At a very cursory level - architecturally, Riga has more German / Swedish Lutheran historical cultural influences, whereas Vilnius has more Polish and Baroque Roman Catholic and Russian Eastern Orthodox historical cultural influences. Also, Riga is a major Baltic seaport, while Vilnius is a land-based transportation, trade and trans-cultural hub, bridge, and meeting place.
Great video guys! :) Just to clarify a few things: - No wonder the market feels big because Riga Central Market is the largest European market, built in the 1920s using 5 German WWI Zeppelin hangars, in the world, there are less than 10 of them survived, 5 of them are in Riga. - You mentioned, Riga looks very different, there is a very simple explanation, Lithuania kept its independence during the Northern Crusades in the 13th century and later formed a common state with Poland, existing as a state till the late 18th century, so culturally it is very different. Whereas Riga was founded by German knights (in 1201) as well as most of the cities in modern-day Latvia and Estonia, from early 13th till late 16th-century modern-day Latvia and Estonia were a joined Livonian (Teutonic) Order state, later there were constant wars, but culturally, German city culture and prominent Baltic German-speaking community existed till WWII and you can see that Germanic, North European influence in Riga and Latvia at every corner, including Latvian language. In a few words. - The park around the canal, was built in the 1860s, replacing the city defences (walls, bastions etc), and the canal is in fact a moat. So everything that is located inside that canal is considered to be Old medieval Riga. - That monument with honour guard is The Freedom Monument, built in the 1930s to signify Latvian Independence gained in 1918 and honouring soldiers killed during the Latvian War of Independence - Vērmanes Garden is not the oldest, and definitely not the largest park in Riga, it was built in the midish 1800s, the oldest park in Riga was built in the early 18th century and the largest park is Mežapark (German: Kaiserwald), which is 11.821 km2 (4.564 sq mi) Please come back, and there is plenty to do and to see not just in Riga, but outside as well (30min-1.30h hop on a train or a bus) like medieval castles, for example, Wenden-Cesis (the capital of Livonian Knights Order), picturesque Turaida-Treyden, Sigulda-Segewald castles and grand rococo palaces, like Rundale Palace, the seat of the Dukes of Courland (where BBC, HBO etc shoot period dramas like War and Peace, Catherine the Great etc) and amazing national parks like Kemeri (The Great Ķemeri Bog is something out of this world and a must-see) and Gauja National Park, which is called Latvian Switzerland because of the landscape. Little medieval towns of Kurland-Kurzeme, like Kuldiga-Goldingen, where time stopped in the XVIII century (the architecture hasn't changed since) and seaside resorts like Jurmala, with its enchanting wooden Art Nouveau architecture and miles and miles (about 30) of top quality white sandy beaches. You are always welcome! P.S From Vilnius, Jurmala(197 miles) is almost closer than Palanga(186 miles) and definitely much bigger :)
I’m glad you liked Riga! I’m an American living here. You’re right, drinking age is 18, and alcohol is a huge problem for many. I think Riga feels more touristy to you because you were in all the touristy places! I had no idea Old Town was back to full-strength, party mode because as a local, I don’t make my way over there too often. Big Bad Bagels is one of my favorites. So fun to see your experience of my adopted home! 💕
Hi!! That's so cool you live there! We really, really liked it. I think there were even more tourists compared to Vilnius' touristy areas! But it is a bigger city, so that makes sense. But since we saw a lot of the tourist sites on this trip, we want to get off the beaten path next time, since we'll definitely be back :D
@@natalijanat8488 Formally for about 1.5 years. But because of Covid and being very busy with work (in English) I haven’t had much of a chance to practice speaking until recently. ✌🏻
Hi everyone!! Thanks for waiting so long for this video 🙊 If you follow me on instagram, you'll know that the company I work for has recently shut down, so I've been busy with job-hunting. More vlogs coming soon 😘
Hope you find a job soon 😊 Right now various factories needs many workers and malls are searching for Covid pass inspectors, but I hope you will find a better job 👍
Lithuanians do not consider Latvia as "abroad", just a neighbourhood region hehe :) The countries are very similar even in language. Also, do you regret choosing Vilnius instead of Riga as your main hub?
