I like how you randomly filmed Latvia's most famous skater Madars Apse 😂

As a Latvian (who lives near Riga lol) I could see the city from a totally different perspective. For some of us these places are just buildings, but this made me feel VERY proud of my country.

Spent 7 months in Riga, absolutely beautiful place.

As someone who lived whole my life in Riga, I don't know where you got a couple of facts from but they are totally off, maybe you didn't get a good tour guide. So just to clarify: House of the Blackheads played an important role in city development because if not for it, we wouldn't have a city of that size or at all in the first place. It still plays a role as a beautiful place that hosts events and celebrations for higher-ups (or for those who managed to get access), but when there are no events, anyone can visit it (entrance is not free, tho). We didn't buy zeppelin hangars from Germany, but they are German hangars. During World War 1, the German army established an airport for their airships in Vainode (a small city in Latvia). After Latvia became independent (first time, in 1920) in 1925, those hangars, their top parts, were moved to Riga for them to become a central market. During World War 2, those hangars were taken over by the German army and they became military equipment workshops, after once again becoming a market.

I moved to Riga from the UK 2 years ago. It's a great city. I really enjoy it here. I like that everyone speaks such good English and are happy to use it. Central Riga is beautiful in the summer.

You guys captured Riga in a very nice and lighthearted way. I've been running an incoming (corporate) travel business here for over 18 years and I have seen many "influencers" trying to capture the city. You guys done it the most justice, I think. Well done and great filming and editing and narrating! Two thumbs up for me! (Oh, and as a retired skateboarder who hung around California with the big boyz in the mid 90's it was great to see you captured some of the local heros :) ).

I visited Riga in 2006. It was great! I loved it! The art deco architecture was beautiful, too!

Guys, do you know that's the pro skateboarder Madars Apse himself at 0:50 ? He's a legend here. It's not just a random skateboarder you have caught on camera. He's one of the best skateboarding athletes in the world. He's sponsored by Red Bull.

4:05 The black-headed house had an inscription above the windows of the second floor: "The wish that was once written on the gate of the house has come true - If I ever have to fall, you will raise me again"! In 1999, this bequest was used.

I'm from Finland and I absolutely love Latvia! I visited Riga one time earlier this year and have wanted to go back ever since! The Baltics are truly a hidden gem of Europe, undiscovered by the masses, super friendly and astonishingly beautiful! I loved how international Riga was, similarly to Tallinn, with a large Russian community. I also loved learning about the Jewish history of the Baltics. I spend quite a bit of time in Israel and regularly visit a city called Hadera, which interestingly was founded by a group of Latvian Jews from Riga!

I live in Tallinn and Riga is my favourite place to travel, nice city!

I will use this video to advertise my country to my foreign friends. Thank you, that was gentle and - true. ❤

Being my wife is from Belarus and her father is from Latvia it was very nice to see this video. Keep it up you two! Really enjoying the series.

Kvas can be made of bread at home, but in industrial amounts it's made of malt. So... it's not a whisky, but a malt soft drink. 😆

"Vecriga" is pronounced "Vetsriga", literally means Old Riga.

Guys, as a native Latvian I can say - very good job of reviewing key elements of Riga! One of the best travel blog videos I've ever seen about my Riga ❤👍😁

You should also visit cities like Kuldīga (which has the widest waterfall in Europe and a very pretty historical town) as well as Liepāja which is a stunning city right by the sea side.

Summer is when you should visit, because everyone is hyped the Sun is out and we on that vitamin D high. Also great beer.

You made me homesick! :D Thank you for the nice video!

I've never heard of this country until yesterday when someone just randomly said 😅

You’re so nice and positive couple, thank You ❤ 🇱🇻

I love that you guys hit up the lesser known destinations and help us experience and know money saving tips and more. Safe & fun travels 😊 love your channel ❤

It's so rare that one of the skaters you filmed is Madars Apse, the best skater in Latvia and a RedBull athlete

The most beautiful video about Riga ever!!!

Zeppelin hangars were NOT brought from Germany but during the World War-I they were based in town of Vaiņode in the south-west of Latvia were german army kept their zepps .

Some similarities with Finland and Baltics in public is being respectful of personal space, not making empty small talk, and yeah, people find it odd if you're walking around smiling 😅- generally it's leaning towards being slightly stoic, I guess. But, you'll get friendliness and warmth with genuine interaction. Nice little tour, greetings from Estonia.

You comment about locals don’t really smile that much to strangers. Was told once by a local that when they see a stranger smiley and welcoming, their instinct will be “what do they want”? Out to con you.

