Still feeling a bit ill from our party hostel experience almost two days prior, we happily left Estonia’s capital of Tallinn on the morning of August 3rd in a clean Simple Express bus, destination, Riga, Latvia.
Tallinn to Riga: 310 km, 4.5 hours by bus.
The ride was 4.5 hours on well-sealed roads. As with our border crossing from Helsinki, Finland to Tallinn, there were no security checks nor passport control at the border whatsoever. The bus just rolled on through. I expected a little more weirdness from these ex-Soviet territories, but it didn’t come to pass. These days, the Baltics are as much a part of Europe as, say, France or Italy.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined the European Union in 2004. Estonia and Latvia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Lithuania in 1990. Latvia and Lithuania currently use their own individualized currencies, but are expected to join Estonia in the Eurozone in 2014.
Negotiations between Latvia, Lithuania and the Boyzone have reportedly stalled. Boyzone representation hopes for a speedy resolution and loves the two Baltic states anyway.
A Dutch backpacker in Tallinn, Estonia had only told Cessi and I that Riga was his favorite of the Baltic capital cities (Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius), and then wouldn’t shut up about how unbelievable the women were there. “The Women Of Riga” quickly became a buzz phrase and proposed (fake, bad joke) experimental band name between Cecilia and I.
Our Dutch buddy was from the Netherlands, but not from Holland. The Netherlands includes Holland, but Holland is not a proper way to refer to the entire landmass of the Netherlands. It would be like calling the USA “Pennsylvania”.
We booked a private room at the first hostel we found – Riga Old Town Hostel – and showered up for a bit of afternoon wandering.
The Lonely Planet listed the exchange rate between US Dollars and Latvia’s currency, the Lati, as $1.00 USD to $0.53 Lts. Somehow, both Cecilia and I read this backwards. We had decided that we were rich in Latvia, and that half a dollar was two Latis rather than the truth. Our miscalculation made us four times richer than we actually were, at least in our own minds.
TREES DON’T GROW ON MONEY YOU KNOW
The correct exchange rate didn’t dawn on us until a few hours later. Prior, we made sure to order a meal that was too big too eat, and four times more expensive than we imagined. We loaded up on meats, potatoes cabbage and salad (how very Baltic of us!) at Alus Seta, a buffet-style eatery in Riga’s old town.
Rich in spirit?
We figured out our currency flub while at the ATM shortly thereafter. By that point, we had only done a little damage:
- The private room that we booked at the hostel, which we thought was something like $15 US/night, was actually more like $50 US.
- Our meal at Alus Seta was closer to $30 than the $8 we imagined.
Choosing budget lodgings and eateries mitigates the pain of stupid errors like this. We had probably only spent $30 US more than we would have if we had gotten things right from the outset. Whew.
probably would have been cheaper to stay in the cats hostel.
It took the rest of the day to get our confidence back after our currency flub. We just felt, well, sort of dumb. Then Riga’s grey, miserable sky pissed down rain on us, which made us feel much better.
In an attempt to cheer ourselves, we wandered outside of the old city and had a latte at a cafe/bar called Pērle, where a local indie-type band was setting up their amps amongst a wide variety of resale knick-knacks, vinyl and random design items. The band wasn’t ready to go on by the time we left, but a child with a moustache of permanent marker stepped up to the drums for pre-show playtime, and the guitarist humored the kid, shaping the chaotic sound into some level of coherence. It was, like, sooooo post-modern.
Ladies and gentlemen, presenting a distinctly Latvian experiment in rhythm and tonality – THE WOMEN OF RIGA!
Rainy Riga rained on us without pause for the whole walk home, so we repaired to our room that we spent too much money on. Might as well use it. Goodnight, weird day!
This fun band of fake old women got rained out during a brassy rendition of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” in Riga’s old town.
The next day we took the short walk to Riga Central Market, a large indoor/outdoor affair that incorporates five old German zeppelin hangars into a huge bazaar where produce, meats, cheeses, baked goods, flowers, clothes and everything else is for sale.
The market is a living thing, not a tourist trap, and it’s worth at least a couple of hours of your time even if you’re not looking to buy anything. The vendors, shoppers and general atmosphere was more than enough to make the market my favorite place in Riga.
I retract the previous statement: you should buy something at the market, because the produce is fresh, the snacks are about as cheap as they’re going to be (bulk almonds for the road, please!), and the pastries and cakes are tasty.
We sampled kvass at the market – it’s a popular drink in Latvia, and tastes something like a cola, something like a beer. It’s neither – kvass is a very low alcohol product of the fermentation of rye bread. Apparently kids like this stuff. Cessi (not a kid anymore) didn’t.
Kvass: one and done.
So we cleansed our palate with something that tasted more like beer.
Beer. Brand name, Lāčplēsis – named after the Latvian national epic, whose protagonist earns his name of Lāčplēsis “bear slayer” after killing a bear by ripping off its jaw with his BEAR HANDS, I mean, bare hands. I was not ready for this many diacritical marks in the name of my beer, so I finger-pointed sheepishly when I ordered it. “Half litre of.. that.. please.”
