Roaming around Riga

We took the three-and-a-half Lux Express bus from Tallinn to Riga. The bus terminal was a little too far from the Old Town in Tallinn so we took a Bolt car (like an Uber or Didi), although after all the food we had eaten we probably should have hiked through Tallinn. It just meant we had to hike through Riga to get to our accommodation.

Our AirBnB apartment was located in the city centre on the outskirts of the Old Town. No more cobblestone streets to traispe up and down. We got to what we thought was the building and punched in the code. Computer says no. We walked a little further up the road and finally got to the right location.

We entered the building and assumed that apartment 605 would be on the sixth floor. Nope, it was in what they called the middle basement - not the deep depths of the bottom basement – which just meant that the apartment windows were just above ground level. It was a spacious, newly renovated apartment. This was a luxury for us.

Our usual routine started with off loading our bags and heading to the Old Town to take a sticky beak. We only had two nights so we needed to make the most of it. The Old Town is filled with a few Gothic Revival and hundreds of Art Nouveau buildings. Apparently in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century Riga experienced an economic upturn and the middle class built Art Nouveau apartment blocks. The Old Town has since become a UNESCO World heritage site.

The other part of our routine is to get provisions, although this time we were determined not to raid the bakery section. But when we saw our dear beloved Rimi the temptation was too much. Like two people with a drug addiction, we kept going back for more ... and more. This time we were brave enough to use the self-service checkout, even though the lookup items were in Latvian. 100 per cent success rate!

The first evening, just before going to bed, despite there still being light outside, I could hear scratching and gnawing in the walls. Perhaps a group of itinerant KGB Russian army rats had followed two itinerant Aussies from Estonia and set up camp in our apartment walls. I mean the old KGB headquarters was only around the counter. The sound was so loud I thought they were going to burst through the walls. Eventually with ear plugs in I was able to get to sleep but they must have visited me in my dreams/nightmares. Apparently I kicked Jason and ended up in foetal position horizontally across the bed. Luckily the KGB rats must have moved onto their next destination to torture other victims, because they couldn’t be heard the next night.

The next day we continued our wanderings around Riga, taking in all of the sites and history. The Freedom Monument, Brīvības piemineklis, is the focal point in the old part of town, towering over 42 metres and made from granite, travertine, and copper. It was built to commemorate those who fought in the Latvian war of independence in 1918-1920. Under Soviet rule, there was a plan to destroy it but apparently a well-respected Russian artist had convinced Soviet authorities to leave it alone.

With the war in Ukraine, there has been a revival of de-russification in Latvia. The street where the Russian embassy is located has been renamed to Independent Ukraine Street, with a massive picture of Putin crossed with an ape draped across the building facing the embassy. Some of the Soviet-era monuments, which had been protected by an agreement between Latvian and Russian governments, have been destroyed.

The Latvian government is also forcing all ethnic Russians to learn Latvian; it’s a reversal of what happened to the ethnic Latvians who were forbidden to speak their language under the Soviet government. When the Soviet Union dissolved and Latvia gain independence, ethnic Russians and their children born before 1991 were not granted Latvian citizenship. Now they have been given until the end of the year to learn Latvian or else be deported. Luckily we’re just tourists and staying for a short visit. I don't think sveiki (hi) and paldies (thanks) would be enough. We’ll be well and truly onto our next destination before we are deported.

Next destination: Vilnius.

Latvian: Sveiki (Hi), Paldies (Thanks), Ass nazis (Sharp knife).Read more