Come in Riga! These are the results from the Latvian jury...

On reflection, that's probably not the sort of "thing of interest" you were after, really, is it?

Not of interest to everyone, but my maternal grandparents were born there.

Or better yet... UK's entry for Eurovision is... SHIMUROVISION!!!

Resurrect!

I'm going to Riga for 5 days at the start of June (thanks ma for the bday present). What's good? Any further suggestions in the last 2 years?

Postponed till the middle of July - all the more time for you guys to flood me with your love of Latvia.

Leaving tomorrow. Last chance...

You should try to make a visit to Jurmala - a rather quaint sea-side town just outside of Riga. The beach is quite beautifuln, surrounded by pine trees and most of the houses are beautifully restored traditional wooden homes.

Seconded. Jurmala is a delightful spot, and only a short, cheap hop on the train from Riga.

Posted this to the other thread:

Pick a copy of the "Riga In Your Pocket" guidebook/magazine from a kiosk or bookstore, it's cheap and should have lots of good information. In my experience the "In Your Pocket" guidebooks are the best way of finding things in Eastern European cities, unless you know some locals. Those guides have info both on mainstream and underground/alternative stuff, and they're updated every few months.

I was in Riga in 2000, but the only joint I can remember was this nice jazz club called "Dizzy's". We also went to a gay club with huge Tom of Finland murals and some techno club that was located in an disused metro station, but I can't remember their names. One could notice that the Latvians had recently found the joys of uninhibited capitalism, because there were casinos, strip bars, "erotic clubs", and 24-hour booze stores everywhere. I don't think Tallinn or Vilnius has quite the same feel of being a capitalist playground. Maybe that's a bit different now, though, since they're economy is down the crapper?

Oh yeah, and if you want to see Soviet architecture at its ugliest/fascinating, you should visit the suburbs to see the local housing projects.

― Tuomas, 13. heinäkuuta 2009 12:25 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

It's also worth noting that something like 30% of all Latvians are of Russian origin, but ethnic Latvians tend to look down on the Russians (for obvious reasons), and AFAIK many of them still haven't got a proper Latvian citizenship (despite being born there or having lived most of their lives there), because they need to pass a "citizenship test" first. I think in Riga the number of Russians is even higher, it could be something like 40-50%. So if you make references to Russia/Soviet Union out loud, you might get some angry stares or friendly comments, depending on the company.

Yeah Riga is 50/50. One can easily get by with Russian (or I guess English since all Latvians seem to speak it completely fluently)

Actually, I think I read in the newspaper that Riga just elected their first Russian mayor since the fall of Soviet Union. So it could be the relationships between Latvians and Russians have become better there... Or maybe the Russians just made a concentrated effort to get their guy through.

The people I met in Riga when I was there didn't seem to have any problem with the Russian-speaking community and would switch from one language to the other constantly.

Thanks very much for the tips. I'm taking last minute notes. I don't speak any Latvian or Russian sadly, so it will be a shame-faced English all the way for me.

Apparently the government collapsed

Holy shit my dad was there all last week.

It's your dad's fault.

Also, that's some nice looking money they have.

hmmmm, I'd like to go back to Riga now that spring is here.

How to say “sharp knife” in seven different languages…

7. Danish = skarp kniv
6. Dutch = scherp mes
5. Japanese = surudoi naifu
4. Samoan = naifi ma'ai
3. Krio = naif we shap shap
2. Romanian = cuțit ascuțit
1. Latvian = ass nazis pic.twitter.com/1zFQHCnLma

— Adam Sharp (@AdamCSharp) April 10, 2024