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Latest Riga hotel reviews
Favorite thing: I have HORSCHECK to thank for introducing me to the 'In Your Pocket' series of tour guides, which we first had the opportunity to 'road test' in Tallinn (when the hotel we stayed in provided a copy of Tallinn In Your Pocket in each room).
For my money, it's a much more useful travel guide than the Lonely Planet or Rough Guides that we tend to use when we travel. In many ways, it's an unfair comparison, as the 'In Your Pocket' series focus on a single city, and are updated every couple of months, so, as you would expect, it is more current - particularly on events - and can provide information on a wider range of attractions than a regional guide which is only updated every couple of years. Also, you do have to have identified the city (rather than just the country) that you want to visit before the In Your Pocket guides come into their own, so I would suggest using a conventional tour guide for your initial planning and then supplementing this with the more local insight these publications offer.
For me, the strength of this guide is that it is written by English-speaking writers who are resident in the city. This means that the descriptions are livelier than often awkwardly phrased tourist material which is clearly translated from another language. I also thought that the mix of attractions and events listed was varied and would appeal to a range of interests and ages.
At present, the In Your Pocket series tends to focus on cities in Central and Eastern Europe, although new titles are continually being added.
For the Riga guide follow this link: http://www.inyourpocket.com/latvia/riga
Written Jun 27, 2011
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Favorite thing: It is not so hard to see where old town starts and where ends – the main borders are parks. Crossing parks from old town's side you see the centre and vice versa. Parks are full of flowers, statues, fountains, birds - Is that I liked very much in Riga. One of the nicest parks is Bastejkalns (Bastion hill).
Updated Feb 25, 2011
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Favorite thing: The specific thing mostly about all old towns is that they are cozy. Riga old town is not exception and I really felt great feeling walking old narrow streets. The old town is full of historical monuments: churches, defensive objects, houses where famous people lived.... Some small parks inside old town are just nice, surrounded by old buildings, people sale souvenirs on the cobbled streets, street musicians play national melodies.
Updated Feb 25, 2011
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Favorite thing: Riga mostly has German style of Gothic architecture and I found many churches, buildings that are made of gothic style. Influence of the occupation of Germans is very visible - some German writings that left on buildings, Protestantism religion form, Riga’s former Hansa city status and so on.
Updated Feb 25, 2011
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Favorite thing: Riga in my memory stays as a city near very wide big river Daugava. Actually, the river looks like a sea and you need few minutes to go from one bank of river to another. I really suggest going near the river, to see nice bridges, boats, people fishing and so on. It is just near the old town and such sight as Riga castle in best view you can see only going to another bank of Daugava.
Updated Feb 25, 2011
Favorite thing: The most common European emergency number 112 (following Directive 2002/22/EC: Universal Service Directive) and also standard on GSM mobile phones. 112 is used in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom in addition to their other emergency numbers.
Here are some useful phone numbers that you might need while in Latvia:
Police: 02
Ambulance: 03
Fire: 01
Gas leaks: 04
Written Jan 5, 2010
Fondest memory: Riga harbour is the 2nd largest Latvian seaport. It is located in the the River Daugava, and the terminals of the harbour are along the riverbanks and channels. It is said to be one of the last remaining dockland areas in Europe to be redeveloped, so the size will increase in the future. Passenger ferries are traveling to Riga from Lubeck in Germany and Stockholm in Sweden.
Written Dec 29, 2009
Fondest memory: Riga is a city with fancy and expensive cars. I noticed several Porche's, Ferrari and the most expensive Mercedes models driving around the city center. The expensive cars were also driving inside the road toll area in the Old town, where private cars are restriced to drive. Wonder why and wonder how they can afford the expensive cars. The level of wages are still one of the lowest in Europe.
Written Dec 29, 2009
Favorite thing: Plenty of Art Nouveau building stand in the old town: more than one third of the buildings in the city centre are Art Nouveau style.
During the Art Nouveau period, Riga was a uncommon city: a wealthy port town, a centre for transit trade, an industrial city (airplanes, trains, cars, and bicycles factories were at work there): the richness of that time is reflected in the beauty of the buildings.
You can take a walk through the Old Town and enjoy all this Art Nouveau beauties. In another section of my page (Things to do), I'll list the most beautiful buildings I've seen.
Written Oct 13, 2008
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Favorite thing: Walking around in Riga, you will find beautiful old houses, offices, embassy building and small streets. Almost any corner you stop, you sigh and say "How beautiful Riga is".
Fondest memory: Nice and cozy small streets cafes and richly decorated buildings-be it be embassy building, private houses and offices.
The restaurant serve good food and visually artistic meals. People are working hard but they are not so much stressed.
Written Jun 28, 2008
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