My Travels with Tintin – Latvia

I have a single Tintin album in Latvian, “Vienradža noslēpums” (The Secret of the Unicorn), but it is one of the most treasured additions to my foreign language collection. Translated by Inese Pētersone, it was published in 2013 by Zvaigzne ABC, a major Latvian children’s/educational book publisher and retail bookstore chain. It’s a very nice little hardcover book, even though at 19.5 x 26.5 cm it is a little bit smaller than the standard Tintin album size.

Of course the options for “The Adventures of Tintin” in Latvian are sparse, Zvaigzne ABC have only published four albums: Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Blue Lotus in 2007, and The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure in 2013.

Could that be any more perfect though? I know it’s just a happy coincidence that my copy was published the same year I made my first trip to Riga, but somehow that makes it extra special. Almost like a commemorative edition, right?

Of course, I’m not really sure WHEN in 2013 it was published, I was there in early February, so I was likely there a few months before it came out. That might explain why no one seemed to know what I was talking about when I was on the hunt for an album and I had to leave empty handed.

I was a bit shy to ask for help in 2013, but during my second trip in 2025 – and with the book now 12 years out of print – I brazenly asked my family friend (and local resident) Martins for help. I still left mostly empty-handed in August (aside from my Russian edition!), but Martins came through and my first Christmas present of 2025 arrived just in time on December 24th!

I guess it just goes to show you that good things come to those who wait!

My trips to Latvia:

As you can see, I’ve been to Latvia twice. The first time was for work in 2013 and the second time for a family vacation in 2025.

Latvia is a special place for me. Growing up, a lot of my family (on my Dad’s side) revolved around my Latvian Grandmother and Great Aunt. They were two of the pillars of my family (and both lived to be over 100 years old!), so I heard a lot about Latvia when I was young. The strange thing was, in the 1980s I started to doubt its existence. I’d heard about this country, but in my cursive pre-internet research, I couldn’t find it on a map. No one had ever told me it was (at that time) still part of the Soviet Union. I do remember how happy my Grandmother was in the early 1990s with the liberation. She even had a chance to return to her home country for the first time in nearly 50 years.

So, suffice it to say, when the opportunity to go on a student recruitment mission for the university appeared, I told my boss there was no doubt I was going to Latvia with her. It was a short trip, from February 26 to March 4, 2013 (February is a short month, remember?), but besides the study fair, I remember 3 things that stand out in my mind. The first was the Piragi. If you don’t know what those are, I feel sorry for you. My family Christmas traditions, started by my Great Aunt and Grandmother, includes those heavenly Lativan buns baked with bacon and onions on the inside. They’re similar to the more well-known perogies, but, in my humble opinion, waaaay better. So imagine my delight when I found a little bakery on a small street that seemed to churn them out daily. I remember my brothers being so jealous. Every Latvian family has a recipe for these, so here’s one I suggest you try!

Another thing I remember was the hockey games. I arrived at just the right time to see Dynamo Riga team take on HC Donbass in the Nadezhda Cup (literally the “Hope Cup”).  That afternoon, when I arrived at the hotel in Riga the guy at the front desk saw my Canadian passport and asked me if I like hockey. I told him that it kind of comes with the passport, so he told me about the game that night. Having just arrived in Riga, and being unsure of the logistics, I asked him if the rink was in walking distance. I’ll never forget his answer: “Sir, everything is in walking distance if you have enough time.”

Good point.

Luckily I had 15-20 minutes to spare and I was off to the game. I had no idea that the Nadezhda Cup was basically for all the teams who didn’t make the actual KHL playoffs, but you know what? I didn’t care. It was fun. I had a team to cheer for and a team to hate on – including a Canadian goaltender named Chris Holt I could heckle from behind the net! It was an amazing experience and really put a stamp on my trip. It seems Dinamo Riga also benefitted from my cheering as they eventually beat HC Donbass in a shoot out to take the series (sorry Chris!) and then rode that all the way to eventually taking the cup!

