Sign In
Blogs from Riga, Riga Region, Latvia, Europe
Advertisement
May 22nd 2013
Visited the great city of Riga early May 2013. Took some snaps of Richard Wagners old home, and some of the Mihail Eisenstein buildings. Amazing stuff!... read more
December 1st 2012
This entry includes a text about our short stay in Riga on June 14: "It is all too simple. We took an Ecolines bus from Berlin to Riga. The bus turned out to be very convenient and there was even an attendant and we could order meals and drinks; but there were only several persons on this route. The trip took the whole day and we passed several cities and towns like Suwalki, Marijampole etc. On arriving to Riga, I had a feeling that it seemed very much like our own Russia, something remaining from the Soviet era. There was a 4-hour wait till the bus to St. Petersburg. I bought a map and we left the luggage at the station; there was Russian speech everywhere. I wanted to have a short walk seeing the main ... read more
Riga...Were Our Expectations too High?
Published: August 22nd 2012Europe » Latvia » Riga Region » Riga
August 13th 2012
Riga was a place denied to us in December 2010 when due to the snow fall in London Heathrow Airport went to shut down and we spent two nights sleeping in the airport and another week in Slough waiting for a flight. We vowed to see it next time we were in the area! Arriving in a city with high expectations is always a little dangerous as you are nearly always disappointed, like we were in Riga. In fact I think it is better to arrive without expectation and be surprised. We spent the first day walking around the old town area which to be honest was a little underwhelming (the overcast weather didn't help). We did have high expectations, but it came across extremely touristy (somewhat expected), restored to the point of looking shiny and ... read more
July 16th 2012
On my trip from Waeszawa to Vilnius I met a psychiatrist on her way to a conference with colleagues from all over the world in Lithuania. She had not travelled much in her life.No time for she had to bring up het 6 kids. I asked hobby or accident? No she just liked it. For her it was already an adventure to go by train from Germany to Vilnius. When we found out there was no connecting train she did not like the adventure so much anymore. Sunday I visited the old town of Vilnius. Lithuania was the last great pagan state in Eastern Europe to be converted to christianity in 1387.Vilnius, another unesco worldheritage site, has many churches but only one that goes really back to 1387. Beautifull old town with good renovations.The churches are ... read more
Advertisement
July 15th 2012
Friday I stayed in Warszawa city of Statues. All their old and new heroes but also Mr Reagon are to be seen all over the city.Did some sightseeing in the centre and the old town, an Unesco world heritage site ,and had a 2 hours panoramic tour by coach. Compared to three years ago not much difference only they keep building new offices, houses, stations but still an awful lot of old communist style buildings. In Waeszawa you ee like everywhere in Poland still lots of priests and nuns , young and old and churches are full/... read more
July 15th 2012
Saturday I left 6.45 to Warszawa centralna station. A huge monster of a building with constant renovations since the station had been finished in 1975. With a delay of 50 minutes just loading the train to Sestokai with too many people and too much luggage incl plastic washing basins and all other things you can imagine for over an hour we left.The normal train cabin in Europe and elswhere has for this long distance trains 6 seats however in Poland 8. In my cabin the other 7 spoke very good polish. At the stations you see that people in Poland are still used to bring their friends or family to the train and pick them up as well. Is this only to carry the huge luggages?At Suwalki most of the passengers left the train and after ... read more
July 8th 2012
Today, I did no sightseeing whatsoever. Indeed, I did very little, except sit in the sun and listen to jazz ...... read more
July 7th 2012
Riga is a lovely city, everything is within walking distance, the people are friendly, it's bright, it's modern yet shows off some stunning old churches, cathedrals and the like. It's cheap too (please don't join the Euro!) and the food is a prerequisite to a heart attack. But I have just a minute problem.... it's proper bastarding hot. The air feels hot, the sun burns even in the shade! I think on several occasions I have given myself heat stroke. So Riga, yesterday I explored the old town with old churches, cathedrals, towers and that sort of ting. I really like the streets. There was also an old lady of about 60-70 who was dancing just literally turning in a circle for money, this begger I approved of (and gave her some dosh because she made ... read more
