Michelle Eichenberg

This morning we had to wake up slightly earlier, so that we could start our day in Riga.
After a 40min drive and 13,50€ for the parking, we headed to the St. Peter's Church, where we'd start our first Free Walking Tour. I love the concept, as everyone could give as much as they think the guide deserves and can offer, so basically everyone is welcome.
Our first guide was Artus, who guided us through the Central Market and the Moscow District.
We learned quite a lot. For example that here have been quite a lot of pickpockets and cheaters in the 1990s, so that lots of people won't go to the Central Market anymore. The Moscow District wasn't a better place back then, as drug dealers were everywhere. You could just go to any flat who had a basket hanging outside their window and shout upstairs. They would ask what you want, and after you put the money in the basket, they'd lower it again with your drugs inside. Also, every day, there was at least one homicide. So, unsurprisingly, not a lot of people want to live there anymore, and nowadays it's one of the safest districts of Riga. Not many people around = not a lot of criminal activities either. Therefore, the Indian people have found the place and its super cheap rents for themselves and play cricket on every weekend nowadays.
One of the biggest buildings in the Moscow District is the Latvian Academy of Sciences. This building was planned to be put in Old Riga, however, the executives were brought to Sibiria before they could give them the money. Whoopsy Daisy.
So it was build in the Moscow District and should have been a hotel for the Farmers. However, then they changed it into an academy. Nowadays, it's not very scientific in there, though. The former hotel rooms/apartments were re-functioned into rental places, that are nowadays used by e.g. fortune tellers. Well...
There are a lot of wooden buildings outside of Old Riga. That is because formerly, there was a fort with a city wall. Within this wall, there lived the rich German or Polish aristocrats and whoever was allowed there. Outside, the poorer people lived - in wooden houses. Because whenever an enemy arrived in Riga, the aristocrats would burn the wooden houses outside the city walls down to stop the invaders. That was common until 1812, when Napoleon tried to invade Riga for the last time. Afterwards, nobody really wanted to invest in these poorer districts and there was even a billboard on one house that apparently sits there for 15 years now, claiming "For sale". Nobody puts money in the city center as all the Latvian people want to have their own private houses and rather live in suburbs. That's why the population of the city centre goes down each year, but the population of the whole Riga area goes up. I general speaking, there are still more Latvian people leaving Latvia all together, than immigrants coming to the country. Although it slowly changes because of the Ukrainian war or economic refugees.
Latvia wasn't spared by the Nazis in WWII and therefore nearly all of the 100k Jews in Latvia were killed by them. Funnily enough, many of the most important Jewish families survived, because Stalin himself has let them being deported to Sibiria 2 weeks before the Nazis arrived. There has been a Jewish ghetto and the survivors have survived as they've been used for labour. However, nearly 24k died in just one day, which means each soldier in Riga had to kill around 1k people per day. It was insane and goosebumps run over my whole body even thinking about it.
But there are also more funny stories from Riga. For example, the Jesus Birth Cathedral has been a German church for the whole time the Germans mostly ruled over Latvia (nearly 800 years). In the Soviet Union then, it was forbidden to visit the churches, so most of them were re-purposed e.g. into libraries or storage rooms. This church however was used as a bar/cinema. And the golden dome wasn't always golden. Before, it was see-through and used as an observatory. The funniest part though was, that the cinema showed Hollywood movies under the disguise of being a lecture for the students. Obviously, it was strictly forbidden to do or see anything remotely Western in the Soviet Union. But as it was with a professor dissecting the "bad" capitalistic traits of the movies, students could easily have access to western filmography.
Another funny story: There is only one woman in the world that can be found on three different currencies: Euro, Lats and Latvian silver coins. But she's a no-name. She was just a random bank employee that was asked by the money maker if he could portray her, as he needed a woman's face for the coins. Nowadays, you can buy 1€ with her face on for 25€.
You may be wondering, who the Latvian heroes are. One of them is the folklore collector Kristians Barons. He collected over 1 million folklore songs of Latvia to write them down. He only collected 1/5. As Latvia only has 1.8 million people, there is still nearly for every person one folklore song. And remember: There used to be 4 million more.
We ended at the Monument of Freedom, where we learned that it was the heaviest guarded place in Latvia. There were two soldiers in front, who don't have to stand there anymore when it's over 25°C or - 5°C. They guard the symbol of the first independence day of Latvia in 1918. The monument was finished in 1935 and has known faces like Barons on it. The three stars on top symbolise the three religious regions of Latvia. However, in Soviet times, the story had to be told differently. Then the monument was build right after 1944 for the red army, having their soldiers on it (although they wore German helmets...). The woman on top symbolised Mother Russia and the three stars were meant to stand for Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The tour guides had to be very careful what they said about it, because the Russians had their eyes and ears everywhere. Until 1991 when the Soviet Union fell apart, Latvia was independent again and the story could return to its old truth.

2,5 hours later and were back at square one, meeting our next tour guide Liga for the Old Riga Tour. She showed us the more "touristy" side of the capital. However, even if you'd triple the numbers of today's tourists, you'd still barely recognize them (other than in Krakow or Prague). We saw the Three Brothers, the oldest apartment buildings of Riga. Legend tells us the buildings belonged to three brothers. However, as they are from 3 different centuries, it's hard to believe.
We also saw a part of the city wall that is still looking like it these days. And we saw the house with the cats on top. They were only put there, because the owner of the building wanted it. As the Latvians are very superstitious, they also believe that black cats are a bad symbol and felt rather offended by it. They wanted the cats gone. Then, someone had the idea to draw the cats on cards and sell them to tourists, and somehow the money overruled the superstitions and the cats could stay.
Liga also told us, that Riga was named after a little river flowing through the village that Riga once was. The Riga people put all their garbage in it and it started to smell. Because eof the city walls, the air couldn't really move around, so that the whole city started to stink. Soon enough, people coming to Riga nicknamed it the smelly city. As the Latvians are proud people, they didn't want that nickname and stuffed the river with earth and plants until it was no more. Now, the only river flowing through Riga is the Düna that goes up to Russia.
After another 1,5hrs, we arrived back at square one once more, but now, we were done for the day. Our feet hurt, our Tshirts were soaked with sweat and Aluna was completely done and dusted as well.
So, we threw ourselves in the evening chaos that is Rigas streets and finally arrived back at our little house in the quiet and peace of Kemeri.En savoir plus