The people you meet. - Riga, Latvia
3 Stars This place was Average visited Aug 14, 2005
Country Count: 35+1 Rides: Parnu to Riga: One motorhome all the way to the centre of Riga. Weather - Sun! We've had sun! At last! You meet strange people on the road. While we were standing on the road outside Parnu waving our "RIGA" sign at passing traffic, an older gentleman with long white hair came up to us, asked us where we were going, gave us a photocopy of an article about himself from a German newspaper, and then stood 15 metres behind us with a large "BERLIN" sign. We all ended up getting a lift in the same motorhome, and spent the next 2 or 3 hours discovering that we had the privelege of meeting Germany's most famous hitch hiker. He has been travelling by thumb, mostly within Germany, for the last 6 years, and has kept meticulous records of rides, people and distances. He has travelling the same distance in the time as 8 times around the world. He had some hitching advice. Amusing signs are apparently a good way to get a ride. So, somewhere between Riga and Vilnius we created a sign that says "ISTANBUL" which at least gets us noticed! After a day wandering around the old town of Riga (not as old or as contained as Tallinn, but nice all the same, and with one of the least elegant tallest church towers I have ever seen) we caught a bus to the edge of town, and tried for a ride to Vilnius. After nearly 2 hours standing on the side of the highway, we decided to ask in a petrol station, and the very first person we asked gave us a ride far enough down the highway to at least get properly out of town, and it wasn't so hard from there!