That's a good question! We're very happy we chose Vilnius. I like the smaller city vibes and Vilnius actually feels a bit cleaner than Riga in my opinion. But if we had chosen Riga, we probably would have loved it too 😆
@@LifeinLithuania Actually Vilnius is almost the same size as Riga, and in couple years, it will be bigger, as it's growing fast. Why do you feel the smaller city vibe in Vilnius?
Back in the Soviet days the plan was to make Riga in to megapolis at that day, housing 1milion people. That is why up till this day Latvia does not have more bigger towns, only couple of small ones. Riga was also the main port of the Soviet union in the Baltic region. This is also one of the reasons why their road network is in worse condition, only having asphalt around Riga and couple of other bigger towns. Even now Riga is still the biggest city among Baltics.
Latvia is more centered around it's capital Riga, than Lithuania is centered around Vilnius. And Riga is a seaport city, which makes it more accessible and important than Vilnius is. Many foreigners don't know the difference between Lithuania and Latvia, they think it's the same country, and they think that capital is Riga. Lithuania pays more attention and care to other cities than Latvia does. One-third of Latvia's population lives in Riga (33%), while only almost one-fifth (19,5%) of Lithuanians live in Vilnius. Pupulation: Riga - 633 thousand. Vilnius - 544 thousand Latvia - 1,92 million. Lithuania - 2,79 million.
Teisingai - in addition to Riga being a larger city than Vilnius, Riga is much more a primate city in the Latvian context. The next 3 largest settlements - Daugavpils, Liepaja, Jelgava - are relatively small. Lithuania has a much more developed urban population structure. After Vilnius, the next 3 largest settlements - Kaunas, Klaipeda, Siauliai - are substantially larger cities. Countries characterized by primate cities are typically easier to dominate or control. By controlling the primate city, we have control over most of the population in a given country. In Soviet times, it was more of a challenge for the Soviets to control or dominate Lithuania, compared to Latvia, because Lithuania has population clusters in addition to Vilnius.
Exactly - in Riga's district lives 55% of Latvia's population meanwhile in Vilnius' district lives less than 30% of Lithuania's population. Soon Latvia and Estonia both are gonna be considered as one city countries.
Actually Riga has smaller area than Vilnius (304 km2 vs 401 km2). But it is flat so you can see more and Vilnius is quite hilly I would say so if you on Gediminas Castle hill you can see just central part of the city. Riga was much bigger city by inhabitants during soviet times (900 thousand vs Vilnius 550 thousand) but now difference is very little (Riga 614 thousand vs Vilnius 588 thousand). Im not sure why these changes happened in Riga but is getting smaller. Riga has pretty good tourism and Vilnius not, probably because is not at the coast and Latvia is in the middle of baltic countries. Latvia has their own airline company and we in Lithuania always failed when we tried to create one. I love these cities has different vibes and architecture in old towns. Happy for you guys you experienced them both.
Riga still has a way bigger metropolitan area. Jurmala, Jelgava, Ogre, Sigulda and many other towns around it. The residents everyday go to Riga. So, during day time there are much more people in Riga than the official population.
Vilnius 'prisigrobė" nemažai rajono žemės. Vienas iš tikslų buvo padidint gaunamų mokesčių kiekį, todėl realus miesto plotas turėtų būti gerokai mažesnis, bet dabar jau yra kaip yra. Problema tik ta, kad labai lengvabūdiškas požiūris - daugiau ploto, daugiau infrastruktūros išlaidų ir nors mokesčius surenka iš tų plotų, infrastruktūra jiems kainuoja daugiau... Todėl, arba jos neplečia, arba eina į nuostolį.
Riga is the biggest city in the Baltics and the only one with over 1 million inhabitants (note: not inhabitants; see below), so it would make sense for it to also feel bigger! It has always been the single most important city on the eastern shore of the Baltic sea. And even these days all the multinationals who want to serve the entire Baltic market at once build their headquarters in Riga. Although to be fair, Vilnius is supposed to overtake it in population sometime in the medium term. Those are going to be big shoes to fill 'cause Vilnius is so vast and sparsely built-up in comparison, and there's a lot of pushback already against "densification".
@@litd3x411 Counting the metro area or whatever it's called, obviously. The people who commute to work from their sodų bendrijos in the morning and share all of the same streets and buildings as anyone else within the official city limits.
