For quite some time, I’d wanted to visit this remarkable part of Europe. But I wanted to visit all 3 Baltic countries in one trip. Why? Because I think this way, the differences and the commonalities between them would be much clearer. And finally, I found a way to make this wild connection happen. First flight: Cologne to Riga.
And from the first moment, it was so worth the wait.
Freedom
Every country in this region carries a strong memory of the price of freedom. Riga lets you see up close the persistence of not giving up on your own culture, language, and the wish to be recognized as an independent nation with its own traditions.
Seeing the Freedom Monument, beloved by locals, hits even harder after visiting the Museum of Occupation – realizing it stood there the entire time Latvians were fighting, in their own country, just to be themselves.
In Riga, it is especially interesting to see all the different cultures that have influenced each other, with pieces of each still preserved here. This is where I reassured myself that cultures should enrich one another and make people more open, more free, more educated – not push them toward confrontation.
In a city this special for transportation, I used every chance to jump on the trams and trolleybuses. Unfortunately, though, the classic “ER” trains aren’t running anymore.
Some genuinely unique places sit remarkably close together here — like the Central Market, built out of zeppelin hangars left over from WWI.
Memories of last year’s Kamakura walk drew my attention to Jurmala – a thin but long resort near Riga on the shore of the Baltic Sea. A day of quiet, almost mapless exploring there was a great time. A month later, it feels even more important to have a day like that built into a trip.
Shortly after, it was time to head to the next destination. This time the flight would be particularly unique – it’s not often anymore that I get to fly a new plane for the first time. And this one felt even more special than last year’s Boeing 787 – though Hong Kong is now the place I most wish to return to one day.
Echo 