Don't take your beer out of the pub when you are in Riga. Nobody will try to stop you, but if the police see you they will give you an instant fine on 60lat which is about 85€. Our friend the Norwegian experienced that yesterday and as the police car drove away, he waved the ticket with a faint smile saying something about at least not having to buy a souvenir.
Riga has about 800 thousand inhabitants which makes it a fairly big city. But it's huge when you consider that there are only 2 million living in the whole of Latvia. In the 90's the unemployment rate in the rural areas was very high so people moved to Riga to work with tourism and service instead.
Today the unemployment situation is far better than in the 90's. Riga as a city is growing and in the streets you see a lot of people with smart clothes driving cars like Bentley, Lexus, Porsche and Jaguar. The city has a rich variety of good restaurants and bars, and it is said that every time the moon is full a new high class joint grows up through the cracked concrete of old soviet architecture.
We have already tried several of the new establishments, one stranger than the other. One of our favorites is a restaurant where the waitresses are dressed like a weird combination of goth anarchist vampires and the Mad Hatter in Alice in wonderland. They also have a band consisting of a jazz pianist and a fiddler playing old rock classics and blues covers as if it was high culture and part of the national treasures.
Speaking of national treasures, nationalism is a sensitive subject here in Latvia. After a long period of occupation, the Latvians are now striving to maintain a sense of national identity. Only 60% of the Latvian population is in fact Latvian and almost 30% are Russian. Much thanks to the Soviet migration policy to transfer Russians from Soviet to the Baltic states, and to deport dissidents from the Baltic states to camps in Siberia.
To celebrate the freedom from Russian oppression, the Latvian government have raised a huge monument in the middle of Riga called the Statue of Freedom. It is crowned by a stern looking woman holding three stars, symbolizing the three Latvian provinces joined together as one.
Little did they know when they raised this symbol of freedom that they would escape the harsh occupation of the Soviet Union only to be subject to an invasion of English stag parties. Englishmen have a somewhat tarnished reputation in Riga, especially since the Latvian police have reported several incidents when drunken Englishmen have been found desecrating said Statue of freedom. After 40 years of occupation the Latvians take these things very seriously. So if you have to take a leak while in Latvia, try to make it just another block or your vacation may come to a sudden end in prison or even worse in a hospital.
But don't worry, most Latvians are nice and helpful and sympathetic. There is a massive support for the Tibetan cause among the Latvian people. Protests are arranged weekly in front of the Chinese embassy in order to force China to negotiate with the Dalai Lama. No doubt this sympathy with the Tibetan people stems from a lifelong experience of occupation and oppression at home.
Riga is a very international city, we have been to a Cuban cafe that serves a wonderful Mohito, and there is an Indian vegetarian restaurant that serves Ayurvedic lunch and even a Mexican bar with 46 different sorts of tequila. Sadly we could not try all of them yesterday. But In this rich and international flora of restaurants it's almost impossible to find somewhere to buy Chinese take away.
The best food however is served at a small lunch cafe called "Piedod Muza". It's very hard to find since it is located on a back alley in an old building that looks like it is going to fall apart if you scream to loud. But don't let the rough exterior scare you away. Inside there is a small cafe with a warm and cosy atmosphere and here you can buy a traditional Latvian home cooked meal for only 2-3 lats.
Today that is about the same as 3-4 euros, but expect the prices to get higher. Latvia has experienced a boom in it's economy over the past ten years and it's pushing up the prices. The inflation in Latvia is today 16.8% and rising. The average Latvian salary is about 1000€ and most Latvians pay more than half of their income for food and rent.
Maybe that's why everybody is so grumpy in the superstore. If you go shopping for groceries in Riga you will notice that the Latvians don't use many words to carry out the transaction of goods and money. Not even a slight hello or thanks (thanks is "paldies" in Latvian) is exchanged between the shop assistant and the customer and hardly ever a smile, only the money that changes owner and the rattling sound of the cash register.
To get a slightly more interesting shopping experience and a far better variety of goods, I suggest you to take a short walk to one of the many markets in Riga. The biggest market is called Central Market in good old socialist fashion and is conveniently located just around the corner from the central station and the central post office. Here you can find anything from Russian Orthodox religious icons via food and groceries to hardware.
Speaking of hardware, would you ever think an old rusty padlock would be very romantic? Well so do the Latvians. There are some bridges here in Riga that are practically cramped with these padlocks. They are locked to the bridge as a symbol of love, and many of them are even engraved with the names of the lovers. As a symbol for eternal love it must be quite practical since all you have to do if you brake up is go back and unlock the damn padlock again. Or do they also throw the key in the river as a part of the ritual? That is yet to find out...