Soviets planned to concentrate Latvian population to Riga and make it in to 1 city country, 1 million was back in the day, now people scatter around more. Lithuania at first was also planned for 1 big city, but our architects decided to scatter industrial plants around the whole territory, so we have more smaller towns concentrated around huge manufacturing plants. That was planned in ~1960 Kėdainiai, Jonava, Mažeikiai etc, all of these towns were created artificially with the rule that each them have to be 30mins away (by driving the car) from the region center, so Jonava is ~20km from Kaunas, Kėdainiai ~30km away from Panevėžys and so on.. Thats why region centers all had big hospitals and so on. This change of plan to spread the manufacturing plants across the whole country instead of concentrating them in one place was made with the idea that it would be harder for the Soviets to incorporate Russians in Lithuania. In fact it is one of the reason, why Latvia have so many Russian people compared to Lithuania. So our politicians back in the day managed to convince the central Kremlin authorities and managed to resist their plans of further Rusifiction of the Lithuania. At least that what they taught me in city planning back in the day.
Greater Riga population (with suburbs) is 1.07ml people and keeps growing, many people buy private houses in suburbs, moving out from Riga proper, seeking a quieter life. Every working day about 200 thousand cars are entering Riga, which unfortunately creates huge traffic. Riga still is the largest Baltic metropolis, with Riga proper 304.03 km2 and Metro 7,292.8 km2
@@LifeinLithuania awesome ahah, I've started a skateboarding youtube channel about 7 years ago and he was one of my first subscribers, just starting out too
@@WuTangChopstick ah yes, another person who doesn't even know the meaning of "fascist" P.S. get vaccinated - it's super easy, barely an inconvenience and saves some headaches from thinking about restrictions
It's not required for necessary things like the grocery store or bus, but they are required to sit inside at restaurants and bars. Without the pass, you can sit outside at bars and restaurants.
First time I have arrived to Rigas central market it wasn't best experience. Was in a rush to take a bus to Lithuania. Rushing around from the airport to Rigas bus station, stressed. And every few metres I was harrased by homeless or junkies 😂 Just saying, people traveling there should be aware of that. Especially when I pretend that I don't speak Russian when someone asking me for change or cigarette, getting all kinds of verbal abuse 😂 I mean it's part of experience, it's all cool for me as a person who is used to homeless and drug users (I'm a nice person) Another thing iv noticed in Riga is that most of the men have beards , at least they had it in 2016-2018. Cool city, would love to stay there for few days before my trip to Lithuania but... They banned all non vacinated people 😂
I have the same experience from my trip to Riga. Old town is ok, but the market area is horrible, there are so many drunk, homeless, junkie people around, I am not used to this, whenever I think of Riga the first thing I remember is those people.
@@brooklynasz Isn't that a bit of a retarded statement? Most of the population is vaccinated, ofcourse there will be more infections of vaccinated than unvaccinated.
1) Where did you get "they banned non-vaccinated" from? No such thing has happened. 2) You must have some pretty bad luck on the streets. I study in Riga (live outside) and have never had a rude encounter with someone asking for money or something - and that in itself happens rarely (maybe once a month).
At a very cursory level - architecturally, Riga has more German / Swedish Lutheran historical cultural influences, whereas Vilnius has more Polish and Baroque Roman Catholic and Russian Eastern Orthodox historical cultural influences. Also, Riga is a major Baltic seaport, while Vilnius is a land-based transportation, trade and trans-cultural hub, bridge, and meeting place.
Great video guys! :)
Just to clarify a few things:
- No wonder the market feels big because Riga Central Market is the largest European market, built in the 1920s using 5 German WWI Zeppelin hangars, in the world, there are less than 10 of them survived, 5 of them are in Riga.
- You mentioned, Riga looks very different, there is a very simple explanation, Lithuania kept its independence during the Northern Crusades in the 13th century and later formed a common state with Poland, existing as a state till the late 18th century, so culturally it is very different. Whereas Riga was founded by German knights (in 1201) as well as most of the cities in modern-day Latvia and Estonia, from early 13th till late 16th-century modern-day Latvia and Estonia were a joined Livonian (Teutonic) Order state, later there were constant wars, but culturally, German city culture and prominent Baltic German-speaking community existed till WWII and you can see that Germanic, North European influence in Riga and Latvia at every corner, including Latvian language. In a few words.
