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Riga Region Local Customs
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Riga Region Local Customs

Learn the local customs of Riga Region. Tips and photos posted by real travelers and Riga Region locals.
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Riga Region Local CustomsTips 11 - 20 of 41  
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Did you ever eat a lamprey?
  • Tip Rating:
    • lichinga
  • By lichinga on September 12, 2002
  • Riga Region Page by lichinga
    • Riga Region Local Customs
    by lichinga
    Did you ever eat a lamprey? I understand it's difficult to believe, but it gave me a strange feeling: eating a lamprey means eating an animal which is at the lowest level of the Cordata type, it does not even have a real column, but a 'tube' with a main nerve within; then it has unusual feeding habits. Lampreys use to feed on other fishes, even dead ones! They have a very strange mouth, a round one, whith which they suck their prey. While they are appreciated and protected in the Baltic sea (the only spawning area in Europe) they are considered a living danger in the Great Lakes area of Northern America, where they attack trouts and salmons, without a natural enemy to control their increase in number. The Great Lakes Fishing Commission (the picture I attached and other very interesting ones are available on their web site) manages a special programme devoted to their control.

    Well, eating a lamprey is very common in Latvija: you can find them in the fish market (the fish market in Riga is wonderful) and in local restaurants. Usually, it is smoked and preserved in jelly, there's no need to remove bones (an important point in favour!) or skin: just cut with a fork a eat. Maybe it's not a Delicious food, but it tastes good.

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    Flowers
  • Tip Rating:
    • Anglo-Dubliner
  • Updated By Anglo-Dubliner on October 5, 2005
  • Riga Region Page by Anglo-Dubliner
    • Terbatas iela Flower Market - Riga Region
    Terbatas iela Flower Market
    by Anglo-Dubliner
    If you find yourself with a Latvian girlfriend do not give her a dozen roses! In fact do not give her any even number of flowers, only an odd number. In Latvia even numbers of flowers are only used at funerals!

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    Ligo
  • Tip Rating:
    • Anglo-Dubliner
  • Updated By Anglo-Dubliner on August 14, 2005
  • Riga Region Page by Anglo-Dubliner
    • Ligo festival - Riga Region
    Ligo festival
    by Anglo-Dubliner
    Ligo is the Latvian mid-summer festival when
    people take their families to the countryside. Young couples go deep into the dark wood in search of a non-existent fern flower. And although modern science tells us that ferns don’t have flowers, the old belief serves as a perfect excuse for make-out sessions in the woods. The pagan traditions of the ancestors are a perfect excuse for some good fire burning and beer drinking.
    Here we see Ligo festivities in Riga's lovely Bastejkalns gardens

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    Locks on the Bridge
  • Tip Rating:
    • Anglo-Dubliner
  • Updated By Anglo-Dubliner on January 10, 2005
  • Riga Region Page by Anglo-Dubliner
    • Bridge in Bastejakalns - Riga Region
    Bridge in Bastejakalns
    by Anglo-Dubliner
    Riga's parks feature many bridges, some of which are adorned by locks which couples attach to the rails and then threw the key into the water, so that the lock, like their love for each other, will not be undone.

    Maybe on your visit to Riga you could also share in this delightful custom.

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    Receipts
  • Tip Rating:
    • Dabs
  • By Dabs on June 7, 2004
  • Riga Region Page by Dabs
    • Receipts are issued for virtually everything-stores and restaurants of course, but also museum admissions, local buses and the one that made me laugh-the .10 lv pay toilet at Sigulda!

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    Fountains
  • Tip Rating:
    • ginte
  • By ginte on June 22, 2004
  • Riga Region Page by ginte
    • Fountain - Riga Region
    Fountain
    by ginte
    Close to Freedom monument you'll find a nice park for to walk and have some rest after exploring Riga on foot. Park is quite big with many fountains. A must see.

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    Spending your free time
  • Tip Rating:
    • ginte
  • By ginte on June 18, 2004
  • Riga Region Page by ginte
    • Riga Region Local Customs
    by ginte
    I really enjoyed that place - a coast of the river where you can walk or just to sit on the bench and enjoy the view in front of you. Just go from the downtown to the river.

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    Downtown
  • Tip Rating:
    • ginte
  • By ginte on June 24, 2004
  • Riga Region Page by ginte
    • Cat on the roof :) Not real :) - Riga Region
    Cat on the roof :) Not
    real :)
    by ginte
    While walking in the Old Town keep your eyes wide open. You can see lots of unique and interesting things above your head, like for e.g. cat's statue on the roof. Lovely, isn't it? ;-)

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    Just something I noticed while...
  • Tip Rating:
    • heplion
  • By heplion on August 27, 2002
  • Riga Region Page by heplion
    • Just something I noticed while I was in Riga....

    In many large cities you notice a crowd of younger people that have mulit-coloured hair and it usually comes along with some new age hair style. In Riga there are many women with brightly colored hair (pink, powder blue, red, green...) but it was on women of all ages and the hair styles were no different. Example, I saw a women of about 45 with powder blue hair, a completly normal hair style one day.

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    It was nice building in 1996...
  • Tip Rating:
    • Laurike
  • Updated By Laurike on August 26, 2002
  • Riga Region Page by Laurike
    • Riga Region Local Customs
    by Laurike
    It was nice building in 1996 in Ryga - they had one real building, and the other was painted. So it was twins...

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    More Riga Region Tips
    Overview
         		Hotels and Accommodations
    Tips: 62 - Photos: 35
    Things To Do
    Tips: 232 - Photos: 235    		Nightlife
    Tips: 51 - Photos: 33
    Transportation
    Tips: 33 - Photos: 19    		Restaurants
    Tips: 85 - Photos: 46
    Shopping
    Tips: 31 - Photos: 15    		Off the Beaten Path
    Tips: 53 - Photos: 43
    Tourist Traps
    Tips: 11 - Photos: 2    		Warnings or Dangers
    Tips: 22 - Photos: 3
    Local Customs
    Tips: 41 - Photos: 25    		Packing Lists
    Tips: 8 - Photos: 4
    Sports Travel
    Tips: 10 - Photos: 10    		General Tips
    Tips: 77 - Photos: 59
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