07 December 2009 14:00
Latvia secrets revealed
Andrew Young scouts out some of Latvia’s affordable Baltic treats to put a song in your heart.
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Mention Riga and the response is still pretty remote – the eyes glaze over with dim recollections of a friend of a friend who may or may not have gone there for so-and-so’s stag do, and did they or didn’t they go to that pole dancing club?
Mainly, they’ve no idea where Latvia is, or why they might want to go there.
How very naïve of them.
The truth be told, this Baltic gem offers an incredible amount to the curious traveller – and not just in the capital, Riga.
The countryside is amazingly beautiful, with abundant forests, wildlife parks and a moody coastline.
But for me, beyond the natural beauty, it was the fading scars of Latvia’s most recent occupiers, and a series of mainly serendipitous encounters with people and places that have emblazoned Latvia onto my mind forever.
A decadent and decaying ex-military port, this city feels in many instances like the last outpost of Mother Russia – a shackle it’s slowly but surely releasing as the country moves into the 21st century.
The ‘don’t miss’ in the guidebooks is a 123-metre amber necklace (not my sort of thing really); far more interesting are the decaying buildings in the old military base Karosta.
The site a wonderful relic of the Cold War and history before then, and a great location for photography. There is also a fantastic “prison experience” in Karosta,where, for the princely sum of 10 Lats, you can play the part of a prisoner for an overnight stay.
For me, the most poignant thing was the juxtaposition of a typically ornate Orthodox church with the Khrushchev-inspired concrete monoliths serving as living accommodation during the Soviet era, and which, although they are being torn down, still house many of the area’s poorer inhabitants.
1. Walk unplanned paths in the Pedvale Open-Air Art gallery
In 1991 an artist called Ojars Arvids Feldbergs opened an uninhibited sculpture park near Sabile in the heart of Latvia’s mainly uninhabited rural countryside.
The idea is to walk along the paths (about 10km worth!) and explore – fantastic, literally.
Much of the meaning is lost on philistines like me, but I still loved it, especially the Television Screen Bean.
2. Visit the weird lady with the garden of handmade mannequins
As you turn right out of Sabile on the P130 road, you’ll notice, disconcertingly, a small garden on your left totally overrun with over 100 full size mannequins.
Each of them is hand-made by the lady you’ll find hiding behind her pre-war Singer sewing machine, and what started as a hobby about 10 years ago has now actually landed her on TV, albeit only regionally!
3. Go to the opera
Boring, expensive, conservative and stuffy. The opera, right? Not in Latvia it isn’t!
While most of us are satisfied with bowling, a movie or going straight to the pub on a Saturday night, Rigans swan sophisticatedly into the National Opera, catch a sharp, modern version of Carmen or Don Giovanni, and then head out for a night of dancing.
It’s cheap (around five Lats for a ticket), it’s hip (young audience and young cast is de rigueur) and it’s quite risqué – certainly Donna Elvira left me in a cold, cold sweat!
4. Visit the Spîkeru Contemporary Art Centre at night
Set in a series of old linen warehouses in the still-rundown waterside part of Riga, this Centre only opened earlier this year, and is a holdall-type venue for modern, graphic and light art (which, for obvious reasons, is best seen at night).
5. Spend a night at Kukšu Muiža Manor House
Manor House? Mainly things you can’t touch behind ropes in rooms you can’t go into?
Not here. Filled with Fabergé silver, Meissen porcelain, Latvian art, and individually decorated bedrooms, this faithfully restored mid-16th Century Manor House in the middle of the Kurzeme district feels like a touch of a lifestyle long-gone.
Glamorous, elegant, rustic, intimate, peaceful, lived-in, and with quite simply the finest food I have eaten in years, Kukšu Muiža is the finest rest-stop en route back to Riga that you could possibly hope to find.
6. Take a canal trip
Normally canal trips are not my thing – been there, done that. But this one is different – and not necessarily because the water is different, or the sights are that unusual. It’s the boat that makes the ride worthwhile.
“Darling”, as she’s affectionately been named, is an absolutely glamorous 1907 Art Nouveau wooden motor launch (pictured below).
Authentically restored by her current owners, she once felt the hallowed posteriors of Abba on her seats – she used to belong to Benny Andersson!
All these activities mixed with the undercurrent of happiness and regeneration I felt emerging beating down in the sunshine, shed Latvia in a very different light for me.
There is still a smear of booze culture lingering in Riga, but “proper” culture is on the up-and-up in this great place, you’ve just got to go and find it.
By the way, it’s only two hours away, and it’s just north of Lithuania, and just south of Estonia - look it up!
I flew with Air Baltic, who were absolutely brilliant. They are everything that Ryanair is not: sophisticated, inexpensive, polite and efficient.
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MENTION Latvia, and most people raise their eyebrows as if to say "Where?"