Riga, Latvia

This is the view from our hotel in the old section of Riga, Latvia. Love the flower box.

Had I been alone on the first day, I would have thought I was back in Lyon, France, minus the restaurant streets. It looks very similar until you interact with the people. There you’ll find significant differences. I’m used to places where people, especially if asked for directions or need information, will help you. In Latvia, as in Estonia, having a conversation with anyone was very forced.

The first thing we noticed was that the old section of town was well-kept, renovated, and only for tourists. Only businesses were in these buildings, with no apartments on the upper floors.

We asked at our hotel if there were areas where the locals lived downtown, and were told that no one lived there and that the section was definitely filled with businesses. On some streets, I felt like I was back at the Greek island where we discovered that most of the buildings were false fronts, making the harbor look warm and inviting, when in fact no one lived there, and most of the buildings were fake.

At night, we found only one apartment with a light on. One. Both of us thought it was weird, especially given how large the old section of town is in Riga.

The restaurants have flowers blooming and are surrounded by flower boxes. The squares appear to have been renovated and look almost like Disney World. Is it nice? Yes. Does it show the real Latvia? We didn’t think so.

Within a block of our hotel, there were six different churches, all with magnificent structures like the one below.

This building below was typical. The facade was meticulously remodeled or renovated, but there was no business open on the first floor, and many of the floors in many of the buildings looked vacant.

I ordered pancakes at the hotel and received these. They were filled with cottage cheese and were almost like blintzes. Dipped in sour cream, they were outstanding.

We took a riverboat tour to relax. This wasn’t really a tour, as there was no one speaking over a loudspeaker or providing information. It was still a good way to rest for an hour and see the city from the water.

Because of the rain this summer (three times the normal amount), the flowers were lush. It made dining outside luxurious.

I attempted to find out if Latvians take the entire month of August off as a vacation, similar to other countries. My research revealed that they are only given 5 to 14 days of vacation on average, so that did not explain the lack of people or traffic in the city. We visited the business section on two different weekdays and found virtually no people. I am used to cities having people on the streets, particularly during the day. My husband reminded me that we’d found Helsinki, Finland, to be the same.

We wanted to see the real Latvia, so we rented a car for a day. Traveling for hours, we mainly saw this:

And this:

Beautiful countryside. Very few animals, and again, no people. We stopped at one point to see the beach. Again, only a few people. Finding a restaurant not far from the beach, we had a great lunch, finally with fresh food, and found the people! (At least ten tables worth, anyway.)

During this entire trip, I felt as if I was missing something. Either we came at the wrong time of year (yet the weather was glorious) or something was going on with both Estonia and Latvia that made it feel stark, unappealing, and LONELY, even during the summer.

Can you tell me why this is?