Originally Posted by
Luray
This sounds more realistic. Prices skyrocketed after they replaced Lats with Euro. I remember in 2009 I rented fancy studio flat in the center of old Riga for 150 lats and payed extra 20 for utilities. Beer was around 50 santimes (60 cents) in almost any bar. You could eat at Lido for less than 4 lats including drinks. City was crowded with tourists and it was a lot of fun.
Now if you walk around old Riga it looks like ghost town. No tourists no locals. Just endless lines of abandoned souvenir shops and restaurants. Lots of bums and junkies around central station. You can still find a bunk in a dorm for 300e around Moskovsky district but you'll need a car and secure parking after midnight as this neighborhood is not safe. Bear in mind that AB will not pay parking at Riga airport for FO's. But its ok, if you are an instagram pilot supported by parents you'll make it just fine.
I hear stories about how lively this town was. Hard to believe that this ghost town used to be a fun place.Latvia didn’t recover from Covid era. It’s getting worse and worse since then.Inflation still going up, war in Ukraine made even worse and people prefer to stay home with the company of Phenibut ( Soviet xanax).
Bums and junkies are everywhere, especially out of Maxima and Rimi, I always give them my empty bottles , they are super happy to get the 10 cents from every bottle putting in the recycle bin. Locals are leaving Riga for the countryside where is more affordable and many of them go to work in Poland. I don’t think that there are many real jobs here, the people who have the money are the “New Russians”, that’s the wealthy Russians that moved here lately as it was easy to get papers and almost everyone speaks Russian. The rest are just working all day to pay the rent and bills
I dated some girls here, and though we were pretty much the same age, they treated me like I was a sugar daddy. Nothing pleasant left here