Five quirks of Latvia – from a German perspective

This really confused me here at first. Do I live on the 5th or 6th floor now? Why are there only 1 and -1. floor buttons? After a while it became clear to me: Latvians apparently count their floors differently.

In Germany, the first floor does not have a number. It is “0” or there is the letter “E” which means “Erdgeschoss” (first floor – from German). In Latvia it starts with “1”. This is clear to all Latvians. But if you are a tourist in a hotel or mall and you want to get to the first floor, you must remember to press the “1” button.

Ursula von der Leyen, Joe Biden, Olaf Scholz, Arnold Schwarzenegger… Who are these people?

I must admit that I had to smile a little while checking the news on a Latvian news website. It was about the president of the European Commission, the German politician “Ursula von der Leyen”. At least that’s how we spell her name in Germany. I had a similar experience in the bookstore when I got my hands on the biographies of “Joe Biden”, “Michelle Obama”, and “Arnold Schwarzenegger”. Why did this surprise me?

In Latvia, words are adapted to the language – with writing. So they are written in such a way that, when reading them, you can pronounce them exactly in Latvian (some letters are pronounced differently here or do not exist at all). And they are gender-specific. Depending on whether the person is male or female, the name has a different ending.

For all Latvians reading this article, this is nothing new. But I find it very strange because in Germany we do things differently. My brother, for example, also has the surname “Dumpe” in Germany – just like me. But here, in Latvia, it would probably change to “Dumpis”. And in general: In Germany we write surnames as they are written in the respective languages.

“That was our president, by the way” – you don’t usually meet influential politicians on the street

On the first day in Riga, I took part in an excursion, getting to know the city. I can recommend it to everyone, including locals. But especially if you have recently arrived in Riga.

We walked along the cobblestones of the old town, along the many beautiful little streets. When we turned to “Galerija Centrs”, our guide suddenly stopped. I thought she was waiting for the group to reunite. Meanwhile, four or five men in suits walked past us. Nothing out of the ordinary so far – I thought until I realized WHO was passing by.

It was the President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs. I was surprised. I can’t imagine that German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier would just walk past me in Berlin. Of course, Rinkēvič also had bodyguards with him, but no big fuss was made about it, he just walked past us and smiled sweetly.

When I told my colleague at TV3 about it, he just said: “Well, it can happen in small countries!”

“Stand on my foot”, “don’t whistle inside” and “only use the side stairs” – the superstition does not leave

I have a Latvian girlfriend, and when we walk around Riga together, I always learn something new – about the city, about people and about Latvian superstitions. Yes, you read that right. Latvians are apparently very superstitious.

When a friend accidentally stepped on my foot, she asked me to immediately step on her foot as well – it “evens out the karma”.

Then we passed the University of Latvia. If you stand in front of it, you can see the big stairs in the center, there are also stairs on the right and left. I was surprised that students mostly don’t use the big, middle stairs. Why is this so? Quite simply – it is believed that if you use the central steps before you graduate, you will not receive a degree.

One more thing – one evening my girlfriend and I were walking in the old town, and I whistled a song. My friend laughed and said, “Never do that in your apartment.” Me: “Why?” She: “In Latvia, we believe that whistling at home brings bad luck.” Since then, I only whistle outside. We don’t need to risk our luck!

Beer or wine in the park – it is strictly prohibited in Latvia

When the first warm rays of the sun break through the clouds and everything gradually begins to bloom, Riga residents go out into the streets and parks. It is the same in Cologne. Many people are sitting on the grass on blankets, having a picnic or going for a walk. However, I noticed one thing that is definitely different in Riga from the parks in Cologne: people don’t drink alcohol.

In Cologne, it is quite normal for students or groups of friends to meet outside in good weather in the afternoons and on weekends and drink alcoholic beverages – a glass of wine at a picnic or a beer during a walk. We call it “Wegbier” – a beer that is drunk on the road. You will not see it here in Latvia, because it is prohibited. Alcohol may be drunk only on the terraces of restaurants, bars and cafes.

It’s a shame, but non-alcoholic beer will do as well.

Report an error in the article

Highlight the incorrect text and press Ctrl+Enter.

Mark the wrong text and report it!