Day 5 - More Riga

After breakfast we checked out but left our cases to pick up mid afternoon.  First stop was to cross the river to the library as I'd read entry was free and if you got a visitor pass at reception you could go up to the 12th floor for a view across the city.

The rather spectacular looking library.

The statue is the "Two Rainis" sculpture by Aigars Bikše.  It features two bronze figures of the Latvian poet Rainis, one smaller (1m) and one larger (3m), separated by 10m of seating.  It symbolizes the transformation that education brings to individual growth and the upward journey of personal development and luckily for us there was no one else around to spoil the pictures.

It really is a very futuristic design.

A quick diversion away from the library to show you a house/building number - they are all the same uniform blue plaques whether it's a residential or commercial property.

Having got our visitor passes from reception and stored my bag in the locker room we took the lift to the 12th floor but unfortunately the reflections and window lining rather spoil the view.  Looking back towards the city centre our hotel is just out of shot on the right.

Looking downstream to the Gulf of Riga which leads into the Baltic Sea.

Directly behind the library is the Latvian Railway History Museum housed in the old railway buildings including a locomotive repair shop and a 1880s locomotive depot.

The Ferris wheel only opened in April this year and at €17 for a 15 min ride it's one of the most expensive in Europe.

This inside of the library was just as quirky as the outside and the central atrium was several floors high.

There didn't appear to be any way to access these books.

We then waited for the next tram, bus or trolley bus to take us back across the river.

Situated outside Latvia's Supreme Court this monument commemorates Gunars Astra, a Latvian freedom fighter convicted in 1961 to 15 years of prison by the USSR government.  Born in 1931 he early became involved in politics and human rights activism which led to his imprisonment.  Released in 1976, he was arrested again in 1983 - this time for possessing the novel 1984. He was released 2 years ahead of time, but died a few weeks later in 1988.

And back to the Cathedral of the Nativity where unfortunately no photos where allowed inside.

This has to be the thinnest building ever.

We walked back down Alberta Street and I tried again to get better photos of the Art Nouveau buildings.  

These buildings are home to quite a few embassies - this one houses the Italian Embassy.

One little basement shop selling hand-made jewellery had a sign outside saying "interesting and free exhibition" so we walked in for a nosy and it certainly was very interesting.  It was a collection of vintage irons, all beautifully displayed and the curator gave us amazing detail about each one and what it was used for.  I didn't realise that specific shape irons were made for specific garments, ie. collars and cuffs.

This case I think was c1920s America and had a built in iron in the handle.

Changing transport at the Central Market we stayed on a bus for its entire journey into the suburbs which wasn't particularly interesting but at least we were sitting down.

A final walk past the Three Brothers.

We stopped for a drink in one of the little squares off the Old Town Square and then intended to eat there but the service was so ridiculously slow we gave up and went back to the supermarket for another savoury pastry in the hope the sparrows would perform for me again.  They did and one was so brave it actually stood on my hand for a moment and then hovered in the air for what seemed like ages.  Unfortunately I didn't have the camera filming though.

A couple more Beer Bikes were doing the rounds.

And that was more or less the end of our trip to Riga.  We were back to collect the cases and then caught the next bus to the airport.  We were glad we were a little early as the traffic was very heavy and it took almost an hour to get there.  En route we passed more of the wooden houses for which Riga was famous.

We had our boarding passes on our phones and were hand luggage only so made our way to the lounge and waited for our flight.  Glad we've been here but probably not the most interesting of places, although we didn't actually go in anywhere!

Day 4 - Estonia

Today we're getting an early bus back to the airport to pick up a hire car so we can drive into Estonia.  I'd made contact with Avis from England and knew that it was OK to go there; we just needed to pay an additional €7. The bus stop is next to the river and only 4 mins walk from the hotel and the 25 min journey cost just €1.81 each way (although coming back we will be activating our €5 24 hour passes which we'll then use to roam around Riga all of Friday and they'll still be valid to get us back to the airport in the evening.

The Avis car hire was the usual farce; having ordered a VW Golf when we turned up they had a Skoda Kodiak assigned to us.  Ian said that was a huge vehicle and didn't think I'd be happy driving it but the only one smaller they had was a VW Tiguan so we had no choice but to accept it.  The staff warned us about the numerous speed cameras around Riga's outskirts and recommended I download Waze as that gave you warnings of fixed and mobile radar traps.  When we got to the actual vehicle, as usual I couldn't start it and had to get help but once again the chap was very good and even paired my phone with the car so we could see our route on the bigger screen.  The car was an automatic and lovely to drive, fortunately I didn't need to park in any small spaces.

Following our chat yesterday with Erlens we decided to drive east, stopping off firstly at Sigulda.  This is the new castle which seems to be a mostly used as craft workshops and as a classical concert venue.

This reminded me of something you might see at Portmerion.

And in the grounds behind lie the ruins of Sigulda old castle.

Apparently there are glorious views over the Gauja Valley from this tower's viewing platform.

But not today!

In the far distance is Turaida Castle.

One thing that did impress us though was the size and the beautiful markings of the snails here.

At the side of the car park was this cute orchestra made of old metal pieces.

Quite by chance we discovered we were very close to the National Bobsleigh Track and, having never seen one, we decided to take a closer look.

We then found out for a small entrance fee we could go in and take the lift to the top of the building where the races start from.

Not the most comfortable of vehicles.

There are different starts for the various classes, ie. single, 2 man and 4 man.

We could actually walk on the track down to a certain point and it certainly makes you realise how steep the corner banking is.

Quite a unique way to spend half an hour.  All along the roadside are wild lupins but unfortunately I didn't manage to get a decent photo.

We stopped in the little town of Cecis and had a spot of lunch in a little café before visiting the castle.  The blurb says that there are various demonstrations of how life was when the castle was occupied and on entering you're given a candle lantern as there is no lighting inside some of the buildings.  

We started to climb up this tower but it was very uneven underfoot and the candle lamp was of no use whatsoever, in fact I thought it more a hazard.  We got chatting to a French lady who was hanging around outside and she was rather concerned as her husband had disappeared up some 15 mins ago and wasn't replying to her calls.

We saw a couple of people dressed up in medieval costume talking to a large group but once the group had moved on they disappeared quickly and so we couldn't ask any questions. 

The small kitchen garden.

We were less than impressed and our visit lasted less than half hour - as we were leaving the person who sold us the tickets expressed her surprise that we were so quick and so we gave her our opinion.

A random shot from the car.

These storks made me laugh, a pity there wasn't one on all 4 pillars.

Having secured the first photo I drove a little closer and predictably one flew off.

We finally reached our destination, Valka or Valga as it's spelt in the Estonian part.  By then it was about 17:00 and raining quite heavily.  The town itself didn't appear to offer much, nor was it attractive in any way so we took our border photos and then stopped for a cuppa and snack to fulfil our "country visit" criteria before starting the long journey back.

Eesti Vabarik is Republic of Estonia in Estonian

The weather was pretty poor driving back and all in all it was a bit of a wasted day but we had a spare time so didn't mind too much.

Back at the airport we dropped the car off in the rental returns and were about to set off to walk back to the terminal (10 mins) when a kind chap offered us a lift - actually I think that was his job - and we were very pleased and it saved us getting soaked.  There was no one at the rental kiosk so we just dropped the keys and went out to catch the bus which was only a few minutes away.  We duly activated our 24 hr tickets and relaxed whilst the bus got us back to Riga centre.

A long day driving in not particularly nice weather, not a great deal to see really but another country to cross off.