Latvia - Riga and Sigulda

I had been really looking forward to Riga, especially because the hostel I would be staying in was one of the highest rated and had frequently won the annual best hostel award for the entire world. I would not be let down!

The guards at the central monument were not amused at our attempts to climb it

Upon arriving I was given a free welcome beer and was informed by the barman of all the best places to go and things to avoid. He takes everybody out on the town every night at midnight, which is quite a nice touch and something I wanted to take part in, at least on the first night.

Old Riga

One poster in the bar caught my eye - a shooting trip to an ex-Soviet bunker to fire AK-47s amongst other guns. It was something I couldn't turn down, as we never have the chance to fire real guns in the UK. I put my name down and met up with the others before taking the tram together to the bunker which was surprisingly near the city centre.

Shooting in the bunker

The bunker contained a huge gun shop selling all kinds of weapons and was run by some crazy Russians who didn't speak any english, which didn't exactly fill me with confidence. They literally just put the weapons in our hands and said 'shoot' without any instruction. It was good fun though, if a little scary, and the firing range itself was quite safe. We got to use a pistol, AK-47 and pump-action shotgun (which indulged all my horror movie fantasies).

The view from up high is quite impressive

Later I did some sightseeing, climbing one of the tall church spire to get a view of the city and then doing a lot of walking. I met with someone from the hostel and we went to a local restuarant before heading to the bar and meeting other travellers then going to a club.

Not sure what this is, but it isn't Soviet, despite the appearance

The next day was spent doing more sightseeing and in the evening we went to another club, this time much bigger and more impressive. It was great fun and we stayed pretty much all night.

Some of the new buildings are quite impressive

I awoke in the morning in my bed with no memory of how I got there. This was quite surprising as the club was quite a long way away. One poor guy said it took him 2 hours to walk back as he kept getting lost, but I guess I have some sort of homing instinct.

Soviet locomotive at the railway museum

On the 3rd day I got the bus to Sigulda, described as 'the Switzerland of Latvia' It's not quite as impressive as that, but the main castle is very pleasant (although a 5km walk from the centre), as is the cable car ride to another castle, although it's not quite as well preserved, being a big pile of ruins.

Soviet skyscraper in the Russian district

Once back in Riga I headed to the Russian market. The whole area on that side of the city is like stepping back in time to the Soviet Union. There is even a towering Stalinist skyscraper and Russian church to complete the effect.

Main square in the old town

All-in-all I really liked Riga. It was definitely my favourite stop on my trip so far, with the hostel especially being a lot of fun. Next, I was off to my fourth country - Lithuania!