Riga and Segulda - Latvia!

25/8/12

1328 (localtime)

Riga – Segulda, Lativa

Written on: a bus to Tallinn, Estonia.

Riga… hmm it’s a interesting place. It’s probably not my favourite city, but if you get on a bus to Segulda then it’s a different story. Segulda and the Gauja National Park is awesome.

I came to Riga from Siaulai, Lithuania. As soon as I checked into my hostel, I knew it was definitely not going to be all that great… there were the standard dumb Australians there travelling in groups of 6 or more just being loud and rude… Right now I’m genuinely worried that when I get back home, I’m going to see all Australians this way. It was so embarrassing when people asked me “where are you from?” and the amount of people that would instantly judge me as soon as I said Australia… it was shocking.

I thought the further I went East, the less touristy it got… I was wrong.

Not to worry… so when I got into Riga it was night time so I wandered around the city at night enjoying the live music.

The next day, I just cruised around the city all day, looking at all the pretty buildings – but walking down the old market was the most fun.

That night I had a pretty early night, as the next day I was going hiking in Sigulda.

It was a late start for me, I didn’t get to the bus station until 11.30am, and I instantly caught the bus to Sigulda.

The bus journey took a little over an hour I hopped off the bus, got a map and met some German girls who were going the same way as me.

We had a great day of hiking through the forest, they weren’t the fastest of hikers, but it was good fun just having someone to talk to. We hiked all around the national park. Looking at old castle ruins and lovely scenery.

Ill tell you what was cool, was that in one of the castle when you go inside you can dress up as a Knight, fully equipped with swords and armour! It was so awesome! It was fantastic to feel just how heavy everything was, with all the equipment on it weighs about 30-40 kilograms!

 Check out the photos to get a proper understanding of what I’m talking about!

 I think for this photos speak louder than words… check them out.

That night I went out with the English guys, had beers it was a good night…

So now, I’m on a bus to Tallinn, Estonia so I can hang out with Margus and Teele. They are an Estonian couple that I met out in Egypt. Its going to be so much fun to spend some time with them.

So the next update will be Estonia!

Cant wait!

Steve

The following photos are of Riga.

As i jumped out of the car, i was greeted with some AMAZING CLOUDS!

Europe does clouds well...

The main church.

Really nice looking buildings in the city centre.

A nice looking church... but why the renovations...?

The lovely lane ways of Riga

A park with a lovely river running through it!

Gotta enjoy a bit of nice flowers!

So i stumbled across this whilst walking back to my hostel... not sure what was going on, but good fun!
From Left to Right - Estonia, Latvia, Germany and Lithuania 

A lovely bridge, its a pity you cant cross it, as its for trains.

A beautiful view across the river

These photos are of us hiking in Segulda Park

The german girls i met

part of the old castle

the beautiful palace taken from the castle walls

All dressed up... apart from the watch it looks legit!

A spear man! YEH BOY! - gear was sooo heavy!

a shot of the river!

good bit of cloud formations!

We found this beautiful rehab centre on our walks! 

very pretty

so more castle ruins!

ahh, we found a cave!

so lovely to get out of the city!

another cave with markings on the walls



THE END! NEXT UP ESTONIA!