After being woken by the southern lads coming home rather drunk at four in the morning, we next awoke to some repair men coming in to fix the shower. Fully dressed and eager to go, we set off in the general direction of the museum of occupation. We stumbled across the tourist information and enquired about buses to Siguilda for tomorrow. Right next door was the museum, so in we went. The museum was like Latvia's history, long and very heavy. We thought that Estonia was a country that had a troubled history; well it appears that Latvia's was worse. We [View Full Entry]

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We’ve spent the last couple of weeks cycling the Baltic Sea Coast, and stopping to relax on its beautiful white sand beaches in between Nida and Riga. Nida is on the Curonian spit, a small strip of land covered in forest and sand dunes. This Unesco region is shared between Russian owned Kalingrad and Lithuania. From Nida you can’t walk more than a kilometre south over the dunes without meeting Russian border guards with machine guns (apparently!). The villages are built on sand dunes and due to shifting sands many villages on the spit have been buried several times in the [View Full Entry]

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We woke around ten and spent an hour or so packing everything up. After a banana for breakfast we went and paid for the room. With our waterproofs on we headed for the stone jetty that leads out some 2 kilometers into the sea. It was raining, windy and cold but we still walked out for a while. I reached the point where I could no longer feel my toes so we decided to turn back. Back at the hostel we had another makeshift lunch of leftovers from previous picnics. We had two hours to kill until we needed to leave [View Full Entry]

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Left for our bus at 7am, not really wanting to be there after our last bus trip. But this journey was so much easier, scenery not much different to Poland and time just flew by. Arrived in Riga at 11.30am, it was cold and the wind was a howling. With jackets on we proceeded to find our hostel, the alleged 5 minute trek turned into 30 minutes and with our heavy backpacks it was hard going.... Wind swept and knackered we arrived, dumped our stuff and collapsed in a heap..... Later after going out to eat, we returned to find we [View Full Entry]

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Nouveau Riche: The Latvian Way Of Life nou•veau riche: (nōō'vō rēsh') One who has recently become rich, especially one who flaunts newly acquired wealth. (American Heritage Dictionary) Throughout Europe there are some filthy, filthy rich people. Think about the old money from places like Lake Como, the French Riviera, or Capri. Families that have had wealth for more than fifty years learn how to live good “rich” lives in a way that is subtle and glamorous in an understated way. These are the people that we used to hear about on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous with Robin Leach. [View Full Entry]

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Having crossed another time zone, and with one more to come, we are currently sitting in transit at Riga International Airport, Latvia, waiting for our flight to Berlin, Germany. After a late night last night, we woke fairly early to organise our gear and repack, ready for a day of travelling. So far all has gone to plan, despite having to negotiate our way to St Petersburg’s international airport, Pulkova 2, without a phrasebook. Although we had the details of the metros and bus we needed to catch, we were quite anxious about whether this would, in fact, lead us to [View Full Entry]

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A great country! Flew into Riga, the capital, on the 9th August and stayed for a few days in a awsome hostel, Fun Friendly Franks, based in the Old Town of Riga. It was a small city but the buildings were so amazing with paved streets and a great laid back feel about the place. The hostel was up 2 flights of well worn wooden stairs and it was a great place to meet other travellers. Every night the staff would round up anyone keen to head out for drinks, which usually seem to consist of me and 20 odd guys, [View Full Entry]

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Argh! The server crashed, and I lost my last two entries. Serves me right for holding them until I got a chance to do photos. This is only a short note, because I haven't written for ages. I've been in Hungary, heading not just to Budapest, but also Eger with it's famous wines, and Szentendre, a city up the Danube. Next was the ukraine, and this was an experience I am unlikely to forget. Even doing nothing was tiring, as you had to still translate everything in your head, back i°nto latin letters. Then decide if you could or couldn't read [View Full Entry]

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"Latvia - the country that sings" is the tourism tagline we saw on our 4 days here. But as Aussies in this 'country that sings', we found ourselves asking "Well where the bloody hell is the song?" (We should mention this blog has been banned in England...) As a result, Latvia can be a confusing place for Australians to visit. To help you navigate this tricky country we have assembled a list of FAQs so you can make the most of your time here. Is Riga as beautiful as made out? Yes, Riga is in fact a very beautiful city, and [View Full Entry]

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Latvia, our last European country before we head to Russia. We have had a fantastic time exploring Europe, and although there is a lot more to see on our travelling, it is sad that this part of our trip is coming to an end. Rain hung over the streets of Riga, but still the city showed its beauty, fantastic and interesting buildings were everywhere, all with lovely detailing and facades. We made a quick stop to the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, which gave us a good breakdown of the Russian and German occupations of the Baltic states. It [View Full Entry]

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