Thank you for the nice video, although you have seen only a very centre Riga. Come to see more, maybe I could help you to know it better next time :) But I am surprised about the guide you had and as a person who knows something about Riga history, I have to say something. First time I hear the explanation about the name of Riga. That it comes from word "ringa" or "ring". Actually, when I studied guiding to be able to work as a guide in Riga, they teached me (and this is true) that there was a small river which flew through Vecrīga, and the name of the river was Rīdziņa or Rīdzene (like diminutive of word Riga), and this river gave the name to the city. But the name of the river probably came from words "rudzu ceļš" (rye road, rye - rudzi), because ships with grain came in the Rīdziņa harbour (it was a tributary of the Daugava River) to supply the city with food and other stuff. The river flew where now are only streets or squares, and somewhere there was even a small lake (the remains of relatively large vessels have been found during archaeological excavations). Later the harbour was placed on the Daugava shore. Rīdziņa experienced many transformations during centuries and also had a role in protecting the city, and eventually was dammed up in 18th century when fortifications in the protection of cities lost their relevance. In the square Līvu you probably saw the greenery, in a waved shape and also waved benches, this is for the memory of Rīdziņa which flew here for centuries long. But the canal via Bastejkalns which starts by the Central market and ends in Andrejosta is made artificially and is a remnant of city fortifications. It may look like this was the river but it is not. The embankment along the canal was dug up in 18th century (the Powder Tower near it is a remain of the protective wall). Part of it was piled into a canal, making it narrower, but from the remaining soil Bastejkalns was created. Thank you again for the beautiful video :)

What a great, joyful video! As a Latvian, it's super funny to me that you thought Latvians were chill and friendly since, stereotypicially we're used to thinking of ourselves as depressive and cold to strangers.

Great shots guys!

Hi, im from Rīga and loved your video. Great camerawork and montage. I hope this video gets more views 👍

Thank you for another great video. Much love & peace.❤✌️

Wow, cool to see my city through other people's perspective, thanks for the cool video.

Great tour, beautiful place! Greetings from Canada 🙂

Always so nice to see Riga from guests perspective. Summer is the best time here, it’s a vibe for sure. But winter… oh my sweet child… it’s opposite- dark side (January, February). December is nice though, Christmas parties everywhere!

At 8:21 - it's a lithuanian bus, in Vilnius Old town

LATVIA best place for living 😎. Work drink sleep repeat. 🤣👍👌

Thank for traveling my country!!

Hehhe....Well this brought a smile to my gloomy daily work life. Thank you! Glad you enjoyed your stay 🙂

As a Latvian who lives in Riga, I like a lot your video. We really like a good coffee. About House of Black Heads - it was rebuild (renov.)on historic cellar after the historical photos and architecture which indicates this building to be not replica but rebuild or renov. Also from Wiki: The cellar is the only original part of the building which survived World War II and the Soviet Occupation. Until 1992 it was buried underground and not visible. The historic cellar is one of the few places where it is possible to walk through an authentic underground of Old Riga, where the remains, wall fragments, floor and wooden stairs, are original, and some of that is dated as far back as the 14th century.

The fact that i walk past these places everyday and tourists love them😅

I love Riga because I have a lots remembering from my students's years

You guys got so lucky with the skateboarders, the dude in the white shirt is the only profesional skateboarder from Latvia, he's pretty famous in the skater world

It's soo easy to overindulge in Lido, especially the really big one on Krastmala; it has EVERYthing.

How are you guys not planning on stopping in Romania?! It’s SO beautiful there and the people are so warm and funny and the food is EPIC!!! Hopefully you guys will go there someday!

Daaaamn talk about the road less traveled. You guys have the best content - definitely a fresh look at the Baltics. And I hear tell that Rick Steves watches for new travel ideas.

so nice to see my city from other people’s perspective. :)

Some great footage ON World Travel.

We have many nice cities like Liepaja ,...Venspils ...great video...❤

Time to visit Riga again. ( I'm from Germany and traveled to Riga 1999 for studies. There I met my later wife, she is from germany too and she was there for the same reason like me. Both we we're raised in the same small town, but never met before WE became a couple in Riga)

I just wanted to specify that "House of the Blackheads" was supposed to be renovated, but while Latvia was occupied by Russia, it was ordered to demolish the building. Basically because it was monument from Germany and as we all know - Russia wasn't really friends with Germany at the time

I just love your channel! From someone who doesn't particularly love to travel, I live vicariously through you two! I am shocked you don't have a ton of followers! I hope in time people discover you two!

As a Latvian i recommend coming at winter to see the Christmas markets! (ziemassvērtku tirgi) it has things like hot tea and compot (compot is like juice from marinated fruits) meets,clothes a lot of lights that fill the vibes i think it be amazing to try out as an tourist!

Awesome vid. The States now are just chain after the same chain and processed food. Thats a place I wouldnt have thought to visit...Very nice though..

Welcome back! 🇱🇻🇪🇺✌️👋

Thanks for visiting my country ❤ visit us in winter too😊

Thanks for good review! You should go and visit small towns. Kuldīga, Cēsis, Valmiera are really gorgeous!

