2022 World Tour – Riga Latvia
Hello from Riga, my 41st stop on the trip and my 64th country.
Below is the standard summary:
– Cool Ranch Doritos: No
– Thai ATM Card Works: Yes
– Thai Debit Card Works: Yes
– Thai Internet Purchase Works: Yes
– USA Credit Card Works: Didn’t try
– Worldwide Telephone/Data/SMS eSIM Works: Yes
– Magic Jack Works: Didn’t try
– Drone Flights: Didn’t check
– Cost of Living: $$$$
– Currency: Euro ⬠1.00 = USD $1.00
– Language Issues: None
Your Short History Lesson:
After Teutonic, Swedish, Polish/Lithuanian and Russian rule, independent Latvia was established at the end of World War I. A coup by authoritarians in 1934 was pushed aside by occupation by the Soviets at the outbreak of World War II. The Germans rolled in in 1941, followed by re-occupation by the Soviets in 1944. Similar to Estonia, a Singing Revolution began in 1987 leading to full independence in 1991. Latvia ranks highly in most categories and is a member of the EU, Eurozone and NATO. Riga is the capital and largest city in Latvia and is a strategic port on the Baltic Sea.
Today is a 3-country day – Finland bus to train to Estonia ferry to bus to Latvia bus, all within the Schengen area so no border controls as I passed through. Starting in Turku, I caught the again fantastic train to Helsinki – I had the whole upstairs to myself and sat in a captain’s chair with a benchtop facing the scenery as it went by. Trains literally can’t get any better than this. A short tram ride took me back to the ferry terminal, bought my ticket at a kiosk and escalated up to the departure terminal. I watched the ship come into the harbour as I had a ham & cheese croissant. Onboard I had a comfy chair in a bar decorated like a high end pub, again, could not be better. I streamed the first wet dress rehearsal for the Artemis rocket over the ship’s free Wifi, but there was a persistent hydrogen leak and a chill-down bleed problem on RS-25 engine #3 so they scrubbed it.
I arrived in Tallinn with 5 hours to go until my pre-booked bus ride south. That was good because when I got on the city bus it went in exactly the wrong direction, so I hopped off, crossed the street and got the right one. The bus station had one restaurant and I had to point at a pigs-in-a-blanket kind of thing. My Flixbus was full but again a pleasant 8 hour ride through the countryside, crossed the border into Latvia at highway speeds, arriving in Riga about midnight to a deserted dilapidated bus station, in the rain. Not a good start. I used the Bolt taxi app and got a fantastic young guy with friends in Toronto who drove me to the Radisson hotel where I crashed hard after a very, very long day.
The next morning I made a list of things to see and headed out in the gray drizzle, first to a shopping mall across the river for lunch and snacks. Took the bus into the old town, no way to pay onboard again, ugh. I saw the unusual architecture of the House of the Blackheads, a shipping Guild building from the 14th century which was bombed by the Germans in 1941 then destroyed by the Soviets in 1948. It was recently rebuilt to its original specifications. Also in the city center I saw the town hall, the Swedish gate and the Cat House. Rumour has it that the architect of the Cat House was rejected for membership to the Architect’s Guild, so he had cat statues placed on his next design, but with the cat’s butts pointing towards the Guild’s headquarters. Cooler heads prevailed and he was accepted into the guild and the cats were repositioned.
The next morning I caught the bus again to the Old Town and walked past the Russian Embassy which was covered in Ukraine-supporting and Russia-condemning posters. The Ukrainian Embassy nearby had posters mounted to the fence showing the aftermath of Russia attacking civilian targets like apartments, schools and hospitals. This war is happening very close by and everyone in the region remembers how the occupied countries were treated in the German and Soviet days. You just don’t get over that.
I walked along Albert Street with its famous Art Nouveau buildings and then to the Freedom Monument, guarded by two soldiers. From there I went to the Museum of the Occupation which quite well explains the timeline of Latvia and the other Baltic states from the start of World War II to final independence. My last stop was the Central Market, the largest market and bazaar in Europe with over 3000 shops, and housed in former zeppelin hangars. I wanted to visit the Motor Museum, but there was no ticket kiosk at the bus station and the RFID reader machines on board only work with the town’s rider card and of course I got nailed by transit inspectors. I said “My card doesn’t work in the machine”, the lady smiled, said OK and went to the next person. I do thank the cities that let you tap any card and go, everything else is too difficult, especially for tourists. The Motor Museum was closing in an hour, so I did a fast-track through the 3 floors of Soviet-era cars and assorted memorabilia. The highlight was an Auto Union Type C/D that had been rescued from destruction in Moscow, brought here and sat for 15 years then restored by a British company. It’s iconic, super rare and just stunning. It has a V-16 engine that could spin the tires at 100 miles per hour! I found a working bus ticket kiosk and made myself legal, hit a shopping mall for sushi and back to the hotel.
Is it worth a visit? Yes, it’s the capital city of a small state on the Baltic Sea, but come at a time of year with better weather and figure out how to buy bus tickets first!
Next Stop: Vilnius, Lithuania