It was early August when we arrived in Riga, but there were Christmas trees up anyway. Reason being, Riga claims to be the home of the first decorated Christmas tree much like Finland claims to be the home of Santa Claus. The only difference between the two icons is that a decorated Christmas tree prototype was historically recorded in 1510 in Riga, whereas Santa Claus’ origins are more, well, fluid (dubious?). Estonia, at odds with its neighbor on the issue, also lays claim to the first Christmas tree, and the two countries have quarreled in recent years over which can claim the icon as their own.
To both Baltic states, I say this: “CUT IT OUT, YOU’RE RUINING CHRISTMAS!”
Riga: also the home of the first recorded fish! (or was it Estonia?)
The other thing that Riga is particularly notable for is its abundance of art nouveau architecture. Much of the original architecture survived World War 2 and can still be seen today all over the city. About 800 buildings in the UNESCO-recognized city center still feature the style – expect heavy ornamentation, flowing lines, varied rooftops and archways, design references to mythology and nature, and myriad faces of men, women, gods, demons and animals.
The style of art nouveau emerged just before World War 1 with its roots in Paris, inspired by natural lines and forms and as a modernization of design and reaction to historical Victorian-style design and mass production of goods. It was a sort of reclamation of art and architecture by the artists with an emphasis on individualized levels of high craftsmanship.
As a result, the products of this period were probably quite a bit more expensive than anything the layperson could ever afford. But fortunately, the facades of art nouveau buildings in Riga are something that everyone can enjoy for free just by walking down public streets. A popular concentration of art nouveau facades are located at and around the intersection of Alberta Iela and Strēlnieku Iela.
We moved from our private room into a 12-bed dorm the next night to cut costs. Each bunk ran about $14 US. Garden-variety room full of bunkbeds full of your garden variety of young backpackers exploring Europe. Standard issue.
Cecilia and I live in different countries – she in Finland, I in the American midwest, so we aren’t always within striking distance. Our temporary solution? Sleep in the same bunk like a couple of sardines, of course. I can sleep alone another day!
Our second night in Riga was a Saturday, and the street we were on was LOUD. During the day, our street seemed perfectly civilized, even gentrified – but by weekend night, it was a different story. Two guys in front of our place were clearly huffing some substance or another out of plastic bags early in the evening, and throughout what should have been R.E.M. time for Cessi and I, dodgy characters shrieked at one another periodically in tones that implied paranoia and potential violence.
On the plus side of the deafening racket that drifted through our window, some bar played the whole Tune-Yards album “W H O K I L L”, which was, in my opinion, among the greatest albums of 2011. The bigger question this raises: why is better music getting played in the street in Riga, Latvia than in my own city?
Our ten backpacker roommates filtered back in after long nights of drinking and made sure to clunk around awkwardly and whisper at volumes louder than their speaking voices upon return. These were the same types of geniuses that would open a conversation with a Scandinavian girl with “SO IS IT, LIKE, REALLY COLD THERE?” or a German guy: “SO, YOU HAVE A PRETTY SERIOUS WORK ETHIC, RIGHT?” Accordingly, I’m surprised I didn’t have to field queries about September 11th or gun control laws (if I never had to answer another question on these topics from a backpacker, I wouldn’t complain).
PARTY ON, DUDES. Am I getting too old for European hostel dorm life the same way this reference is probably too old for most of the backpackers I meet in European hostels?
Riga Old Town Hostel was priced fairly and was totally workable for a short stay, but if I return to Riga, I’ll probably try out some new digs. Here’s what I thought of the place:
- On the negative side: the dorms were definitely not as clean as they could’ve been (floors were totally dirty in the sleeping rooms, shower drain didn’t work properly), the wifi was continually broken for the two days we were there, and the street it was on got deafeningly loud and bit weird/scary on weekend nights.
- On the plus side: the hostel is conveniently located between the bus station (less than 5 minute walk) and old town, and the staff was friendly.
- Neutral: the “common room” of the hostel is a bar that’s open to the public. There is a small communal kitchen, but it’s located in a weird, cramped room in the basement.
Strange history: instead of tearing it down, those wacky Soviets turned this orthodox cathedral into a planetarium when they took over in the 1960s. It was converted back to a cathedral in 1991 – solid proof that Riga hates astronomy.
Early in the morning on August 5th after a crappy night of sleep, Cessi and I loaded up the packs once again and headed for the bus station.
The tunnel between Riga and the bus station / Central Market has a bunch of “art” in it that looks like it was designed by the bastard child of M.C. Escher and Q-Bert. It was 6:30 AM, the backpacks were heavy as usual and we hadn’t had coffee yet – generally the ideal set of circumstances in which to harass your travel buddy with a camera.
playful geometric upside-down world or endless, mazelike purgatory?
I feel like two nights was ample time to cover Riga. Like Tallinn, it has a nice old town and plenty of places to eat and drink (about a million places to have a coffee – too many, if you ask me). The architecture is great, too – beyond the art nouveau-styled structures, there are plenty of other buildings that have equally interesting looks. It’s a mish-mash that comes together really nicely. So yeah, an attractive city, that would have been even prettier if it hadn’t rained on us as much as it did! I’d be happy to make another visit someday, but I’ve got a lot of other places to go prior to doubling up on Latvia’s capital. Lithuania’s capital, for example!
NEXT POST: VILNIUS, LITHUANIA