Yeah, Lido is great. Really feels like a home cooked meal. The main Lido complex is a great monument to traditional Latvian culture. Like a Latvian "Casa Bonita" :D

I love how you said Vecrīga, it wasn't even close of how we actually pronounce it, but I love it :D :)

My girl is Latvian and I’m from LA. We both live in Bali and we’re planning a trip to Latvia this summer.

Oh my goodness, some of my grandparents came from Riga and my mom made that cold beet soup and the cole slaw without mayo all the time.

Nice! You filmed 100m from where I live!

The city looks so clean. I want to visit someday.

THE MOST EPIC TRAVEL COUPLE 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Very easy to learn Latvian too. I did it within two, three years.😂😂

A wild Madars Apse appears.

I always thought cold Beetroot soup was more lithuanian, over here we call it Saltibarsciai and the bread is kepta duona usually served with melted cheese sauce!!

Hello from Latvia

Your Videos are great!!!😃I found your Chanel 2 Weeks ago already watched many of your videos. While i was war ging this great video i saw it only have 3000 Views. I klicken on your Chanel and i saw you have 68k subscribers i was Like wtffffffff i thought you have Like 3mio. Subscribers. Your content ist funny and nice informations, your Video quality ist nice. I cant belive you dont have 5mio subscribers.

Super good video

For the notice: Melngalvju nams is not a lie :'D

Random turkish Song at 0:47 😅

Back packers most interesting to li😂

one thing that i live about Latvia is how green everything looks un summer, only in Latvia ive seen grass and tress look so green from inly 4 countries ive been to.

0:50 Thats Madars Apse, biggest skateboarder from Latvia.

Also , you did very good job at showing Riga at its best . And , Beet soup is not fermented. it can be made in 5 minutes .

Thank you

ahaha youtube loves spying on my location doesn't it. thanks for putting a good light on my home city :D

Hello from Riga.

Amazing review! Doing this great city justice in such a short time is a pro-move! Quick Q tho: What cool black backpack are you sporting?

FYI Latvia food prices are the same or higher than the UK, inflation is the highest in the EU (17%) and salaries start at around $600/mth.

Correction Danish people or Denmark never occupied Latvia. Where did you read that? And the "Polish" occupation as you said back then was actually a country called "Rzeczpospolita" - Lithuanian and Polish union.

Kvass is from farmented ray bread and it can be bit alkaholic

You should come and visit latvia in winter, its amazing in winter too😌

Kvass means Malt you can get really nice Guinness versions to Malt !

Well that was actually renovated took quiet a while to be fair few things was changed around there .some good some not so good in my opinion lol ..I still miss kardinal club haha !! Best place to go back in the day …

It is not cheap anymore. Inflation has done it' s work

Looking forward to Rail Baltica. The existing rail networks are physically connected but they slow anyway. The transport authorities haven't made cross border rail services work at all, which is a shame. Good number of those at power are seemingly playing to the tune of "yaa failed states" tankies. Looks like you explored in depth, and weather was quite nice this year indeed. During the Song and Dance festival there was tons more to see and much larger swarms of people in the central parks. Sound effects and infobox overlays - roughly on point :D Going overboard in Lido - par for the course XD

tanks😀

Wow Super❤

When u travel and just eat pizza and then say the food here is so good lol

Lido is great, been there two times.

You know what's delete smiles in our faces? When you call us ex soviet. Imagine go on streets in Berlin and talking like it's ex nazis city.

As a Latvian i hope you guys had a amazing time in rīga but i hope you did go up st peters Church its so beautiful up there if didn't shame😊

Their is train connection between Baltics but from Tallinn to Riga it is on a ridiculous route which would take way more time then needed and to Vilnius connection could be decent, but Rail Baltic’s is more about connection to Kaunas and Poland in that sense. That and much higher speeds than trains now would give us.

Funfact, the VECRĪGA is pronounced [vetsriiga] (=Old-Rīga)

Do a vlog as a person of colour in riga, then you'll see how friendly and smiling the locals are 😂 lmao

I’m a latvian who grw up abroad and moved to Riga at 21. I still think it’s amongst the most beautiful cities that I have seen in all my travels and locals growing up here don’t see so much the beauty of it since they’ve seen it all their lives. I really recommend trying to live here. In summer you should visit ‘Tallinas kvartals’ - that’s our to go spot. We don’t spend too much time in Old Riga cause there are a lot pf tourists (I hope this doesn’t become a tourist hot spot 😅). Winters are not THAT brutal 😂 Sometimes it gets pretty cold outside, but the super low minuses usually last only about a week or so. And since we keep our houses and public spaces very warm it gives a great contrast and with the right clothes it’s not a problem 😊 plus if you teach your mind to be able to do ice swimming, you will get used to the cold and enjoy all the winter activities we have here 🫶🤘😁

Lido is place about home made food in Latvia

Take a note that Lido`s cold beetroot soup is far from real one. You can get the taste kinda but its pretty "plain".