Riga has about 800 thousand inhabitants which makes it a fairly big city. But it's huge when you consider that there are only 2 million living in the whole of Latvia. In the 90's the unemployment rate in the rural areas was very high so people moved to Riga to work with tourism and service instead.
Today the unemployment situation is far better than in the 90's. Riga as a city is growing and in the streets you see a lot of people with smart clothes driving cars like Bentley, Lexus, Porsche and Jaguar. The city has a rich variety of good restaurants and bars, and it is said that every time the moon is full a new high class joint grows up through the cracked concrete of old soviet architecture.
We have already tried several of the new establishments, one stranger than the other. One of our favorites is a restaurant where the waitresses are dressed like a weird combination of goth anarchist vampires and the Mad Hatter in Alice in wonderland. They also have a band consisting of a jazz pianist and a fiddler playing old rock classics and blues covers as if it was high culture and part of the national treasures.
Speaking of national treasures, nationalism is a sensitive subject here in Latvia. After a long period of occupation, the Latvians are now striving to maintain a sense of national identity. Only 60% of the Latvian population is in fact Latvian and almost 30% are Russian. Much thanks to the Soviet migration policy to transfer Russians from Soviet to the Baltic states, and to deport dissidents from the Baltic states to camps in Siberia.
To celebrate the freedom from Russian oppression, the Latvian government have raised a huge monument in the middle of Riga called the Statue of Freedom. It is crowned by a stern looking woman holding three stars, symbolizing the three Latvian provinces joined together as one.
Little did they know when they raised this symbol of freedom that they would escape the harsh occupation of the Soviet Union only to be subject to an invasion of English stag parties. Englishmen have a somewhat tarnished reputation in Riga, especially since the Latvian police have reported several incidents when drunken Englishmen have been found desecrating said Statue of freedom. After 40 years of occupation the Latvians take these things very seriously. So if you have to take a leak while in Latvia, try to make it just another block or your vacation may come to a sudden end in prison or even worse in a hospital.
But don't worry, most Latvians are nice and helpful and sympathetic. There is a massive support for the Tibetan cause among the Latvian people. Protests are arranged weekly in front of the Chinese embassy in order to force China to negotiate with the Dalai Lama. No doubt this sympathy with the Tibetan people stems from a lifelong experience of occupation and oppression at home.
Riga is a very international city, we have been to a Cuban cafe that serves a wonderful Mohito, and there is an Indian vegetarian restaurant that serves Ayurvedic lunch and even a Mexican bar with 46 different sorts of tequila. Sadly we could not try all of them yesterday. But In this rich and international flora of restaurants it's almost impossible to find somewhere to buy Chinese take away.
The best food however is served at a small lunch cafe called "Piedod Muza". It's very hard to find since it is located on a back alley in an old building that looks like it is going to fall apart if you scream to loud. But don't let the rough exterior scare you away. Inside there is a small cafe with a warm and cosy atmosphere and here you can buy a traditional Latvian home cooked meal for only 2-3 lats.
Today that is about the same as 3-4 euros, but expect the prices to get higher. Latvia has experienced a boom in it's economy over the past ten years and it's pushing up the prices. The inflation in Latvia is today 16.8% and rising. The average Latvian salary is about 1000€ and most Latvians pay more than half of their income for food and rent.
Maybe that's why everybody is so grumpy in the superstore. If you go shopping for groceries in Riga you will notice that the Latvians don't use many words to carry out the transaction of goods and money. Not even a slight hello or thanks (thanks is "paldies" in Latvian) is exchanged between the shop assistant and the customer and hardly ever a smile, only the money that changes owner and the rattling sound of the cash register.
To get a slightly more interesting shopping experience and a far better variety of goods, I suggest you to take a short walk to one of the many markets in Riga. The biggest market is called Central Market in good old socialist fashion and is conveniently located just around the corner from the central station and the central post office. Here you can find anything from Russian Orthodox religious icons via food and groceries to hardware.
Speaking of hardware, would you ever think an old rusty padlock would be very romantic? Well so do the Latvians. There are some bridges here in Riga that are practically cramped with these padlocks. They are locked to the bridge as a symbol of love, and many of them are even engraved with the names of the lovers. As a symbol for eternal love it must be quite practical since all you have to do if you brake up is go back and unlock the damn padlock again. Or do they also throw the key in the river as a part of the ritual? That is yet to find out...
