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Published: July 18th 2006
Lithuanian Graffiti
Found this on a wall in Vilnius. Thought it was appropriate!Riga is undoubtedly beautiful. An art noveau overload with cobbled streets, spires and turrets. Its medieval old town is heritage listed by UNESCO and it was nothing short of bustling when I arrived a few days before the summer solstice festival. However, now Riga risks losing its UNESCO status with the construction of too many modern buildings. Even worse, the cheap airlines have got in and every weekend bring obnoxious and arrogant groups of bucks parties across from the UK. There is a vibe about Riga I just didn't like. Organised crime is a problem and strip clubs, casinos and other sleazy outfits are taking over the city. One look around Riga and you'll notice the gap between the rich in their schmick black cars and the regular locals. Despite all this, you can't help but become wrapped up in the place. You could quite happily wander through its narrow streets and enjoy it's wild nightlife for days. And it seems many of the people at my hostel had done just that.
All hostel recommendations from fellow backpackers for Riga, Latvia were consistent - 'You've definitely got to stay at Franks'. Friendly Fun Franks that is. Frank is an enterprising
Riga, Latvia
View from St Peters Cathedral. Aussie bloke that's set up his idea of the perfect hostel, with exceptional marketing and cheap, but effective, gimmicks. On arrival, guests are greeted by one of the 14 stunning Latvian girls that work here (there's only one guy.... well someone has to carry the beer up the stairs!). They offer you a cold beer before you've even got time to take off your backpack, then run you through a brochure of the top 10 things to do in Riga. If you're a girl they only run you through the top 9 (10 is the strip clubs). One of the activities organised by the hostel is to go to a disused Soviet bunker to fire an AK47, they also accompany you to a different nightclub every night. Frank need not have gone to so much effort, my highlight was that they offer a hairdryer in the girls bathrooms, enough to compensate for the 18 bed dorm room where I was the only female!
One of my favourite places in Riga was the Central markets located in a row of massive hangars bursting with merchandise including plastic bags (didn't ask how much these cost!), fresh fruit, meat, fake brand name
Padlocks on a park bridge, Riga
In Latvia it's a tradition to fasten a lock to a bridge on your wedding day. All the locks are engraved with a name and a wedding date. clothes and horrific fluro Russian bride-esqe type get-up. I bargained for fresh fruit like bananas and strawberries and found the shop keepers fantastically friendly. The women behind the stalls were dressed to kill. Blonde coiffed hair, pink lippy and fag-breath were all the rage.
Tradition is big here. For instance, all the quaint little bridges in city parks have locks attached to them. These locks - bike locks, padlocks, master locks, etc - are all engraved with two names and a date. It's a tradition to fasten a lock to a bridge on your wedding day.
Another highlight was the brilliant view from St Peters Cathedral tower. Aside from the view, possibly the best thing is that the forward thinking people of Riga have installed a lift making it the easiest Cathedral tower I've conquered on this trip. The most thought provoking stop on the Riga tourist trail was the 'Latvian Occupation Museum'. An overly thorough background into the struggles of the local people - first with WW2, then their break free from Communism in 1991. The museum was utterly exhausting - by the time I left the building, I felt like I was the one who had been
Finding the stebuklas (miracle) tile, Vilnius
Allan, Chopper and I. This marks the spot were the Tallinn to Vilinius human chain ended in 1989. It is said if you spin around it three times your wish will be granted. exiled to a Siberian labour camp. Would it be inappropriate to suggest that the good people at this museum could take a lesson or two from Frank (friendly, fun) in making this display a little less monotonous and more tourist friendly? This was enough for me. It was time to head to Vilnius, Lithuania to track down Zappa.
Vilnius was for me the highlight of the Baltic cities. At first glance its similar to the others - beautiful baroque, old town that's UNESCO listed, same Communist history, cobbled streets. But look a bit closer and mix with the crazy locals and you realize that this place has a brilliantly bizarre vibe to it. This is where Zappa comes in. You know the man. The strange American rocker with the big mo! Well, the Lithuanian Zappa Fan Club decided to erect a statue in his honour in the heart of Vilnius. Unfortunately though, no one could tell us where to find the damn thing! I told you it was bizarre...
Old Town Backpackers was no exception. One day there was an older guy lying on his bed with nothing but a small hand-towel covering himself (apparently it aids digestion).
Fake Frank Zappa Statue, Vilnius
Some cycle rickshaw drivers tried to tell us this was the real deal. It's not. Then there was the hostel owner (remember I confronted him in Tallinn regarding his occupation) well he knew I knew he was from Vilnius - but when I asked him what he was doing at the Vilnius hostel he told me he was just another backpacker?! This hostel was also host to the worst plastic bag rustlers I had encountered so far on this journey, a downstairs kitchen that was hotter than a sauna and a loud, rude American bloke that got attacked and strangled outside the train station for $300 US.
