck.
May 28, 2025 at 7:43 AM
This was supposedly where they carried out their last act of worship before leaving, and so people leave crosses to commemorate them and for good luck.