I arrived in Riga, Latvia on Thursday, June 5th and plan to stay for 3 days. I knew it was a good sign when I checked into my hostel and the reception area was a pub and there were lots of young people to talk to.
After checking in and getting settled, my first goal was to find the train station and try to figure out how to get a train ticket to St. Petersburg for Sunday (as I read this could be really tough). Lucky for me, I found the right window (window #24 out of 42) and I was able to communicate with the lady and purchase my ticket. So I was set to get to Russia and able to enjoy Riga.
I ran into Daniel, who I previously met in the beach town of Parnu. He is traveling the Baltic States on his own for 3 weeks. When I first met him, he said he was out of school for 3 years, and he looked young, so I assumed he was about 25 or 26. I later found out he was 33 and was very new to traveling or being in big cities. More to come later.
Daniel was a nice guy and we decided to go to dinner that night, soon after we made the plan, I met Sarah and Toby, who are traveling around the world for 18 months from Melbourne, Australia and were really fun people. I invited them to join too. We ended up going to a traditional Latvia restaurant outside of town where it was all locals and very different foods. We were able to point to what we wanted and all the food was great…well except for the dark beer that Toby and I got. It was the worst thing I have had in a long time (and that`s pretty hard to say about beer). It tasted really sweet and we both choked it down as we already paid for it and it was alcohol.).
After dinner, we strolled around the town, through a couple of parks and stumbled onto the locks bridge. This is common in the Baltic States as it`s good luck for a bride and groom to put a lock on a bridge on their wedding day (with names and dates engraved). To symbolize locking in their love for all to see. Nice tradition.
After walking around old town, we found a cute outdoor place to sit and chat with beers and enjoy some music. It was fun ragtime music and when it got a little darker (still daylight out at 11pm at night though), they put a disco ball on which was interesting with the music they were playing on the piano, Cello and drums. Go figure.
On the walk back to the hostel, we passed a pink limo (at 11:30pm – see how light it still is?). Could this be Barbie`s dream car maybe? I had to get a picture as I don`t think I`ve ever seen a pink limo before.
I read about a great summer palace that was 75 miles outside of town, and I thought it would be a fun day trip. I was planning to go on Sunday, but Daniel was talking about going that day. Daniel was upset as he didn`t think he could still go as it was late in the day and it was a lot of effort to find the right bus, then get there, then get another local bus that runs only a couple times a day. I felt like Dr. Phil when I said, “if you want to go…make it happen and don`t sit hear whining that you missed out. It`s noon now, so if you get to the bus station, take the hour ride, get in another bus or taxi you should be there by 2:30 or 3 which still will give you a couple hours to enjoy the palace…so go if you want to, but don`t sit her and whine and feel like you missed out”. I guess that was enough as he said ok and then asked if I wanted to come and asked Kathy who we just met at the hostel as well. So the three of us decided to venture out and at least, it would be an adventure outside of town.
I`m so glad we went as it was a fun adventure. First, getting on a local bus with no A/C and it was hot. It was a pretty drive out for 90 minutes, and we really didn`t know about the next bus connection, but I knew the further from the big cities, the less English we would find. When we got to the city of Buska, there was no local bus for 2 hours, so we found a taxi and he took us there for $10. I figured that was nothing since we already made the effort to get out there and were splitting it 3 ways, but Daniel tried to talk the price down and the taxi driver said no. Did I mention this was Daniel`s 2nd taxi ride ever in his life (33 years)? He went to college in Iowa and the only taxi he took was in New York when he went to visit. So that was new experience for him. It was a grand palace with over 140 rooms. We were able to tour about 45 of them and they were all different colors, with lots of decorations on the walls and ceilings. I posted a few photos to show them. In the back, the gardens were neat and tidy, but not as impressive as nothing was blooming yet.
Short people lived in this palace as I was almost as tall as the door
That night, Kathy and I decided to go see the “Sex and the City” movie as it just opened that night in Riga, and that was as much energy as we had left. We got some of the last tickets to the show (as you buy reserved seats for tickets in and the show was almost sold out way in advance). Yes we were in the first row, but it was all right. Great movie (after 30 minutes of commercials). The 10:00pm movie got out right before 1:00am.
Saturday was going to be my main day to explore the town. I decided to do a walking tour with James, who has been living in Riga for 3 years, originally from London, and a few people I met in the hostel took the tour earlier and said it was great. The tour really took us out of the tourist areas, to where to locals live and eat (check out my hot chocolate photo). That was the most heavenly treat ever and so thick I couldn`t drink it, but I didn`t leave anything to waste.
We toured some amazing streets with architecture that I just wanted to keep looking at as it was so ornate. We even toured local markets (where they looked like junk yards). James said it was the best place to find off parts to fix things and locals go there as a way to socialize with others and try to sell stuff.
I have to comment on lunch today. After the tour, Kathy and I went for a salad. I don`t think I`ve even waited so long for a meal, even in the Caribbean where food service is on `island time”. It seriously took 90 minutes for the time we ordered to when we finished (and it was over 75 minutes before our food arrived). The funny part, Kathy ordered an omelet and I got a salad that was supposed to have egg on it. My salad didn`t have egg and instead had bananas. Our theory was they ran out of eggs, had to go find a chicken to lay eggs (or go to the store for more) and were finally able to make her omelet, but didn`t have time to hard boil the eggs for my salad so they put bananas on the salad and hoped I didn`t notice (but we did). All in all, it was a great meal, just took forever!
At our hostel, we asked what the local liquor was. We were told “Riga Black Balsam”. We were also told the locals either mix with vodka or other spirits or pour it over vanilla ice cream at night. So off to the store to buy this drink and some ice cream. Riga Black Balsam is a tar-black liqueur flavored with a variety of herbs, including linden flower, pepper, ginger, valerian, and others. This strong, sting-your-throat drink is one of Riga’s prides and certainly one of the more unusual and this was something I had to bring home.
So my time in Riga is ending. Sunday Kathy and I are going to venture off to Jurmala beach for the day before I have to get back to catch my train to St. Petersburg.
Latvia has been a wonderful city with lots to do in and out of the city. I really could have spent another 3-4 days here going out to the country to hike and such, but maybe next time…