Christmas in Latvia

It was supposed to be Thailand. When the Sun Devil said she would not be able to join us for Christmas in Europe, we had originally though that it would be a good time for us warm up a little in a resort in Thailand with a quick side trip to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Given the political unrest in Thailand and our relatively late planning, we decided to postpone that trip for a couple of shorter trips, a bit closer to home. Which is how we found ourselves on a propeller-driven Dash 8 on Baltic Air heading for Riga. 

Riga sits on the Coast of Latvia and is split by the Daugava River. We arrived around mid-day, however being so far North, it was already beginning to look like dusk. We stayed at the Gallery Park Hotel, which was a good choice. The location was perfect, right between the Old Town and the Art Nouveau district. The hotel itself is a step back in time but looking fairly recently restored. The young staff were quite attentive and made our stay very pleasant. 

After about 3 hours on a propeller airplane, we were quite hungry so set out to find some food after checking in. We wandered around for a little while until we found a small garage themed bar where we could get pork sandwiches and watch some hockey. As with almost all the meals that we had in Latvia, the food was simple but good. Overall, I would have to say that we were surprised with how good the food was. The service ranged from excellent to absent but as a whole you can eat quite well on a limited budget in Riga.

SWMBO and I have spent quite a bit of our travel time recently in countries that were formally behind the iron curtain. It is always interesting to see how the country has adapted since that time. Latvia will switch to the Euro on January 1 but for the moment, the Lat is still the currency. What is interesting is how inexpensive things like locally produced food can be while imported products are substantially more expensive. This seems to result in a very economically polarized environment. Bentlys and expensive restaurants on one end with the Riga Central Market on the other. Not much in the middle however.

The Riga Central Market is vast. It is centered around 5 Pavillions that are repurposed German Zeppelin hangars. Here you can buy anything, food, clothing, housewares, you name it and all at very low prices. The food quality looked excellent and if you are into Eastern Bloc Chic, the clothing pavilion may be right up your alley.

On Christmas Eve, we spent the morning wandering around the Art Nouveau District. It was very near our hotel and is really quite nice. I am often surprised at how much original architecture has been preserved in places like this. Particularly when one considers the successive Russian-Nazi-Russian Occupation history of Latvia. Many of the buildings seemed to be undergoing some level of restoration which is really good to see as some of these buildings are truly spectacular. 

One thing that did strike me during our wandering of Riga was the number of security cameras. They are on most every corner. It definitely had a bit of Big Brother feel to the whole thing, which is surprising. Riga generally feels like a pretty safe place. There is very limited pan handling, particularly as compared to Brussels, and even later at night we never felt uncomfortable.

Six days was probably a little more time than we needed to see Riga. I think it would make a nice three or four day weekend, maybe tied to a trip to Tallinn or Vilnius. Next up will be Lisbon for the New Year!

Catching Up

The last month has been a bit of a blur and the rest of the year will continue more of the same. The weekend following our trip to Edinburgh, we jetted off to Phoenix. Serendipitously, the largest meeting for my field was in Phoenix which gave me the opportunity to mix work with a bit of pleasure. With the Sun Devil living minutes from the convention center, we were able to stay at her place while I could spend my days learning the latest.

Every time we visit the Sun Devil, I am always envious of her. She is living in a great location with an array of fun places to eat and lots to do. And after almost 4 years in Belgium, the weather alone would be a reason to live there. We may have to move to Phoenix at the end of this journey just to dry out.

I think my favorite part of the trip was the last weekend. We went together to a Mexican market and bought some protein to toss on the grill and just had a nice evening. The following day we had to leave in the evening so we grilled some more food and watched football all afternoon. It was really nice to have family time. We don’t get to do that nearly enough and it make me value it all the more when we do.

We were home in Belgium for all of three days before heading out to Dubrovnik, Croatia. In contrast to Phoenix, the weather was fairly cold and sporadically wet. We chose Dubrovnik at the recommendation of SWMBO’s father. He had never been but thought it sounded interesting. A little internet research and we agreed. Although had we done more research we may have found out that we were going at the rainiest time of the year. On a positive note, going in the off season gave us an opportunity to see the city without the crowds that are typical of the summer months.

Dubrovnik is a lovely city. The old section is enclosed by a Medieval wall. The city was shelled during the war but UNESCO money has enabled much of the scars to be repaired. One or two cruise ships are in port every day dropping 5-6000 people into the center of the old town which makes it a bit crowded, but mercifully, they all leave before dinner leaving it to the locals and the few tourists in the local hotels. The food was really quite good. The menus are very fish centric for the most part but they have enough variety that SWMBO found good things too. One night we ate at a Bosnian restaurant with 4 tables. Obviously a husband and wife show. The food was very similar to Turkish food, which we like a lot. The complimentary house-made walnut liqueur didn’t hurt either.

I don’t normally speak about the hotels that we stay at but the Hilton in Dubrovnik really impressed me. They were very nice on our arrival and as a Hilton honors  member, they upgraded our room. But what really blew me away was that during the check in process, someone must have noticed that it was SWMBO’s birthday from her passport. When we returned to our room, we had a bottle of Champagne courtesy of the hotel as well as a selection of deserts. Kudos to them. The staff really made our stay memorable.

While we were driving to the hotel, our cab driver mentioned that we may want to take a day trip to Montenegro or to Bosnia. Saturday was forecasted to be very rainy so we thought some time in the car wouldn't be bad. We settled on going to Mostar, Bosnia. It is about 2 hours from Dubrovnik and was the site of some very heavy fighting during the war. The city is separated by the Neretva River. Historically this was also the religious divide, with Catholics on one side, Muslim on the other. Until 1993 the 400 year old Stari Most bridge connected the two halves of the city. In 1993 the bridge was destroyed but has since been rebuilt. There are some very riveting videos of the fighting here on Youtube.

Nothing quite prepares you for leaving a city like Dubrovnik which while old, is still intact and then heading to a place where 20 years after the war, little repair has happened. Throughout the route, ruins of homes and entire neighborhoods stand empty.  Once in Mostar you are struck by how many buildings have bullet holes through them. The Stari Most bridge may have been repaired but many of the buildings on either side of it have not. It is really sobering.