Near Jurmala are the Kemeri forest and the grounds of the Kemeri Sanatorium, opened in 1936 as an elegant resort where people could go get back in shape with special mud baths -- and judging from the photographs of the time in the Jurmala City Museum, fancy dinners in fancy dining rooms! The original building, which still stands, was designed by one of Latvia's major architects for the time, Ernest Laube. It was a sanatorium even during the Soviet period, where apparently people would go to treat diseases of the joints, bone, and muscle. The building is still there, but unfortunately it's closed down, waiting for restoration. The park around it is very pretty -- snowy paths winding around beech trees and evergreens, and canals crossed by little bridges. The most interesting part of the whole excursion are the sulphur springs, though. You can smell them before you see them, and if you can follow your nose you'll find them -- bubbling up in the canals and surrounded by yellowish, reddish, foam -- there's the sulphur spring!
Judging from old postcards, the original sanatorium was surrounded by beautifully landscaped grounds and forest paths. We saw it in February, so all we could see of the landscape was the snow, the forest, and the really interesting sulphur springs. The building is waiting for someone to rescue it and turn it back into a great hotel.
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