Viktorija - Riga, Latvia     

I arrived on a warm Sunday afternoon and I just wanted to take a shower. Walked from the chaotic, crowded bus station to the Viktorija. I had no reservation. They gave me a nice room on the 5th floor. It was a warm peach color that added coziness to the two rainy days (I stayed 4 nights)....a nice change from the plague of beige and dirt tones of McHotels...and it had a nice pre-World War view of A. Caka Street with ever-changing rain clouds and sunsets. It had cable TV if that is what you came to Latvia for and the bathroom was shiny clean. The breakfasts offered quite a variety of foods and I appreciated the cut fruits, cucumbers, tomatoes, red pepper. The staff was very attentive and pleasant. The young staffmembers were very helpful, friendly and provided a much more hospitable face of Latvia than some of the older Soviet era staffmembers. This seems to be true throughout Riga. You will find very sweet, ready to talk Latvian speakers and a few extremely rude and miserable Russian speakers who should not be allowed near the public. The latter do damage to the Latvian tourist industry. This said, I could live in Riga, a city for creative people. The Hotel Viktorija has its own personality and may not be for those who prefer a generic chain-hotel predictability. The STABURAGS restaurant in the corner of the hotel is a Riga treat. The smoked salmon was the best that I have ever tasted. The maizes zupa dessert was delicious and so was the Lido beer. A block away at 38a Gertrudes Street is PAsaka, a pleasant little Latvian fastfood pelmeni shop run by merry and motherly women. An inexpensive, but throughly Latvian experience. The Viktorija is an example of living Art Nouveau architecture and it is in a good location. It provided good memories of Riga and I will probably stay there the next time I go to Riga.

I actually stayed in the adjoinging Victory Hostel whcih shares a common entrance and restaurant as the Viktorija Hotel. Therefore I cannot comment on the hotels' rooms. However, I did politely ask to use the hotel Internet booth in the lobby one evening and received a torrent of abuse that I have not received in any other country ( have visited over 30). One guy behind the reception desk said it was fine to use it and gave me the key but then an older woman, also behind reception began screaming and bawling at me about not beng a proper guest. Then another of the hotel workers, a man in a green coat arrived on the scene and also shouted and bawled abusively at me while waving his hands at me to get out. It was just horrible. I was so upset to have been treated like this. I wasn't aware that the hostel and hotel were separate because we were using the same entrance. But surely even if I was not entitaled to use the Internet, there are ways and means of telling people so.