Saturday June 29 – Riga in Latvia

Riga is an absolutely beautiful city and we were fortunate enough to have a delightful young guide who spoke excellent English. 

She speaks Latvian, Russian and English and some German, and was very knowledgeable and extremely proud of her city.  She was only a baby when her parents were part of the blockade which eventually succeeded in removing the Russians from their country. They barricaded the bridges, the area around the radio station and the streets with tractors, machinery and furniture and everyone was ready to sacrifice himself to remove the Russians.  One cameraman was shot by a sniper at this time but he just called out for them to keep filming. She said that her parents’ generation love to eat in McDonalds because it means freedom to them.  She told us that when the Russians were in Riga there was only one hotel where tourists could stay and that was the Intourist Hotel.  She said it had listening devices and if the Russians did not like what they heard there was a basement in a nearby building where the tourist would be taken and never heard of again.

The city is filled with Mediaeval and Art Nouveau buildings, and many parks and green areas.  We saw the Cat House which has two cats on its roof.  The story goes that a merchant wanted to become a member of the guild across the street but he was rejected.  In retaliation, he put the cat on top of his building so that when the guild members looked out their window they would see the black cat in a rude position.  Latvians now have an expression when something is not good that says “it’s all under the cat’s tail”.

We had morning coffee and a taste of their apple cake and cheese bun in the square where they hold the Christmas market.  However, we did not partake of their Black Balsam which has an alcohol content of 45%.

It was quite cold today even though it is summer.  I went out in a light jumper, but Bill just wore a short sleeve shirt and shorts.  It was good to get back to the warmth of the ship.  Evidently, in winter the temperature drops to -20⁰C, the river freezes and cruise ships cannot come.

Bill here: Can you see the child of hope in the Victory Column? Definitely an error in clothing for me today. Won’t make the same mistake as we travel further north. Quite a luxury being able to watch all the AFL games with no ads and even the bits that are never shown on TV in Australia like the make up sessions for the commentators and the ad-lib in the change rooms between the players and interviewers. Organised the complex paperwork for entry into Russia and a 2 day tour with a local company in St Petersburg. Very useful having a computer with good Internet access. Just now leaving Riga on the way to Tallinn in Estonia.