Having left a little part of myself in Tallinn, we made the five hour
bus journey (complete with a slight hangover) to Riga in Latvia. The bus trip,
although punctuated by a few post-drinking moments of unease, was brilliant,
with the perfectly straight roads cutting a seemingly endless highway across the
Baltic States. And so with tired legs and a tired mind, I rolled off the coach
and set foot in Latvia for the first time.
Tallinn set a high standard for the rest of our trip, and I must admit
to initially not being drawn in by this new city. My first impression of Riga
was that it had been left behind
as other countries like Estonia broke free from their years of
oppression. Indeed, during my time in Riga I learned a lot about its past and
how it has been the capital of a number of incarnations of the now independent
state of Latvia. To put it another way, Riga struck me as a city that is
comfortable in its old clothes. I would soon learn, however, that this is not
such a bad thing.
Most of the touristy stuff was done in our first full day in Riga,
with a trip out to the TV Tower being a particular highlight. Having said that,
I might even go so far as to say that the TV Tower does not qualify as being a
‘tourist attraction’ because access to it is difficult and the building itself
is rather unwelcoming. It was at this point when I started to realise that the
Soviet past in these countries is not something that they like to advertise too
much, with this gargantuan structure being a pointed reminder of what went before.
But Riga isn’t all about the uglier side to its past. The Old Town is
well preserved and provides its visitors with the labyrinth of lanes and
squares that I had grown to love in the Old Town in Tallinn. The public parks which
flank the city canal are also quite something – I would say this was my
highlight from the time in the city. On a nice day, you can sit and watch the
world go by, allowing yourself for a moment to forget that you are in a busy
city. The city market, one of the biggest in Europe, is also something to be
absorbed – except for the pungent smell of fish!
The city had its work cut out from day one. With my heart still in
Tallinn, Riga started off as a city I wasn’t willing to give a chance to, to
one that I would happily return to in the future. I would love to see the parks
in the depths of winter; cities like Riga always look wonderful with a layer of
snow draped over them. I would also like to visit the coast if I go back
because I’ve heard that Jurmala is a magical place.
Verdict? It wasn’t able to top the Tallinn experience, but I enjoyed
my time in the city very much nevertheless. Riga will also always be the place
where I found out my degree classification and thus will hold a special place
in my memory as being where the full stop was punched on my undergraduate life
– I’ll leave that post for when I get home.
So as I meander through the Austrian countryside on train on my way to Vienna in seems
I’ve let my blogging plans slip a little. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for posts about the rest of my trip over the next couple of weeks, as I continue south through this
beautiful continent.
Thanks for reading.
Martin
