What a fantastic day I've had in Riga! I've fitted so much in.
I slept extremely well last night. The earplugs Jamie told me about are absolutely amazing! Only woke up once.
Went to the supermarket this morning for some breakfast and then headed to the Central Market first up. It's in the area of Riga which still looks very much soviet, and is 72,000 square metres in 1930 when it opened it was the largest market in the world. The buildings housing it are ex German Zeppelin hangars, and 40,000-160,000 people visit per day depending on the season. I walked along taking in the sights and smells (the fish area STANK!).
Next I went to the Academy of Sciences, which looks a lot like the building of the same name in Warsaw mum, dad and I ascended last year - absolutely hideous. 1950s Stalin architecture has a lot to answer for! But lucky for me, by going up the top it's hideous facade didn't appear in my panoramic views. I got the very slow lift up and enjoyed the views. The sun even made an appearance, but at 70m above the ground it was still cold and windy!! From here I could see all of the old town and the TV tower, lots of pretty churches and very far into the distance. It's very flat here!
I had time to spare so went wandering and accidentally stumbled across the Bastejkalns, a beautiful park in the city with a canal running through it that was a moat of a castle previously here. It was stunning as there were bright yellow autumn leaves absolutely everywhere! I sat and took in my picturesque surroundings with lamp posts and the carpet of leaves. Some cheeky ducks kept following me hoping for some food!
Then I got to the Freedom Monument, which the people of Latvia paid for to be built in 1935 to commemorate those who fought for their country. I continued on and also saw a really lovely church.
I had a walking tour at 11am so made my way back and on my way bought Anne local chocolate (Laima) and went back to the pretty buildings from last night. The sun was beaming down and I took some lovely photos! It's so pretty here. I met a Greek girl called Vicki and we took pictures for each other.
Met the tour and it turned out Vicki was on the same one! The guide, Toms, was really lovely and made the group all feel very welcome. He told us that 60%, of the people living in Latvia are Latvian, and 27% are Russian. That explains why I'm finding the majority of people here to be quite rude, but oh well.
Over the centuries since Riga was founded in 1201, the Poles, Russians, Swedes and Germans have all controlled Riga at some point due to its river in close proximity to the Baltic Sea. Two million people live here today and in 1990 Latvia gained its independence from the soviets (more on that tmro when I go to the museum about it).
We found out Richard Wagner lived here for two years in 1837-38 and that 40% of the country is forest. The euro came in on January 1, 2014 and Toms said they're extremely happy to be in the EU so land doesn't mysteriously disappear and became property of a certain large neighbour like has happened in the Ukraine.
In the Dome Church square Toms told us there was a dictator here for six years called Kārlis Ulmanis before WWII who knocked down buildings to make the square so he could perform public speeches. The president here today is the only one in the world to be elected from the Greens party.
The tour ended and I organised to meet a Canadian and an English girl tonight at a Latvian folk pub before myself and Heather (the Canadian girl) go kayaking at night on a tour.
I then went to get the bus to the Ethnographic Museum. This was when I noticed rudeness. Hardly anyone spoke any English, that's fine. But I got on a bus trying to act out where I was going and even showed the female driver the Latvian word and she was so rude to me I swear I was back in Russia. It's not that hard to shrug so I know you're not sure, no need to roll your eyes and shout at me! I accidentally got on the wrong bus and ended up near the Art Nouveau district so checked out some cool architecture.
Eventually I found my way and caught the bus half an hour. I arrived and paid a whopping €1,40 entry (love your work, Latvia!). The Ethnographic or Open Air Museum opened in 1924 and now has a collection of 121 buildings moved here from throughout the country. If you remember my blog in Sweden last year I went to a park called Skansen which was very similar. However in Sweden due to it being summer there was dancing, music, food and people explaining things. Here I didn't even see another tourist for 20 minutes and if I'm honest I was creeped out. I ended up in a secluded area through the woods and my hairs all stood on end. I wonder if ghosts were dancing around me!
I spent the next 1.5 hours seeing meeting houses, fish huts, net huts, churches, granaries, windmills and a film set for a Finnish film about witch trials. Despite it getting darker and darker (and creepier!!!!) I enjoyed it as I could see what Latvia would have looked like in the woodlands in the past.
I caught the bus back into town with two Portuguese women and now am resting in the hostel. There's an ice hockey match on in town tonight but I can't go because I already booked a night kayaking tour and have dinner planned. Can't do it all!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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