Riga - Latvia

So long London hello (sveiki) Latvia. Bear and Mary had sent out a call across their blog for friends in the area to join them in Latvia in May. The timing was great for us and for a mob of 9 others who all discovered Riga. We landed and were ferried to the hostel for welcome drinks and dorm room with our 10 bunk beds.. This was our holiday part of the honeymoon, which was perfectly timed for the first anniversary of Bear and Mary, which we were so very pleased to be a part of. To those unaware, Bear's the bloke who did a great job of getting our wedding on video.

Riga is a port town with a beautiful old town, curved cobblestone streets, some beautiiful architecture, parks and large public squares, which are full of cafes to enjoy the short summer. We were amazed at the weather, no need for the coats from London as each day was mostly very warm with blue skies. Perfect for walking the streets, seeing the sights in the morning and catching up for beers in the afternoon. The beer was cold and the food was hardy, with lots of meat on the menu.



Although things would have been much different from 1940 to 1991 when Latvia was under soviet occupation.

Unfortunately since opening to the tourist market, Riga is getting known for more than its history, with teams of stag parties from the UK heading there each weekend to try their luck with the stunning local girls. We asked some local blokes what they thought of the visitors to the city. They told us quite frankly that they weren’t too happy. Once we explained we were Australian and Kiwi and that we brought our own beautiful girls they were a little happier...


The louts have a go but love rules in Riga with the tradition of engraving a Love Padlock and attaching to a bridge in the park...

We all had one day out of the city to a local beach, which felt like a school excursion, and the teachers were on a break. The hungover rabble had a late brunch and after much deliberation, indecision and coin tossing the beach and not the park was our destination for the afternoon. Right now how to get there..? The train station yeah... where’s that? OK where do we get off, is it far to the beach? Can we walk? Will there be beer? Two by two the kiddies jumped on the train and ventured to Majori a very quaint village by the sea to see the local beach culture. We were amazed and a little shocked by the beach fashion, ladies in full evening ware walking past a big bloke in a pair of budgie smugglers..

In all, we had a ball and have way too many stories for the blog. Nat, Will, Greg and Luke great to meet you, no more monument surfing hey Will. Paul who has been living in Moscow these past two years, Isa who unfortunately had to leave husband Col behind to finish work in Ireland and Mel Gibbo great fun all round! Massive thanks to Mary and Bear for getting it out there.
And yes we missed it, we left a day early with Paul, Bear hacked off all but two of his dreds!




An unfortunate reminder to all who stay in hostels, watch your stuff!!
Mel, Bear and Mary all had cameras stolen from their room with Mary also left without her purse and phone.. Karma is out there and will find the mongrel.