My favourite place to be on a Saturday morning is a quiet, footpath, surrounded by trees with a small spaniel happily exploring ahead of me. My second favourite though is in complete contrast; an airport. People making journeys for all sorts of reasons. This morning by 6.30am I had met a lady in her 80’s who was off to Vienna and told me she would never stop exploring and that her wheelchair had never stopped her and another lady who was flying to pick up her daughter. I love an airport!
This time a short two and a half hour flight brought me to Riga in Latvia. After a bus ride into the city (which for a Saturday seemed amazingly quiet,) lots of women were walking around carrying bunches of tulips. Funnily enough I knew the reason as when I was looking at visiting Latvia I came across another traveller’s blog, who had mentioned it. The 8th March in Latvia is International Women’s Day and women are given flowers or chocolates. This is indeed true as when buying some lunch I was given a free chocolate gift!
The next day brought bright, blue skies, perfect for hiking so I took a train to Sigulda (about an hour from Riga) to walk some of the trails in Gauja National Park. The route took me via Krimulda and Turaida, where I visited castle ruins and a hill fortress. The trails were well marked and incredibly quiet, but with plenty of ascent and descent via many sets of steps!
Monday I hopped across the border into Lithuania to visit what has become a pilgrimage site, The Hill of Crosses. An amazing array of crosses left by people for many reasons.
That left a final day to explore the rest of Riga - the old town, library, central market, art nouveau district and the KGB headquarters, where a tour into the darkest of human stories is told.
Riga is a compact city (you can walk everywhere) with warm, friendly people and it is good value for a short break. It’s history and geographical position could lead Latvians to live in fear, instead my experience was that they don’t worry and that they welcome tourists with open arms. I hope some of you will decide to visit this Baltic nation.
