Blogs from Latvia, Europe - page 35

Our arrival in Riga is met by frozen winds and a warm memory, tinged with regret, of the coats which we abandoned in London. D'oh. We clamber onto a jam-packed bus which whizzes us into Riga old town, nearly to the frontdoor of Franks Friendly Backpackers where a free can of fine Lativian beer greets us as we come in the door - proper welcome:) Slight confusion when English barman becomes convinced that le Frenchman Nico is Welsh. Tell Nico that must wear his beret and onion-string from now on to save mix-ups. Claim our bunkbeds, abandon the rucksacks (sore shoulders! totally out of training on the rucksack front) and head out on the town for some traditional Latvian stew thing for Nico and traditional latvian spuds for me. Yum. It's quite like Polish food, plenty ... read more

Here are some pictures from Easter weekend in Liepaja, in the West of Latvia. We were staying with Lelde's family on a farm in the countryside. It was pretty cold-it snowed a bit on Easter day. In Latvia, it is a tradition on Lieldiena(Lit. Big Day) to colour eggs by wrapping them in muslin parcels and adding leaves, flowers and anything else, then boiling them in water with lots of onion skins- nice results this year. We also played a lot of Novus, a traditional Latvian game with a sqaure wooden table with a circular whole in each corner. It 's a bit like snooker/billiards, as the aim is to get your coloured wooden discs into the holes by striking them with the main, larger piece called the govs( pronounced gooavs and meaning cow). ... read more

I was talking with a fellow traveller and Aerosmith fan about making a trip to Estonia and Latvia and my health issues came up as well as the price for travelling economy to these countries. I didn't want to put them in the position that might mean a medical emergency for me and the monetary cost is high as well... €2,161.83!!!(Airfare only to Latvia and back !We were to drive in between Estonia and Latvia.) That is ONLY the cost from Dublin not including the cost for the hotel, car, and such!My total cost for the short trip would be about $5000 US dollars...that and the worry that it would cause my family to have me out on my own travelling after the PE makes it impossible.This really saddens me because it was a couple of ... read more

arrived in the night...again. after some trouble we managed to find a "hostel". it was a students residence,that worked as a hostel during the summer!the recepcionist didnt speak english at all ( that happens quite a lot in here...i usually find it funny not to understand a word of what foreign people are saying. but this recepcionist lady wasnt being so receptive... ) , she was about to kick us out when too students came to the rescue - ENGLISH SPEAKING LATVIAN GIRLS!!somehow they could convince the lady. thats how we met Ruta ( sorry if i spelled it incorrectly...). She was surprisingly nice and showed us everything and made us feel at home...then we met Laura, another amazing girl, at her room. I borrowed her guitar and tryied to play something that Ruta would apreciate ... read more

Left Riga in the 15 feb. With April. Objective Get to the Amber Coast : Hitchhike to Liepaja. Walked back the great stone bridge. Wlaked out of town. Gas station. First ride - Julia - got us to Jurmala and then near the A9 road. from there a women drove us to a bistro in the A-9 road. Next ride, 40 Km, a Electrics truck. Finally a big truck drove us to Liepaja. Beautiful pale sun, behind the clouds. Trees of brown, red and dark green. fragile and naked with no leaves, the pines so strong and dark, covered with snow, white everywhere covering the ground and the houses roofs with a majestic carpet of peace and silence. shhhhh... the monotonous engine melody.the road down there, passing passimg passing,...beauty and peace. April is laying in the ... read more