Features
Dill came out in the lead when I conducted a completely unscientific poll on Latvia's favorite potato chip flavors. I wasn't surprised by the result.
Exactly ten years ago, on July 1, 2014, LSM's English language service launched. Back then we were a humble operation with just two employees, one desk and a laptop each. Since then we've grown, learned and innovated so that now we are two employees, one desk and a laptop each.
For several years now, the Latvian Pirts and Spa Association has been deliberating over how to define the age-old Latvian pirts tradition. One must not confuse it with the Estonian smoke sauna, Nordic Aufguss ritual, or Native American sweat lodge – though it has certain similarities with all of these.
As previously reported by LSM, the Deutsche Bundesbank has taken a new focus on the Baltic States – and posted Nikola Marcinko as its special representative in Rīga with responsibility for Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania in an initiative to deepen ties with the Baltic central banks.
Citizens of third countries such as India, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka and others, have been coming to Latvia for years in order to get an education. However, according to Latvian Radio's 'Atvērtie Faili' (Open Files) investigative show, not all students are really in Latvia to study.
Latvian Radio reported May 23 on how businessmen close to the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin have been expanding their businesses in Latvia for many years.
One thing of which Latvia has no shortage is cemeteries. While a visit to one of them can be for reasons that are extremely sad, slightly melancholy or relaxingly tranquil, having an expert historian by your side turns such a visit into one of the more interesting hours of your brief life above ground.
Documentary photographer Claudia Heinermann recently visited Riga to present the second part of her trilogy ‘Siberian Exiles’.
Latvian Radio's 'Atvērtie Faili' (Open Files) investigative show has tackled an important topic in its latest show – the large real estate portfolios in Latvia of dictators Vladimir Putin of Russia and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus.
In the last few weeks alone, two pizzeria chains – Pica Lulū and Čili Pizza – have opened their eighteenth and nineteenth outposts respectively in Latvia, both of which are in Rīga.
Rīga and Bremen are not only connected by a common Hanseatic history and similarities in terms of urban development, but also an official city partnership. Bremen's new parliament speaker Antje Grotheer wants to make the most out of it and work more closely together – to mutual benefit.
It was a grandiose debut for Jörg Widmann as new artistic partner of the Sinfonietta Riga. The clarinettist, conductor and composer presented all facets of his musical talent at the inauguration concert with the orchestra on February 3 in Rīga's Great Guild concert hall.
What goes on in the garages of Latvia?
Largely snow-covered with picture-postcard scenes of snowy fields and solitary forests: the countryside near the small village of Silene in the very southeast of Latvia is extremely beautiful in the winter.
Look, I totally get it: it’s hard to tell Latvia and Lithuania apart. It’s the ultimate sibling rivalry: they’re good at basketball, so we must be good at basketball. We consume ungodly amounts of potatoes, so their national dish is potato dumplings. Little wonder, then, that soon after Latvia finally got its new trains, Lithuania had to send in their own.
This time of year is usually full of reviews of the year just gone and advanced guesswork about what might happen in the year to come. Here on the LSM English-language service we try to avoid both, on the basis that you were there in 2023 too, and probably remember what happened, while our crystal balls are no more transparent than yours.
If it's no longer as exciting as it once was, if it has become workaday, more of a chore than a pleasure, something you do out of a sense of duty rather than a sense of adventure, then I suggest taking all your clothes off and trying it a different way.
Having dealt with the northernmost point in Latvia last week, it is now time to turn our attention to the southernmost point in Estonia.
If your tinsel is sagging, your candles are crumbling and that box of seasonal decorations you keep on top of the closet looks like it needs a kick in the baubles, help is at hand! More fun, more beautiful (and much cheaper for any yuletide Scrooges) is making your own traditional Latvian decorations.
Thankfully the Latvia-Estonia border is not the cartographically satisfying but extremely boring straight line such as one finds between certain of the United States or countries owning shares in the Sahara Desert. On a large-scale map it looks fairly consistent, but the closer you zoom in, the more irregular and oddball it becomes.
Previously, she worked at the Permanent Representation of Latvia in the European Union (EU) in Brussels and for several years also advised financial institutions and fintech companies on EU law. Now, the Latvian Linda Strazdiņa is co-president of the European FinTech Association and EU policy and government relations director of the fintech company Wise. In these positions, she takes care of representing the interests of fintech companies at an EU level.
In 2024, Tartu – or rather, Tartu and a large chunk of southern Estonia – is a European Capital of Culture, and as LSM has already reported, a concerted effort is being made to attract as many Latvian residents as possible to the party. However, it would be misleading of me to say that's the reason for this series of features. It's not the reason, it's the excuse. Some of us have had the Northern Latvia/Southern Estonia bug for a long time already and need no new invitation to explore the quirks and kinks of the Latvia-Estonia border.
Labs of Latvia's Jūlija Gifford provides us with a roundup of all the latest action in the bustling Latvian startup scene.
It's much more than a simple agricultural necessity: ploughing has become a source of both entertainment and sporting rivalry between farmers. This could be seen at the World Ploughing Championships 2023 in Kuldīga where ploughmen turned Latvian soil over two days.
“It's too far”, “that's a ridiculous angle”, “this disc just isn't right for me” – my first time playing disc golf, I kept blaming everything but myself for the dire lack of decent throws. I did, however, appreciate the scenic surroundings on the banks of the river Aiviekste and the opportunity to be outside moving about after a day of screen time. While I was skeptical, I did slowly start to understand why people might like the sport that involves lobbing discs towards long-legged metal baskets trying to get them in with a minimum amount of strategic throws.
Some designers and their works are trendy for a short while before being forgotten, while others like Anatole Lapine (1930-2012) set timeless trends. The native-born Latvian left a remarkable mark in the automotive industry – as chef designer of an iconic German premium sportscar brand.
Rīga’s stint as European Capital of Culture back in 2014 was a success. In a few years, a second Latvian city will be given the honour to present itself as a cultural hotspot: Liepāja. Both the city and the cultural program are ready to go – and there is a lot to expect.
Actor John Malkovich has become an almost familiar face in Latvia in recent years. Back in 2018 he could be found giving a literary reading in Jūrmala, and then in 2022 he was appearing on stage in a sold-out run of the play In the Solitude of Cotton Fields (Dans la solitude des champs de coton) by French dramatist Bernard-Marie Koltès at the Dailes Theater.
The latest trade data shows the continuation of a trend that has been evident ever since Russia started its war on Ukraine and the West responded with swingeing trade sanctions – while trade with aggressor countries Russia and Belarus has quickly reduced, trade with countries bordering Russia in central Asia has markedly increased.
The network of public electric vehicle charging stations is growing in the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, and for now at least, this expansion is most rapid in Latvia.
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