On to Riga. Basketball game and Henning visiting.
After a few great, quiet days by the sea, I then set off for Latvia. First towards Vecpiebalga, to my family’s country house! Beforehand I stopped at a campsite to quickly take a shower! Actually the season had long been over, and the manager looked at me pretty oddly too when I stopped by them. But for a small tip in the coffee kitty, using the showers was no problem! Smelling good again, I met my uncle at a petrol station near his house, where we’d arranged to meet. It was super cool, but also a bit strange, to see someone familiar again and, above all, to know I’d got here by motorbike. Still, I was really looking forward to the next few days! In the evening my uncle cooked for us and we talked until late into the evening about my trip and the experiences so far. The next day my hair was also cut on the veranda. So my travel hairdo was restored. On Sunday it was then back to Riga, to the apartment. I stayed there until Tuesday, until Henning landed at Riga airport in the evening. During that time I could park my bike in my uncle’s garage! That was handy, because unfortunately I had to patch my rear mudguard back together. I’d lost two screws, probably while riding gravel in Estonia or Latvia. Because of that, the guard had rattled loose and had broken at a bracket. Now it was dragging on the rear wheel. On Monday morning I worked a little. Finally a table and decent internet again. I also spoke with Henning on the phone and we booked ourselves a hotel until Sunday, to explore the city a bit. As I said, we planned to explore Riga until Sunday and then go and camp on the beach for a few more days. In the afternoon I then met my cousin during her lunch break to eat. I walked into the city on foot to the Lido near the Freedom Monument. Lido is a restaurant chain where you can eat well and cheaply from morning to evening. The concept is similar to a canteen/buffet. We talked about all sorts of things that had happened over the last few years.
After that I quickly popped by Henning’s and my hotel to pick up the key already and check the room. As you can probably imagine, the room was the cheapest in the whole city, and I did want to make sure there really were beds in it and the water runs. To my surprise, though, it was a really nice, small and tidy room! In the afternoon I then took care of the broken rear mudguard together with my cousin. I also cleaned my chain and did a little check-over. We managed to hold the rear mudguard together again with a few cable ties. I could also replace, or rather bridge, the lost screws with other screws.
Through the big market halls we carried on to the „University of Latvia“:
On one day we also did a city tour through the old town. Got to know the meaning of the Latvian flag, the Town Musicians of Bremen from Latvia, and the oldest house in the old town! I found it funny that I’d now already seen the Town Musicians of Bremen twice this year. Since Riga is a twin city of Bremen, they also have the Town Musicians. In a smaller version, though.
On the other side of the river we then went into the „National Library of Latvia“ to get a view over the city!
The evenings we often spent in different bars. Once in the „Beera Bar“ right around the corner from us, where we took part in a quiz night. And the others we started at the Kiwi Sports Bar, where we got to know two Brits who paid for our drinks all evening. We were also at a techno party in a photo studio a bit outside the city! On Saturday evening, before we wanted to start our little camping trip, we met up with my cousin and her friend Cynthia to spend the evening. But before that Henning still needed a suitable sleeping mat. By now the nights had got quite chilly after all… in a small outdoor shop we found a good mat that even fit in Henning’s backpack! Back in the hotel room I then noticed my camera was missing… but I quickly also remembered I’d put it down by the sleeping bags to test-lie on the mat! Of course the shop had closed by now, and so no one answered the phone anymore either! So I wrote an email with my phone number, in the hope that someone would then get in touch on Monday! To deal with the shock, we first had a cocktail at the Skyline Bar of the Radisson Blu. From there we had a great view over the nighttime city! Together with Cynthia we planned the evening. She’d worked as a waitress in Riga for a while and so knew, it felt like, all the cool bars and where things were happening. So we decided to go bar hopping for the evening! Top of the list was the Honey Beer at the bar „Čē“. What exactly the interior-design idea of the place was, I still can’t say to this day. Somehow creepy from the outside and totally interestingly furnished on the inside. Slightly gloomy, but stylish. If I remember rightly, a large part of the light came from various floor lamps. The table next to us was a door on legs… so definitely worth a visit! In the end we landed at the Beera Bar next to our hotel. To round off the evening I wanted to take a photo together. Since we were the last ones in the bar, we promptly stood behind the counter. As a funny idea, we then also took bottles out of the cabinets. The bartender who took the photo was, I think, slightly confused afterwards. But the photo turned out funny anyway!
The next day we packed our things, checked out and got my motorbike out of the garage! My camera, by the way, was still at the outdoor shop! Luckily someone had looked at the emails on Sunday and texted me that someone had found the camera and it was now lying under the counter. I then let them know that we wouldn’t pick it up again until Wednesday! For our camping trip we’d put together a little route! We started with a night at a small shelter in Sigulda. Because of the great landscape, Sigulda likes to call itself Latvian Switzerland! The shelter was right by a river. In the evening we made a campfire in the fire pit and cooked ourselves some pasta. The next day we hiked around the area a bit. Visited Turaida Castle and Gūtmaņala Cave, a cave in the sandstone.
For the next two nights we rode to the beach. With lots of revs my bike fought its way over the dunes to a suitable spot to pitch the tent. Meanwhile Henning already brought over some firewood. At sunset we lit the fire and, alongside, prepared something to eat again on the hobo stove. We had two sunny and relaxed days by the sea!
For the last evening we then went back into the city. Bike away again and by bus to the hotel. In the days before, we’d already picked out the medieval restaurant „Lasīte“ in the old town for our last evening together. But before that we also visited the Latvian War Museum. Over several floors, it was very impressive! By the way, most museums in Riga were free. We had a great last evening in Riga and a lovely end to the holiday! I stayed with my family for the rest of the weekend. I also really needed, for once, to just lie on the sofa all day and only do the bare minimum of moving. Because I already had the next meet-up lined up! In Šilutė in Lithuania. To concentrate: there, the mother of a friend of my mum had a friend who, together with her husband, has renovated a music school and repurposed it into a house with small apartments. I was warmly invited there! After the restful weekend and a shared dinner, I set off on the road again on Monday! It was a super lovely time in Riga! It was lovely to see my family and, above all, it was a cool feeling to have been there by motorbike!
