Blogs from Latvia, Europe - page 14

Riga, Latvia & Tallinn Estonia --- July 21 & 211, 2011 From a historical perspective Latvia and Estonia did not exist as countries until a brief period between WW1 and WW2. They again re-emerged after the breakup of the Soviet Union. The Latvians and Estonians were surrounded throughout history by larger and more powerful neighbours with the result that at different times they were part of Germany, Sweden, Poland and Russia. One discovery we made in Tallinn was that our taste buds have changed. We went to a chocolate making store and both Mare and I made a number of white, milk and dark chocolates, but when we went to try them we found them too sweet for our taste. In Latvia we travelled outside of Riga to the remains of a former German medieval castle ... read more

I wasn't supposed to spend just 34 hours in Riga. But a temporary and ultimately infuriating memory lapse forced my hand. I had bought tickets to see Beirut months ago and I've been waiting to see them live for years. "Remember not to book anything on the 16th, Derek", I told myself. "Don't do anything on the 16th!" I told my friend Alastair, who would accompany me to the gig. So when Davies and I were deciding when we should go to Riga, I suggested the 9th. "That will be the weekend after we get back from Slovenia - why don't we do the morning of the 16th?" he replied. "Hmmm....", I thought. "What do I have on the 16th? Don't think I have anything...yeah should be OK." Flights booked - done. It was only the ... read more

An diesem Tag habe ich mir Riga angesehen. Die Altstadt ist weitgehend schln restauriert und ich bin auch auf einen Aussichtsturm hinauf gefahren. Die ehemaligen Wallanlagen sind heute schlne Parks. Ich war auch noch in zwei Cafés.... read more

The beginning of my journey wasn't easy at all. Once I got to the city with a friend of mine, the hostel which was waiting for us was HORRIBLE. I've been traveling quite a lot and I've seen several places but I've never seen such a creepy hostel. It was at the very top of a building (without lift, but later on we discovered that here in Riga people don't really love lifts). Once we got into bedroom we just had a glance to the beds and to the sheets on the bed. They were totally black. Luckily we weren't alone, there was a latvian girl with us who decided to bring us to her home at least for the night. The day after I had to fill in a lots of papers for my Erasmus ... read more

Geo: 56.9682, 23.7705We started off the day today with a trip to the resort city, Jurmala, on the Baltic Sea. Jurmala is a summer resort city for "poor Russian millionaires" (the rich ones go to Nice, France). After a stroll down the sandy beach, we took a few moments to dip our feet in the cool waters of the Baltic. None of us would have ever imagined when we left home that we would find ourselves on a sandy beach in Latvia listening to Bob Marley's “One Love.” Latvia is a land of many pleasant surprises. Latvia has been particularly hard hit by the world financial crisis that began in 2008. Here, like elsewhere, part of the problem was overspeculation. We were not pleased to encounter several GE Money Banks advertising mortgages. Instead of paying taxes ... read more

Dupa inca 300 km de drum prost polac , si dupa travesarea rapida a Lituaniei , am ajuns in Letonia, la Riga. Cazarea destul de ok, la approx 1.5 km de centrul vechi. O prima "ciudatenie" - cursul valutar. Moneda locala - lat-ul, fiind mai puternica decat euro (1 eur = 0.7 lat). Prima cladire inalta care ne-a iesit in drum, chiar la intrarea in centrul orasului a fost Monumentul Libertatii , dar din pacate nu ne-am putut urca in varf , fiind doar o statuie foarte inalta, oarecum tipic comunista. Centrul vechi insa, bine ingrijit, cu cladiri renovate si frumoase, dar cu destul de putina agitatie. Putin turisti, raspanditi sporadic intre cele cateva obiective de interes: Swedish Gate, Cat House si Three Broders. Orasul vechi este locuibil si functional. Ne-am gasit si punctul inalt pentru ... read more