Anthony Zacharzewski

One last thought on Latvia. I wasn’t there for long, but in all that time I saw 1 (one) sign in Cyrillic, a modern sign on some sort of educational institution next to the hotel. Given that the USSR annexed the country for 50 years from 1939, and Latvia

Into Tallinn by coach, and there was some fantastic domestic architecture on the way in. A couple of great modern houses, one with a glass front wall with bookshelves, so the view from the street was the stairs up and the pages of the books. I’ll have one like

Onto a coach again for the journey from Rīga to Tallinn, this time by daylight so I can see a bit more of the countryside. It’s a great trip – seeing the towns and villages you pass through is one of the few benefits of coach travel – along the Via

The Guardian’s commitment to the environment has always stopped short of its Saturday Travel section (“Inside: Fly to China!, next week: Fly to the Pacific!”) but it now appears that its commitment to social justice and income equality stops there too. An unwelcome recent arrival in the travel section

A short stay in Rīga on my way to Tallinn, at the historic and central Metropole, across the road from the train and coach station. On first sight, I’m really liking Rīga. It feels quite Scandinavian, even though the Latvians are Slavs. The old city centre has been thoroughly

On the way to Tallinn for a friend’s stag weekend, but going the long way round. Stayed in the Nord Hotel, a rather shabby two-star place right by the Gare du Nord. Not as plush as the neighbouring Hotel Terminus Nord, but fine for the half an hour I