Riga

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Our introduction to Latvia was memorable.. but not for the right reasons. The weather was miserable, so our first impression of the country was that of a grey, poor country and certainly the outskirts of Riga don't inspire much enthusiasm.

The roads were brutal, and looking out the window to see the bus teetering across a temporary bridge under construction wasn't the best for the confidence!

We stayed in a great hostel ("Friendly Fun Franks" no less, where you get a free beer on arrival) where we met up with the same English girls from Tallinn, and a couple more (Emily and Hayley) and we certainly made an intimidating group on the dancefloors of Riga later that night! Pints of beer were 1 Latvian Lat (about 1.40euro) and we figure it would be rude not to sample the local offering.

Riga itself is quiet enough, and after braving the city in the rain for a couple of hours, we settled for indoors, to a museum about the history of the Occupation of Latvia between 1939-1991. This was extremely interesting: Latvia was declared a separate country in 1918 after WWI, was occupied by the Russians in 1940, the Germans in 1941, and reclaimed by the Russians again in 1945 who remained there until 1991 when all the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) got their independence. And yes, I finally informed myeslf about the Gulag (of which I had been ignorant before I left).

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