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A week later I’m still in Riga. The main thing keeping me busy here apart from the beautiful architecture has been a very active Couchsurfing community. I’ve only just started getting in to Couchsurfing lately and initially I thought of it mostly as a way to save money on accommodation. It’s so much more than that: you can meet some really cool people. The community here meets once a week but I’ve spent many nights hanging out with people I’ve met: locals, expats or just other people passing through who’ve made contact through the Couchsurfing website. I’m sure there must be bad apples in the Couchsurfing community just the same way there is anywhere but the people I’ve met so far have been quality.

I’ve also come to appreciate the local beverage, Riga Black Balzams. Made from a mysterious concoction of herbs it’s quite a strong liqueur (45%) if you drink it straight (and apparently pretty nasty tasting) but I’ve only had it mixed with something else, usually hot. In coffee it was good and I always feel like I’m truly on holidays when I have alcoholic coffee because, as someone sensitive to caffeine, it usually means I’m drinking in the morning or early afternoon. Ooo! I’m so naughty! Balzam is also good with warm blackcurrant juice and this has become a favourite first drink after I walk in off the cold, windy street and slowly defrost in a warm bar.

The weather here hasn’t been fantastic but there have been short bursts of sunlight, mostly in the mornings, when I grab my camera and head out and try vainly to somehow “capture” this beautiful city. There are some amazing Art Nouveau buildings around and even without knowing much about the style it’s hard not to be impressed by the flourishes and decorativeness of their facades. Art Nouveau was popular from about 1890 to 1905 and used a lot of curved lines, sun motifs and plant designs. The buildings here also use a lot of masks or faces and for someone who knows a little more about the style you can apparently see the transition between early and late Art Nouveau as it transitions into more of an Art Deco style. In 1997 the old town of Riga was UNESCO listed for the “quality and quantity” of Art Nouveau architecture, though one of the best streets I’ve seen is actually not in the old town.

The other day I took a tour which aims to show that there’s more to Riga than the old town area. The most interesting place we went to was a flea market where, as the guide told us, you might find things that have “gone missing”. We were strictly instructed not to take photos as another guide got in big trouble when one of his groups did and has not been back since. There were plenty of car stereos and mobile phones but also all sorts of other bits and pieces that you wouldn’t think anyone would ever need. Things like part of a WW1 bomb, for example. There were a few stalls selling old wartime and Soviet stuff, anything from swastika badges to original gas masks. An honest stall owner told us that the badges were copies but he picked up a piece of metal and said that for the bargain price of 10 lats (about US$20) I could be the proud owner of a piece of WW1 history. How could I refuse an offer like that from a rough but friendly Russian? I later found out that what we will be using as a paperweight is part of a 1916 German mortar mine, specifically it is the fuse which could be set to timer or direct impact.

On the grey days I’ve done some work with Dreamweaver, trying to learn how to use it to make websites but progress has been frustratingly slow and so far nothing much has been achieved. Though as Brett keeps reminding me, there is a reason that some people devote their entire lives and careers to website design – it’s not simple. Me? I want to be able to learn it all in a week, is that unrealistic? Survey says: yes. Still, I’ll keep fiddling and see how far I get.

On Saturday I head north to Sigulda, a mountain area where the autumn leaves are meant to be beautiful and then on to Tallinn in Estonia where I’ll spend a few days exploring. From there I take a ferry to Helsinki to meet up with a friend I met in Japan and then by ferry to Stockholm to meet another friend. On November 4th I’ll head up to meet Brett off the boat and have a look at where he spends the time that we’re not travelling together. Not being a winter person I have to say I’m not looking forward to the weather in far northern Norway in November. Brr. We have no idea what the plan after that is – either a white Christmas in Europe or heading down to Egypt and the middle east.

Tags: Eastern Europe, Latvia, Riga