Cinnamon Sally Backpacker in Riga

[English version below] 

In Tallinn we did not stay overnight, but in the evening we took a bus towards the capital of Latvia, Riga.

The train system in the Baltic countries is not well developed, for example in Latvia you can only travel from east to west and vice versa. There is no connection to the north towards Tallinn or to the south towards Vilnius, for example. That is certainly one of the reasons why the Baltic states do not participate in Interrail. We actually think this is very unfortunate, because the Baltics are not only worth seeing, but also perfectly combinable with a trip to Scandinavia. More young people would certainly make their way there! But as we have found out, a route towards Tallinn is actually supposed to be completed by the end of 2020.

Accordingly, we also had to buy the bus tickets separately, but at a price of 18€ per person it was not much. During the four-hour journey, we could enjoy a wide selection of movies and music, as well as free coffee and tea. We have not experienced this in German buses for such a low price.

In Riga, we booked another top-rated hostel in the country, Cinnamon Sally's. But unlike Helsinki, this hostel lived up to its award! We arrived at the hostel around midnight, but the super friendly staff still took their time for us. We immediately felt very welcomed and comfortable. The hostel was also really cozy and homely. There was nothing to complain about regarding cleanliness either. In the end, we were speechless about the low price of 13€ per person!

There was a McDonald's below our hostel (very dangerous, because we couldn't resist a midnight snack...). We were so used to the perfect English of the Scandinavians that we were very surprised by the lack of English skills of the McDonald's employees. Instead of a veggie burger, they wanted to sell us a BigMac without the meat patty... It would definitely be veggie ;)

Homemade hostel waffles could only make the next day start well. In addition, we finally had a somewhat sunny day, which was really rare.

To get to know Riga better, we of course joined the Free Walking Tour again. However, we assumed it would be a general tour of the city, including the old town and its surroundings. It turned out that the tour only focused on the surroundings. On the one hand, this is not so bad, as these less visited tourist areas are often not visited, on the other hand, we only had a few hours in Riga and, of course, didn't want to miss the highlight, the old town..

The tour was without a doubt not bad and very interesting. For example, we visited the second largest market hall in Europe and learned a lot about Latvia's strange eating habits, as well as the different architectural styles in the surrounding area. In addition, on such a tour you always learn really interesting things about the country and the way of life.

However, in the end, we actually just walked through the old town in about 30 minutes without a plan, so we actually had no idea what we were seeing and in stressful situations, one is notoriously less receptive.

Ultimately, it was poorly planned and thought out by us; nevertheless, we have a good reason to come to Riga again and visit the nice hostel.

By the way, don't be surprised by the unfriendliness of the people. We were told that it is a 'cultural thing', so completely normal, smiling is considered strange here...

______________________________________________________________

Riga, Latvia's capital, was already the second last destination on our journey. We can't believe how fast the time passed by, but luckily there are still two days left and we intend to use our time to the fullest!

We travelled from Tallinn to Riga by bus because there is no train connection between the Baltic states. In Riga we stayed for one night in the Cinnamon Sally Backpackers Hostel. We LOVE this hostel! It is rated the best hostel in Riga which is so true! It has a very cozy atmosphere, the staff is very friendly and the rooms are beautiful, nevertheless, the hostel still has a very moderate price. For breakfast they even offer waffles and syrup or jam for free! We can highly recommend this hostel for everybody!

Of course we attended a Free Walking Tour in Riga as well! Our tour guide was friendly and funny, still, in our opinion the tour was not the best. During the 3 hour tour (break included) we spent only 15 minutes in the old town, while 2.5 hours in the suburbs. Certainly Riga's suburbs are interesting, too, just the old town could have been more included in the tour.

After the Walking Tour we enjoyed delicious burgers in Riga's beautiful old town at a place called 'Street Burgers'. During the little time we had left we took some beautiful pictures of buildings and bought some souvenirs.

We could not really enjoy Riga's old town as we had to catch our bus to Warsaw. At least now we have an incentive to come back again some day and we definitely will! No doubt which hostel we'll be going to next time! ;)