SVEIKS -Latvia? has anyone been there... (hotel, school, university)

[deem]

Hi
My husbands ancestors come from LAtvia (Riga) and he is talking of visiting.. Is any one from there? or been there? what can we expect?
Every so often on the TV - I hear that someone is from Latvia?
My husband actually still speaks the language but it has been 25 yrs since his parents passed so he has had no contact there?
thanks

[SlowWalk]

I was in Latvia in 2002. During the summer, it never got dark. The sun was bright at 3am. Its really not the place you want to travel on a budget. I thought it was more expensive than the surrounding countries. I got around OK only speaking English. I met some people at an outdoor festival and they took me to the beach on the Baltic and to their friends in the country. Later, I took a bus across the border to Estonia. Everyone just got out of the bus, showed their passports, and reboarded the bus after it crossed the border. Americans don't need a visa for either place. It was like being in Michigan's UP, just more sunshine.

[internat]

I was in the capital Riga August 2007. The old town is beautiful but at night you get pestered to enter strip clubs. It's worse if you're a group of young men. There are a lot of Italian guys there who try to get one with Latvian girls. Riga used to get a lot of sex tourists. They even had a campaign against that. Pål Hollender's documentary on the Latvian sex industry snowballed into a major controversy.

You get a great view of the city from Skyline bar up the Reval hotel.

People aren't particularly friendly towards tourists. Very few individuals including young people speak English. It's good your husband can speak Latvian. The taxi drivers don't try to cheat foreigners as much as they do in Lithuania (which is an absolute joke) and Ukraine! Latvia is way behind Scandinavia, and perhaps even Estonia. It might improve in a few years. The country is developing fast. There are many Scandinavian companies in Latvia nowadays.

I won't go back to Riga. Perhaps it's better to visit smaller towns and the countryside.

[wastina]

The Baltic countries are fantastic! If your husband is of Latvian origin, you should certainly go! The Old Town is really something, the coast is known for amber (which you can find on the beach after storms) and Estonia and Lithuania are easily accessible from Riga.

As for opportunism and tourists, take it with a grain of salt. You see that everywhere. The Baltic states have had a hard past and they're trying to pull out of it. While it doesn't explain money-grabbing practices, it does kind of come with the territory while travelling to transitional countries (if one can still call Latvia that).

[southward bound]

Good post, Wastina. Latvia is a rapidly developing country, coming out of Soviet oppression just a short time ago (about 1991-2, I believe). It's a beautiful country, and striving to join others that have had much longer to develop, and many more opportunities to participate on the world stage culturally, politically and economically. It's catching up fast, but with that come some growing pains as well. Still, it's a charming place to visit. When I was there the first time in 1992, it was quite the culture shock for me, but subsequent trips showed a lot of changes taking place.

[Visvaldis]

Latvia is the country of my parent's origin. They lived in the Bene area, attended school in Kazdanga. I was never there, but still have several photos of Latvia during the time my parents lived there. I grew up in Chicago where I met many Latvians. One boyhood friend of mine, who also grew up in Chicago, has been living in Riga for the last 9 years. He's the director of the cultural institute. It would be a surprise to meet him in Latvia, he speaks fluent english, has a degree from U of Illinois, understands baseball (a big White Sox fan), and knows much about the US.

[edk]

I have never been to Latvia, but in university my closest friend had been born there. His family had fled Latvia for Nazi Germany (!) in 1944, and they ended up in the US in 1949. Through him I learned a bit about the country, made some other Latvian friends and even attended a few Latvian Lutheran services with him.

He died shortly after graduation, which was too bad. If he were alive today, I'm sure he would be in Riga, to which he always wanted to go, but could not as long as Latvia was a part of the USSR.

[wastina]

I just had a 12 hour layover in Riga and had an opportunity to see Riga again after 15 years. Wow! The country has done really well for itself! Old Town is now hopping and is full of life. The city looks great and is user friendly. It really felt like Europe. Air Baltic has become a regional airlines, and has cheap tickets to other cities (airBaltic - Go to the Baltics! Cheap flights to Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn and Eastern Europe! Cheap tickets here! - airBaltic - airBaltic - Go to the Baltics! Cheap flights to Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn and Eastern Europe! Cheap tickets here! - airBaltic) The airport is new and is excellent, with good (and cheap, by convenient city bus) transport to the city.You should definitely go!

[internat]

What would it otherwise feel like?

Originally Posted by wastina

It really felt like Europe.

[wastina]

Originally Posted by internat

What would it otherwise feel like?

A Sovietized Euopean wannabe (as it was 15 years ago, when I was first there).