Anyway the Edd vs Bed series (don't worry, I'm not really going to call it that) begins with another 'bohemian' apartment. In this case 'bohemian' refers to the apartment itself rather than the surrounding area. Basically it means I'm living in somebody else's house - they're away somewhere, I don't know where - and they couldn't be arsed to free up any space in their cupboards, or check the fridge for dangerously out-of-date foodstuffs, or indeed clean the apartment properly, before handing the place over to me via a key left in a rain-filled plant pot outside the back door.
In fairness this place is at least neither 'cosy' (meaning miniscule) nor 'quaint' (meaning last redecorated in the 1970s). There is a nice exposed-brick bathroom with a roomy walk-in shower. Also I have induction plates to cook on, and they're a bit peculiar but they're preferable to some older electric hobs, in that their heat level corresponds to the setting I choose and not some obscure inverse logarithm of it.
Riga is a place of considerable architectural interest, although much of the recently-renovated Old Town is a bit too squeaky clean for my taste. In this blog I have made reference before to Uncle Monty's dictum that "there can be no true beauty without decay." Also the barbershops are outrageously expensive in the touristy areas. €30 for a headshave! Even if the wi-fi is free, and even if they make good on the promise of a free shot of single-malt whisky, that's too much. I went south over the river and walked a mile or two in order to get my bonce buzzed by a bemused non-English-speaking local for just €6.
One realm in which I don't mind spending extra money is of course beer. The best place to buy the good stuff here is a bottle shop called Callous Alus. 'Alus' is the Latvian word for 'ales', you see, and I guess Callous was the only English rhyme they could come up with. If only they'd called it Phallus Alus. Then they could have created an amusing logo where the 'P' was a risqué graphic hinting at brewer's droop. But I digress. Latvian craft beer is pretty good, as was the Estonian stuff, even though there's nothing in particular to write home about just yet. Only one Baltic state left to check out!
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| Freedom Monument |
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| In the heart of the Old Town |
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| House of Blackheads Built 1334, destroyed by German bombing during WW2, rebuilt 1999 |
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| Elsewhere in the Old Town |
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| Bastejkalna Park |
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| National Library of Latvia In theory this is the kind of building I should really hate... ...but for some reason I actually quite like it. |
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| My digs in Riga. £34 a night, all in. |
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| Edd vs Food #78 Beer platter at Folkklubs That black bread doesn't half sit on the stomach. There were mushrooms hidden under the bacon, but luckily I spotted them just in time. |
