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Published: August 31st 2012
Six weeks of planes, trains and boatmobiles on the Iceland/Scandinavian/Baltic merry-go-round brought us to our full stop in the region, the little surprise packet of Riga.
With Latvia's history sharing a raft of parallels with Estonia and geographically separated solely by that thin man made line we call a border, I'd imagined Latvia's capital Riga would be a carbon copy of sister Tallinn up north. Not so.
For a start the language is completely different, not that I can tell. It's also not as dollied up. No period costumes in the streets here and the old town is a lick of paint short of Tallinn's slick veneer and clean lines. The facade also throws up more visions of its Soviet byways. The heart and soul of the younger populace is, however, Western European to the core and style is bubbling to the surface.
Take our little apartment for example (this airbnb site has been a godsend). The actual block of units is all KGB on the outside but attempted Vogue meets retro Moscow on the inside. The young owner, Tom, has some real quirky ideas on interior design but there's not much he can do about the exterior.
Tom also gave us a brief rundown on recent developments in Riga, a kind of "Latvian Modern History 101". His job alone is a puzzler. Maserati salesmen should have oodles of spare time up their sleeves as I didn't imagine too many Rigan citizens would sport a spare 200 or so thousand dollars in their back pockets for a top end Italian buzz box. In fact post Soviet Latvia was a mouse thar roared in economic terms and $100 000 cars were the rule rather than the exception on the streets of Riga. Latvia seemed slated for big things.
Then of course in 2008 there was that little matter of the GFC hiccup. Iceland may have been the hardest hit of European nations but Latvia came in a competitive second. At this point the nation as a whole was questioning their brothers in arms decision to join the EU.
Here is a country that did it tough for nigh on 50 years of Soviet rule, then struggled its way out, kicked, gouged, scratched and generally fought its way to a position of financial stability and everything looked peachy.
In steps the GFC and the good folk
of Latvia now question why they should have to bail out lazy and mismanaged Greeks, Spanish, Italian etc (their words, not mine) who'd had it too soft for too long.
There's some heavy use of the broad brush in that summation but you can sympathise with their situation.
I wouldn't lose too much sleep if I were a local. They've dragged themselves out of more than one mire before and there are enough signs to indicate they are doing it again, even if their voice is struggling to be heard over the financial heavyweights Germany and France.
So how does all this affect us? Not at all actually. Basically we just dissolved ourselves into Riga's delights like a tea bag in hot water.
If shopping is your drug, or even if drug shopping is your drug, no matter, lock away the plastic fantastic, unfold the cash and head over to Natgalite Flea Market. If it isn't for sale here it doesn't exist. Gas masks, Russian army surplus yak wool hats and judging by the general cleanliness of the area, plenty of actual fleas. You were robbed whilst in Riga. Not an issue. Come here an hour
later and you can buy it back for around 10% of the retail value. The day we visited there was a special on kidneys. Don't miss this place.
One element whereby Riga and Tallinn are mirrored images is their open reverence to 2 basic human rights. Freedom of speech and the right to a decent beer poured perfectly. If you are partial to an ale you can't go wrong in this town.
The city is punctuated by cosy bars offering a raft of draughts and they take exemplary pride in serving it juuuuuust right.
Our favourite little den is nicknamed "The Cave", pretty much because it's a cave. Plenty of friendly advice on which beer went with which food, live music and the grub ain't half bad either. The stuffed pork bellies and Latvian traditional meatballs were big hits but be careful if ordering the lightly fried beans. They slide down perfectly with a Bauskas Dark Ale but whilst the aftermath may keep the sheets warm, it can also bring a tear to the eye for different reasons.
Thus the Baltic bash comes to an end but this was some sort of way to sign off.
Well played Riga but it's time to move on. I can almost smell the baguettes and hear the accordions now.
Yeatesy
Do you remember somewhere in the 70's the toilet seats made of clear Perspex with all manner of decoration infused into them like plants, pebbles, flowers etc? They were heavy to lift open and close and gaudy to say the least. Well I have never thought much about them until we hit Latvia. Latvia must be the capital of decorative toilet seats or the place where all the unsold ones came to. Every toilet in every cafe, bar and even our apartment have one of these ghastly things. And to make matters worse some have matching toilet brush holders and soap dishes.
Perhaps I don't fully appreciate the decorative touches here in Latvia, but they are also the masters of unusual inventions. Our apartment as Gary describes is Eastern block merging with touches of western flair. We have a microwave oven ( no big deal on its own, but wait) with a flick of a button on the settings panel flips open a toaster. A spa bath that once filled with water has coloured lights
colouring the water and the radio to give you what 20 years ago would have been the latest propaganda. Orange grout around the kitchen splash back tiles to match perfectly the colour of the cupboards. A metal front door, that once unlocked reveals yet another metal front door to unlock after having already passed through a vault at the front door at street level. It's a quirky town and even a train ride to nearby Jurmala reveals more of their quirky architecture. Houses that look like they are out of a movie set for the Addams Family or The Munsters. There's not just one or two but the whole town is full of these houses. What a shame we didn't stay longer so I could explore more bathrooms, I only had time to check out two and both didn't disappoint. Latvia like Estonia has been a relief on the pockets, our $ has gone far, so I had better get out there and spend the last of my Lats. Penny
More images at:
www.colvinyeates.zenfolio.com
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liliram
liliram
Cute dog
How did u get him to pose like this? Cute-sy!