I wrote in June about how Prague was seeing fewer stag (bachelor) weekend parties from the UK, which was proving a mixed blessing.
Now I read that another popular haunt for pre-wedding tour groups – the Latvian capital, Riga – has lost patience with the drunken revelry and is considering introducing a special tourist police force.
The arrival of low-budget airlines and the prospect of cheap beer have made Riga, like Prague, an attractive destination. Both cities have been torn between welcoming this boost to their troubled economies and fearing that the British visitors could ruin their image.
The main complaint in Latvia is over tourists who urinate on Riga’s central Freedom Monument, a 138-ft high memorial topped with the figure of Liberty honouring soldiers who died fighting for the country’s independence. Visitors are often arrested for relieving themselves on it or for clambering on to it naked to have their pictures taken.
Last year, Latvia’s then interior minister, Mareks Seglins, lashed out at ‘English pigs’ for being a ‘dirty, hoggish people’.
Figures from the UK Foreign Office suggest that badly-behaved Britons are causing an increasing nuisance in other countries. The annual ‘British Behaviour Abroad’ report, a study of fifteen popular destinations, showed that the number of Britons arrested had risen by almost 16 per cent. “Many arrests are due to behaviour caused by drinking,” the report said.
by Andy Moreton
Luxique offers the most competitive rates at two superb luxury hotels in Riga – the traditional Hotel Grand Palace and the contemporary Ainavas.
Easyjet’s been brought down to earth over its plan to hold weddings in mid-air with the pilot officiating.
The budget airline applied to Luton Borough Council (the nearest to its base at Luton Airport) for permission, but was turned down flat.
The council said the law simply didn’t allow a marriage or civil partnership to take place on an aircraft. “An approved venue must be a permanent structure comprising at least one room, and must provide a seemly and dignified place where civil ceremonies can be performed.”
The council did, however, say it would consider licensing the ground facilities at Luton Airport (hardly as romantic a prospect, I suggest).
Easyjet’s Communications Manager, Andrew McConnell, sounded uncommonly peeved by the rejection: “It would appear that faceless bureaucrats in windowless offices have scuppered the dreams of many who wished to get married in the air,” he said.
Mark Russell of the style magazine GQ found this reported clamour from Easyjet customers for in-flight weddings surprising. “At a push I can understand the argument for internet access in the sky or even - as infuriating as it would be - mobile phone use. But has a passenger ever thought, ‘If only I could bring my other half, 100 of my friends, a garter and some favour boxes up here for a quick wedding before we touch down in Riga?’”
by Andy Moreton
I once had a meal in a restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia that resembled an ornate medieval monastery. Robed monks waited on the tables and a harpist played in the old choir loft.
Now I hear of something even more bizarre – a restaurant in the Latvian capital, Riga, that’s themed as a hospital.
The inside of Hospitalis, which is the brainchild of three local doctors, is white, clinical and full of medical equipment. The bar is an old pharmacy.
The meals are served in flasks and operating room dishes and brought to the table by nurses in skimpy starched uniforms, red wigs and stethoscopes around their necks. Your table could be a trolley or a gynaecological consultation bed.
For a special treat, I’m reliably informed that you can be tied up in a straitjacket and fed by a nurse/waitress.
The varied menu is a world away from the usual hospital fare, but eating at Hospitalis doesn’t come cheap by Latvian standards - an entree with appetizer and drink will set you back around 15 Lats (£19/$27). However, as someone remarked, that’s considerably less than it costs to be a ‘customer’ at a real hospital in the United States.
by Andy Moreton
Finding a luxury hotel in Riga is a painless operation – Luxique’s consultant has done all the work.
