Blogs from Latvia, Europe - page 27

As we settle into the seats on our ‘cheap as chips’ flight bound for Riga, the pilot makes his welcome-on-board announcement, ‘good morning ladies and gentlemen, today we’ll be flying over Norwich, Amsterdam then on to… Bratislava!!’ We have a bit of a laugh then consider the ramifications of actually ending up in Slovakia. So we check with the air steward who relays a message to the pilot. The second announcement comes over the loud speaker, ‘For those of you who were actually listening at this early hour of the morning, we are bound today for Riga, not Bratislava.’ Phew… With that sorted, our flight did end up flying north - not south - and a few hours later we’ve checked in at our backpackers in the centre of Riga, Latvia. When we left the UK ... read more

In Peterhof, a beautiful palace outside St. Petersburg, Russia, there are fountains that spray people when they step on stones. They appear to be random and automatic, but are in fact operated by a bored looking teenager, sitting on a bench, and pressing his foot down on a pedal. We've only seen one squirrel in the last month, in the gardens at Peterhof, St. Petersburg, and it was red! In Russia, the mullet hair cut is alive and well; I think we counted close to 25 in one day. The women in Russia are known for wearing high heeled shoes. They must have been insulted by my wearing Tevas (my "rain" shoes), because most of the women were giving me and my shoes dirty looks! We read in a guide book that they do wacky things ... read more

Rainy Times In the morning we headed into town for some more pastry loving and to make the trip to the tourist information office to get some idea of how to reach Liepaja. With the next bus at 3pm we had a bit of time to waste and inventively did so by drinking copious amounts of coffee and a lunchtime beer. Cautious of the fact we had no idea where the bus station was we headed off early and eventually found it hidden down a side road next to a field. The bus arrived and after the drivers obligatory cigarette break we left for Liepaja on the rural country roads. Unfortunately not long after it began to pour with rain which continued into Liepaja and pretty much for the rest of the day and night. Upon ... read more

Happy with our flying visit to Parnu, we boarded the evening bus to Riga and promptly fell asleep, only to be woken by the terror-inducing braking of the driver! Apparently latvia has one of the worst records for road accidents in europe...the journey provided much evidence to that effect. Arrived unscathed and eventually found the hostel, which is actually hidden behind a bookcase in a bar, probably the best entrance ever. Quite tired and hungry so we went to eat at a self-service pub, lovely and cheap but made the schoolboy error of sitting underneath the air conditioning. Monched down our slightly chilled salmon and sauerkraut, and picked our way back to the hostel, avoiding any groups which looked remotely like stag parties...fortunately, most of them were in no fit state to cause any sort of ... read more

Riga’dan trenle çok yakın olan Jurmala'ya geldiğimizde sanki yeni bir ülkeye gelmiş gibi hissettik. Sokak isimlerinde kullanılan dil Rusça’ydı, hatta şehrin bir kısmında tabelalardaki sokak kelimesi bile Rusça yazılmıştı, sokaklarda dolaşan insanların büyük kısmı Rus’tu. Otele gitmek için minibüs beklerken durakta yaşlı bir kadın bizimle konuşmaya başladı. Daha doğrusu bize kendince bir şeyler anlatmaya başladı. Rusça konuşan ama birkaç kelime İngilizcesi olan kadına nereden geldiğimizi söyleyince Türkiye’yi bilmesi beni çok şaşırttı. Söylediklerinden çıkarabildiğimiz kadarıyla özelleştirmelerden şikâyet eden kadının SSCB’nin yıkılması, sosyalizm sonrası serbest piyasa düzenine geçilmesi sürecinde hayatı oldukça zorlaşmıştı. Sonra Lat olan ve belli ki kıyafetlerinden hali vakti yerinde olan yaşlı bir bayan ona bir şeyler söyledi. Diğer kadıncağız da biraz ezildi ama yine konuşmaya d... read more