Our nights out in Vilnius were also crazy. The first night I headed out with three other Aussies - Therese, Chopper and Allan - to a fantastically cheap dinner at a local bistro. When we went to order dessert (at around 9pm) they told us 'no', the cook had gone home. After that a group of 30 people turned up for dinner, but were soon turned away, the cook could not be roused! From here we visited the local square 'Katedros aikste' where there is a secret Stebuklas stone inlaid. The stone marks the spot where the Tallinn-Vilnius human chain (against Communism) ended back in 1991. The
KGB Museum, Vilnius
This was one nasty place. Here I'm in the tiny confinement cell. word is that your every wish will be granted if you spin around it 3 times. Therese literally stumbled across the stone before we even had time to look for it. We made our wishes and watched as others spun three times around the stone, some meditated on it and two couples even did some ballroom dancing. This is when the cycle rickshaws turned up. We challenged them to take us to the Zappa statue. They took us to a statue which definitely wasn't Zappa, but someone had graffited his name on the wall. We suspect the rickshaw drivers didn't know where it was, so phoned ahead to their friends to quickly scrawl the graffiti. We weren't fooled. The night ended at a bar full of people that spilled out into the streets. There was a music festival on in town and people were drinking large plastic cups of beer, before nature inevitably called and they patiently lined up to use the one toilet in the rear of the building!
Not to be deterred Therese and I set off the following day with another Aussie, Dean, to track down the Zappa statue. The Lonely Planet had it marked on
Croatia V Australia, Vilnius
Here I capture the exact moment when we scored the levelling goal. The crowd went wild (except for the Croatian fan in the background with her head in her hands)! their map, but we failed again. We wandered aimlessly for what seemed like hours (was probably 1 hour), before giving up and heading to the Museum of Genocide Victims. I know it sounds horrible, even tedious, but this is hands down one of the best museums I've visited on this trip. Located in the old KGB headquarters, the most interesting part of the museum was the KGB section. The old KGB prison was intact - after all it's last prisoner was only in 1987 (it was closed in 1991). The punishment here was horrendous - but the KGB described it as merely an 'active investigation'. There was a soundproof cell, heavily padded complete with straight-jacket that was built in 1987 and two water torture cells, where the prisoner would be forced to stand on a little raised platform above a pool of water for hours, or days. Deep in the basement is an execution cell - the back wall is dotted with bullet holes. The surveillance conducted by the KGB here was extensive. In 1976 there were 700 KGB staff employed in Vilnius to keep tabs on locals and even tourists.
The day was young, and Vilnius still had
The cool kids from Vilnius Backpackers!
Chuckles (UK), Therese (Oz), Conor (Ireland), me, Dean (Oz), Mark (UK), Cat (Belgium) a whole host of other crazy sites to keep us interested. Therese and I spent an entire afternoon chilling out at the Independent Republic of Uzupis. Uzupis, or the Republic of Angels as it has been dubbed, has about 120 residents (mostly arty, bohemian types) a main street and a massive statue - the Angel of Uzupis. It also has its own president, its own bishop, two churches, an embassy in Moscow, a constitution (that we couldn't find either) and four official flags. Unfortunately, Uzupis sounds a whole lot more impressive on paper than it actually is. We spent several hours at a cafe watching the world go by and weren't rewarded with anything even remotely crazy. Time to go and watch Australia V Croatia in the world cup.
What began with the recruitment of a bunch of willing Aussie supporters, one Aussie flag and a bar with a big screen - ended with a great reason to hit Vilnius town to celebrate. The music festival was still on and we ended up dancing until the wee hours (it was light by 2.30am in Vilnius) to the strains of some crazy music, talking to the locals and even playing
Football Fan on the lose in Vilnius
Don't worry Mum, I am wearing clothes underneath! soccer out in the street. The group from the Old Town Backpackers had become quite a fixture in town, and the locals were friendly, inclusive and even remembered our names from the night before.
All too soon it was time for me to hit the road, (the 10 hour long road), on the bus to Warsaw.
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Therese Lynch
non-member comment
Hey ellen, wow -love the blog.. laughing so much reading your entry, i only saw frank zappa the real statue, on the 4th search for it, but maybe thats the way he wants it, he he he. The photos are great, i just got back to australia yesterday, awesome to read your entries, brings it all back. You have inspired me to update my blog, whoo hoo. Hey enjoy roma bella. lov therese :)