LATVIA!

Returning from St. Petersburg minus one wallet, the plan was to spend a couple more days in Estonia before moving down to Lithuania. We had decided to spend a night in Riga, the capital city of Latvia (which geographically is the meat in the Estonia-Lithuania sandwich) on the way. Riga is the Baltic region's largest city, and is considered to be the region's 'unofficial capital city'.

Crossing the border from Estonia into Lithuania, you could sense a change almost immediately. Estonia's smooth, flat open roads (admittedly constructed with help from the EU) morphed into pot-hole riddled uneven tracks. Where well-maintained, green farm fields were, now overgrown, less cared for fields appeared. It was almost as though we had taken a step 10 years back in time.

Driving into Riga itself was an even bigger challenge, with the Blue Bolt struggling to overcome the mix of raised tram tracks, uneven cobble stones and crazy pedestrian crossings which were everywhere. Were were glad to arrive at our campsite, even though it was basically a converted set of Soviet block buildings and some flat, open grassland.

Our gruff (possibly Belorussian) campground manager welcomed us and pointed to a proudly 'shade free' area of campground. One thing I hate as a tent camper is shade - there's nothing worse than when it's more than 30 degrees celsius than to put your tent up and have it shaded by a tree (or, heaven forbid, multiple trees). If I HAD found trees there, I likely would have gone to an equipment hire store, got a chainsaw and gone nuts.

So leaving our tent in the baking sun, we wandered into the Old Town area of Riga, which although was not as grand or beautiful as some we'd visited, still sported narrow, twisting alleyways, cobblestone squares and old buildings. We found our to a few bars and a restaurant for dinner, which were all nice.

The 'vibe' of Riga itself? Well, it felt as though it has progressed far less than its northern neighbour, Tallinn, since the days of the USSR. Deserted and ramshackle buildings mixed in with medieval churches and the streets were generally dirtier and felt less safe.

I now take the moniker 'unofficial capital city' of the Baltic region to mean 'city which is most affected by industry, high population and difficulties post-USSR times'.

The people...

I found Latvians to be quite different from the Estonians we had encountered just up the road. Crossing the border, you could just tell that things were different on the other side of the imaginary line. Latvians seemed less outgoing and fun-loving and much more serious and (almost) angry.

There is much less of a sense of relief and desire for social progression and openness post-Communisim, and a seemingly greater focus on 'looking back' and dwelling on the wrongs of the past.

Key activities...

• Mainly just traversing the 'Old Town' area of Riga
• Hunting for a replacement wallet for me; a pursuit which was deemed as fruitless
• Camping in an area which offered NO SHADE

Highlights...

• Sitting at a small, traditional Old Town bar, full of local Latvians watching the national Basketball team line up against the Lithuanians (Basketball is certainly the national sport of choice)

Lowlights...

• Camping in a campsite with a crazy Belorussian man and no shade,
• The roads, which could only be described as shambolic
• The people did not strike us as being friendly, and the streets of the city felt a bit unsafe

In summary...

It does make sense that the (probably unimaginably) oppressive days of the majority of the 20th Century have taken its toll on countries like those in the former USSR, and it also makes sense that some will take longer to recover than others. I suppose the challenging thing is that just over the border in Estonia is a nation which is so very keen to establish its place in the world, whilst Latvia (well, Riga anyway) appears to be still angry about and reflective on its past, while perhaps forgetting the hope of the future.

But would my feelings and perceptions of Latvia have been different had I not visited Estonia first? Definitely. For those looking for a still-developing post USSR country to visit, Latvia would appear to be a good place to start.

I would liken it to…

'Mr. Wilson' from Dennis the Menace fame. Mr. Wilson was all too wrapped up in his own little grumpy comfort zone to be tainted by the impressionism of youth and the 'lighter side' of life. Hopefully, like Mr. Wilson, Latvia can take on the positive influences of its neighbours (even though they may be a little hyperactive) and see life in a more positive light moving forward.