But the best part of Latvia was meeting Martins.

Martins and his family have long been family friends through my Grandmother and her circle of friends. I’d met Martins’ older sister Ilze when she visited Canada in the early 1990s, but we’d never met during his later visit to Canada. However, that didn’t matter. Once he heard I was in Riga, but really only had one free day (the 27th) he took time off on Wednesday to tour me around and see some sights, including climbing up a tower to get a nice view of the surrounding countryside. But what I remember the best was his story.

I had been slightly complaining that international travel in 2013 wasn’t the same as it had been. It used to be that you could travel to a foreign country and find something unique or interesting that we’d never seen or heard of in Canada. But, by 2013, everything seemed to be made in the same factory in China and all that was left was a few of the same-looking tourist trinkets that the “old town” in Riga seemed full of. So Martins started telling me about the time he travelled with his father in the early 1990s to Moscow. They were there primarily to get travel documents or passports or something, so I believe a) it was for Ilze’s travel to Canada, and b) this was before Latvia became independent (again) in August 1991. Martins was probably still in high school and super excited about going to the big city… even more so when his father suggested they visit the famous Moscow McDonald’s.

He told me how he and his father waited in line for several hours to get some terribly wonderful hamburgers. He told me how it was one of the most exciting things in his young life. But the best part was the timing… as his story was wrapping up, we just happened to be driving by one of several McDonald’s locations in Riga, and he said “We could stop now if you’re hungry?”.

I don’t know if it was planned, or just an amazing coincidence, but it was a classic move and a poignant commentary on how much smaller the world has become.

Fast forward to 2025. With my mom and dad getting on in years (now entering their 80s) we decided the time was right for a trip to Poland and Latvia – arguably to visit our family roots. In some ways it was a bit bitter sweet. Riga seemed a bit different than I remembered it. With the never-ending war in Ukraine and the spectre of Russian aggression that had everyone thinking Latvia was next on Putin’s agenda (and given historical context, who could blame them), Riga seemed a bit more subdued than I remembered. I might have also been feeling the loss of my Grandmother, who passed away in January 2025 and with her my last tangible family link to Latvia. When I’d returned home in 2013 I had lots of stories to share, and several people to share them with. But now, Aunt Herta, Uncle Ivar, Aunt Dzintra and my Grandma Viola were all gone. So who was I going to share my stories with?

Cue Martins.

For lots of reasons, including just life and moving to Seoul Korea for 8 years, COVID lockdowns and career shifts, I’d lost track of Martins. But responding to a 11 year hold email brought me a lot of joy. Martins was still there (and now on WhatsAp) and happy to hear we were coming to Latvia.

So this time my wife, my son, my mom and dad and I all arrived in Riga on August 8, 2025. It was still great to be back, but the people seemed a lot less enthusiastic than they had in 2013. We spent the first full day August 9th, touring the Riga Central market. I had a harder time finding fresh piragi, at least until we discovered the nearby Stockman’s department store’s bakery section. Unfortunately, Dinamo Riga was gone – not that they’d be playing in August anyway! The were a victim of both COVID and the Russian KHL. That afternoon we took a walk over to the Old City area – ran into a giant “Burger Festival” in the park, and the toured a few museums, including the Latvian War Museum… so many sad stories there.

The best part of the trip was the next day when we all took the train and visited Martins and his wife Dace at their newly-built home in Cēsis. We toured the local medieval castle, we had a traditional Latvian lunch in town at the Pagrabiņš cafe, and had some coffee, kvass (a traditional Latvian drink made from rye bread) and honey cake at their home next to a small lake. All in all it was a singularly wonderful day.

On our last day in Riga we decided to give the Central Market one more try, but were once again disappointed by the offerings. A lot of the food shops look like they should be open, but they weren’t so that really limited our options. Luckily there was always Stockman’s! After breakfast we had just enough time to head back in to the old town and visit the church. We took the elevator up to the bell tower and had a great view of the entire city. Then it was back to the airport and we were off on our way to Poland!