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 | Latvia Warnings or Dangers | Tips 1 - 10 of 20 |  |
Beware of pickpockets especially at crowded places like the Riga Central Market where pickpockets are very common every day! Don't carry your travelling bag behind your back. The best way is to carry it in front of you so that you are aware of what is going on in front of you. Don't put all your money in a wallet in one pocket and bring only enough money for the day! Leave your passport at hotel's safe depost box. Leave a Comment
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There are animals from Latvia’s woods and fields in nature’s trails in Ligatne. All of them are in big cages with double barrier, but you have to be careful anyway, especially if your children with you. We were witnesses for a small accident – woman with her 2 years old baby posed near the cage with wolf, their father taken the picture. During the process baby put his small hand between barriers and wolf reaction was like lightning – it catch baby’s glove. Baby hasn’t any hurts, but his dad tried to take away the love without result. On this short fight the wolf was the winner.
In spite the fact that animals in this nature’s trails are domesticated, they have their wild instincts and the reaction would be indefinite. Leave a Comment
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The crime rate in Riga is rising, though generally, the crime is non-violent. Street crime is a concern, particularly for tourists. As in all cities, pickpockets are known to operate in all public areas (grocery stores, restaurants, department stores, bars, buses, and on the streets), and there have been cases of tourists and residents being drugged in bars and then taken outside or to their residence and robbed. In any public area, one should always be alert to being surrounded by two or more people at once. It is not uncommon for groups of juvenile pickpockets to attempt to overwhelm their victim. Leave a Comment
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Roadsigns like this with the painting over the Russian name were often seen in the Baltic countries in 1992.
Latvia’s autochthonous population suffered most of the 3 Baltic states of the 45 years Soviet rule. The result of deportation, genocide and emigration of Latvians and mass immigration of Soviet occupants resulted in only 51.7 % of Latvia’s population being ethnic Latvians at the beginning of independence. This has now slightly changed in favour of the Latvians because most of the Latvians who survived the deportations came back as did quite many who emigrated overseas. At the other hand some Russians etc. emigrated after independence, but mostly not to the neighbouring former homeland Russia. But the percentage of non-autochthonous residents (legal and illegal ones) is still by far the highest in Europe.
As a means to integrate the non-autochthonus residents the Baltic countries offer now the easiest way of access to citizenship of all civilized countries (in Switzerland for example fulfillment of these conditions would not even be enough for a permanent residence as a foreign citizen). It is more than generous and quite unique that citizenship is offered to occupants and this seems still not to be enough for the former occupants as the cases at the European Court of Justice show.
But nevertheless the integration seems partially to be successful, other than in 1992 I found in 2002 that many of the ethnic Russians living in Latvia today appear quite assimilated and far less “Russian” than the “Germans” from Russia who emigrated under the last two decades to Germany and are there living often in some sorts of ghettos and are still speaking Russian. Leave a Comment
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A necessary thing
If you decided to visit Latvia without any guides, you have to know that here is a problem with references in Latvia. No references at all. I don¡¦t know why the situation is still in this condition. Probably it is the last inheritance from USSR, when everything was a big secret and geographical maps were strategically things.
Some time ago one of VTers who was in Latvia asked me: in Latvia no references in roads, is it mean that every Latvian has a map in his car. Yes, it is true. ƒº Mostly Latvians have maps of Latvia¡¦s roads in their cars. ƒº Bye a map of Latvia before you entrance start to travel here! Leave a Comment
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In general, the best time to visit Latvia is May-September. These months the weather is better , more daylight, fresher food and plenty of folk festivals July and August is the peak tourist season, when hotels are often fully booked.
The coldest months are January and February. Winter weather can be extreme in Latvia, but this period also sees the most theatre performances and concerts and is a skiers' dream. Leave a Comment
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In comparison to Western European countries prices are low in Latvia. When I was in Saldus, a small town in Latvia, all banks were closed. As I needed money I used the automatic teller machine. The lowest amount I could get was 150 Lat (around 250 Euro / 300 US$). So i do not recommend to use ATMs to get smaller amounts. Leave a Comment
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From my experience, Latvia and the rest of the Baltic states were quite safe. I know I felt a huge wave of relief after I arrived from Poland and the more crowded Eastern European countries to the south.
The picture below is of me in the Wheelbob. Leave a Comment
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NB Car tourists! When visiting Latvia in winter, wash your car (especially its bottom) freqently, because chemically active salt is still used for preventing a slipper way. And DO NOT tank your car in the places you would not trust. There is a risk to get a petrol of very bad quality, local people can tell you about occurences of such kind even on petrol stations which brands are famous in Europe and worldwide - Shell, Neste, Statoil, Hydro Texaco (although I think you can trust at least these 4 brands). These stories were never confirmed or denied by official representatives of oil companies... Leave a Comment
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You should beware of different kind of theifs, try to carry money and documents in different pockets. Try not to walk too much during the night - it's a bit dangerous. But do not have the goal to scary you :-) Leave a Comment
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