Sigulda

Before leaving home, and again on arrival in Riga, we read rave reviews of Sigulda - "most beautiful and romantic village of Latvia", the "Switzerland of Latvia" etc etc. This was more than enough to convince us to get on the train on Sunday and make our way out there.

However, the village of Sigulda, about 50kms east of Riga, has earned the dubious title of THE most disappointing place ever!

Walking from the station through the "suburbs" of Sigulda I quickly realised this was not the romantic village filled with charming wooden cottages that I had been expecting. Instead we were greeeted with miserable looking public housing blocks clad in corrugated iron, not a cosy cafe in sight and not even a souvenir shop where at least the purchase of a snow dome would make up for it all !!

We did manage to stumble across a picturesque church and the famous Sigulda "castle", but after walking around for at least an hour trying to find the historic centre of town, and another 1/2 an hour looking for the tourist information office (only to be told there was no historic centre!), we decided to eat something at the one and only eatery we could find (surprisingly delicious soup, potato pancakes and lentil stew with bacon), and then hopped on the next train outta town.

The train journey was actually more interesting than Sigulda itself! Fascinating to see the train stop in what seemed the middle of the forest, watch people get on/off and wander off in the direction of nowhere, with not a village in sight. Some people were even getting on with wagons full of wood they had just collected in the forest, stocking up for the coming winter I guess. Luckily we were back in Riga with enough daylight left to discover more of those beautiful art nouveau buildings and visit the art nouveau museum, so all was not lost :-)

Alli xxx