Balticisation

Riga Report

A thoroughly enjoyable time was had by all – even more of a drinking weekend than Budapest - which saw the team visit a couple of large nightclubs, a ‘strip’ club (very tame) curtesy of our hostel owner and numerous bars. A vast quantity of alcohol was consumed, though the cultured theme of the trip remained central to the weekend with visits to the historic town of Cesis and the castle ruins of Bauska, two places I hadn’t visited on previous trips.

For better or for worse Riga is changing on a scale comparable with Vilnius. And even in the 2-3 years since my last visit it did seem visibly different and more geared to the international tourist market. Latvia has caught the Lithuanian disease and Maxima and Hyper-Rimi shopping complexes seem to dominate the outer suburbs of Riga.

For me some personal highlights were:
the unmentioned monument to the world war two heroes in the southern outskirts of Riga, one of the few remaining grand Soviet memorials in the Baltics.
The dictators restaurant with the statues of Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong and Ivan the terrible along with german WW2 uniforms and propaganda.
The bar on the 26th floor of Hotel Latvia.

The only downside a the possible drugs bust at Liverpool airport which we nearly got caught up in – Shiz’s M&Ms caused no end of problems!

Shiz has even expressed a possible future interest in Chisinau, Moldova (!?) though I'm sure this is an attempt to boast his tally of European capitals.