Day 7: Our starting point – Riga, Latvia.

(Him: Charlie)

Without knowing anything about Latvia previously, I had no expectation from this country. We picked here as the starting point because it happens to be a north point of Eastern Europe.

The only two things I knew about Latvia are that it’s a former Soviet Union country and it has beautiful architectures. These two pieces of knowledge were quickly verified as we travelled from the airport to the City’s old town. Concrete block buildings from the Soviet era dotted the City’s outskirt landscape. Many of these buildings are either on the verge of crumbling or even abandoned. As we entered the old town area, the first thing we noticed was the cobbled streets. And then a feast of stunningly beautiful Baroque style structures came into our eyes. Most of the buildings have been carefully preserved or restored. The ornaments or sculptures on the building exterior are so delicately crafted that, even with high expectations, I still kept wandering the streets in awe.

The 3-day stay in Riga was quite enjoyable. The quality of life in Riga can be summed up by the very high HDI by UNDP. From what I can see, the City/country has well established infrastructures, roads, water systems, public transportation, etc. People are well educated - most people speak both Latvian and Russian, while many can speak or understand English.

For those who are planning to visit Latvia, I would add one more activity to your to-do list – people watching. Latvians are quite often slim, tall, and well dressed. I’m not talking just about girls, but guys too. It’s a treat walking down the streets that are filled with eye candies. At that point, keeping your head up and focusing on architectures could become a chore!

Other notable observations:

·         Latvian Lats is among the most expensive currencies in the world - $1CAD can only exchange 0.5Ls. However, things are not too expensive compared to Canada or western Europe.