Roaming in Riga

Our next weekend away took us to Riga, the capital of Latvia, and our first look at the Baltic states. Our flight from London Stansted took just over two hours and with Latvia two hours ahead it meant by the time we landed and found our feet in the city it was early evening on Saturday night.

After a bite to eat we set off in search of a decent bar or two through the cobbled streets of the Old Town, a World Heritage Site.



Our accommodation was a private apartment, although part of a youth hostel around the corner, on the verge of the Old Town area. From our room we had a view of the canal that runs behind the city and could see a couple of the church towers that stand out.

We spent our first full day in Riga doing what they recommend best - rambling! The Old Town is a beautiful little place with numerous church towers and plenty of 'art noveau' architecture on offer, some of which has been restored to it's former glory after bombing in the war (how many times have I said that during this Blog?).

The morning started with a coffee in Double Coffee (a Starbucks style chain of cafe/bars in Latvia) before breakfast at the Sixties themed John Lemon Cafe, recommended by Lonely Planet.

Our walk also took us to the Freedom Monument on the outskirts of the town, guarded by armed military during the day. It's customary to lay flowers by the steps but in years gone by this was punished by extradition to Siberia.

In the evening we were back in the Old Town, after a pre-drink at the hostel bar, for a meal and drinks at Pizza Malibu before heading back to the apartment. Our only gripe of the visit to Riga was the cost. Being Eastern Europe you expect places to be on the cheaper side but the cost of most things was similar to back in the UK. While mainly grey and a bit cold we mostly avoided the rain and didn't hit the freezing temperatures they can experience during the winter months.

On Monday, our final full day, we took a bus journey south of the city to an ethnographic open-air museum. Covering 80 hectares the museum shows the dwellings and way of life for Latvians during the 16th-19th centuries. With the place so quiet that day it was sort of surreal to be walking around such a large forest by ourselves.





By 4.30pm that evening we were back in the Old Town and at the Cuba Cafe for some Happy Hour specials. The special being buy one, get one free. We each ordered different drinks, we each got a free one. Not the expected result...but check out the boozers with their four drinks!





We visited a couple of other places that evening, including a gem of a cocktail bar called Lounge Eight down a side alley, before a stop off at a brilliant little tea house by the canal just across the road from where we were staying. The two storey building was largely made of glass and on the top level you could spread out and lounge about on some oversized cushions, sipping your tea of choice (they had a ridiculously large menu of teas) watching the people go by.

The following morning we flew back to London and after a two and a half hour flight and two coach journeys we were back in Bournemouth that evening.

Waitangi Day, London

Every year February 6 marks Waitangi Day in New Zealand. The basic history lesson is that this day in 1840 was when the Maori tribes in Aotearoa signed a treaty with the British to mark an official link between the two countrys (full history lesson here).

In New Zealand this means ceremonies at the break of dawn and a day off work for all. In London it’s an entire day on the booze train – literally! The Circle Line of the London underground is taken over by patriotic parading Kiwis doning costumes, hats, face paint and flags.





The idea behind the event, which apparently has been running for over 25 years, is a pub crawl starts at 10am at the Paddington station and throughout the day there is a stop off at each of the 26 other stations. Although technically a pub crawl most would just stand on the streets immediately around the tube station and down a drink (or two).

Meanwhile back on the trains it was against the rules to hold on whilst riding (‘tube surfing’) otherwise you would be sent packing at the next stop to choruses of ‘Off! Off! Off!’



Now you’re obviously going to be quite a machine if you manage a drink at each and every stop point but the fact is there are so many people involved it’s almost impossible to make it all the way around before the mass gathering outside Westminster Abbey at 4pm. Here, thousands of New Zealanders (and the odd bloody Aussie no doubt) join in a rendition of the anthem and view a mass Haka.

Supposedly a few thousand attend each year but TVNZ reported that some 12,000 clogged up central London this time around.

It was a brilliant day out and absolutely recommended if you happen to be in the UK at this time in years to come.

Long weekend in Dublin

If you're doing an OE in the UK it's almost a given that a visit to Dublin is on the cards at some stage. The budget airline Ryanair was having a sale and the offer was too good to turn down - return flights from Bournemouth for £20 each including fees and taxes.

We fly early on a Friday and enjoyed three days and nights plus Monday morning before coming home. Our hostel was a short five minute walk from the 'Knitting Needle' monument near the River Liffey (or as some locals call it 'The Stiffy by the Liffy'!). From there it's only another five to ten minute walk to the heart and soul of Dublin - The Temble Bar area.

Now there is actually a pub called The Temple Bar, which we visited twice, and it gets quite busy in the evenings but this is Dublin, the home of Guinness, and half the attraction of the city is it's drinking holes.

On the Saturday we did a tour of Croke Park - the home of Irish sport and in particular Hurling and Gaelic Football. These days you'll find international football matches and Six Nations rugby fixtures being played in front of the 82,500 capacity crowd but traditionally it's always been a stadium for Irish sports only.

The evening was spent back in Temple Bar trying out the different places lined along the old cobbled streets. We were fortunate enough that a Traditional Irish Music festival was on and at various times throughout the weekend you could get a taste of some Irish folk in any of the pubs dotted about the place.

On Sunday we did a day trip out of Dublin to Glendaloch and Wicklow with a small bus touring company. We ended up grabbing the last two seats in front of what was effectively a Ford transit van with seats! We didn't mind though and it did mean we were able to tackle some routes the bigger coaches can't handle.

We stopped off for a cup of coffee on the mountain range that overlooks Dublin before heading on to the small village of Laragh for some lunch and a pint. En route was a sample of rural Ireland - lakes, rivers, valleys, marshland and mountains. We were really lucky to have three days of brilliant spring-like weather and it made for a great day out. We finished the day in Glendaloch where you can walk around the remains of a monastery and further along to two lakes.

On Sunday evening we headed to one particular bar right by the river to check out some traditional Irish dancing. It was a pretty popular place and it did mean having to sit around drinking for a couple of hours to get a half decent spot (what a chore!) but it was an impressive show and worth it in the end.

Our flight home was mid afternoon on Monday so that left our final morning for one more thing...the Guinness factory! A trip to Dublin wouldn't be complete without a walk around the six storey building before finally pouring your own 'perfect pint' and enjoying it over some mint views of the city.