- The park around the canal, was built in the 1860s, replacing the city defences (walls, bastions etc), and the canal is in fact a moat. So everything that is located inside that canal is considered to be Old medieval Riga.
- That monument with honour guard is The Freedom Monument, built in the 1930s to signify Latvian Independence gained in 1918 and honouring soldiers killed during the Latvian War of Independence
- Vērmanes Garden is not the oldest, and definitely not the largest park in Riga, it was built in the midish 1800s, the oldest park in Riga was built in the early 18th century and the largest park is Mežapark (German: Kaiserwald), which is 11.821 km2 (4.564 sq mi)
Please come back, and there is plenty to do and to see not just in Riga, but outside as well (30min-1.30h hop on a train or a bus) like medieval castles, for example, Wenden-Cesis (the capital of Livonian Knights Order), picturesque Turaida-Treyden, Sigulda-Segewald castles and grand rococo palaces, like Rundale Palace, the seat of the Dukes of Courland (where BBC, HBO etc shoot period dramas like War and Peace, Catherine the Great etc) and amazing national parks like Kemeri (The Great Ķemeri Bog is something out of this world and a must-see) and Gauja National Park, which is called Latvian Switzerland because of the landscape. Little medieval towns of Kurland-Kurzeme, like Kuldiga-Goldingen, where time stopped in the XVIII century (the architecture hasn't changed since) and seaside resorts like Jurmala, with its enchanting wooden Art Nouveau architecture and miles and miles (about 30) of top quality white sandy beaches.
You are always welcome!
P.S From Vilnius, Jurmala(197 miles) is almost closer than Palanga(186 miles) and definitely much bigger :)
I’m glad you liked Riga! I’m an American living here. You’re right, drinking age is 18, and alcohol is a huge problem for many.
I think Riga feels more touristy to you because you were in all the touristy places! I had no idea Old Town was back to full-strength, party mode because as a local, I don’t make my way over there too often.
Big Bad Bagels is one of my favorites.
So fun to see your experience of my adopted home! 💕
Hi!! That's so cool you live there! We really, really liked it.
I think there were even more tourists compared to Vilnius' touristy areas! But it is a bigger city, so that makes sense. But since we saw a lot of the tourist sites on this trip, we want to get off the beaten path next time, since we'll definitely be back :D
How long have you been learning Latvian? :о
@@natalijanat8488 Formally for about 1.5 years. But because of Covid and being very busy with work (in English) I haven’t had much of a chance to practice speaking until recently. ✌🏻
@@CarolinesChapteredLife it's so cool
@@LifeinLithuaniaNext time you can visit beautiful medieval town called Kuldīga ;)
Hi everyone!! Thanks for waiting so long for this video 🙊
If you follow me on instagram, you'll know that the company I work for has recently shut down, so I've been busy with job-hunting. More vlogs coming soon 😘
Sad to hear that! Good luck to find new job.
That sux..
Hope you find a job soon 😊 Right now various factories needs many workers and malls are searching for Covid pass inspectors, but I hope you will find a better job 👍
Happy Belated Birthday Alex! 🎁 🎉
I love broliukai and going to Latvia but I hate tourist trapiness of Riga.
Lithuanians do not consider Latvia as "abroad", just a neighbourhood region hehe :) The countries are very similar even in language.
Also, do you regret choosing Vilnius instead of Riga as your main hub?
That's a good question! We're very happy we chose Vilnius. I like the smaller city vibes and Vilnius actually feels a bit cleaner than Riga in my opinion. But if we had chosen Riga, we probably would have loved it too 😆
@@LifeinLithuania Actually Vilnius is almost the same size as Riga, and in couple years, it will be bigger, as it's growing fast. Why do you feel the smaller city vibe in Vilnius?
Btw, greetings for Alex for new student year day!
Next trip should be Tallinn, Estonia it's another beautiful city. I love all Baltic countries.
Back in the Soviet days the plan was to make Riga in to megapolis at that day, housing 1milion people. That is why up till this day Latvia does not have more bigger towns, only couple of small ones. Riga was also the main port of the Soviet union in the Baltic region. This is also one of the reasons why their road network is in worse condition, only having asphalt around Riga and couple of other bigger towns. Even now Riga is still the biggest city among Baltics.
I like your taste in music 👍
17:16 on left side of this streetis my school😁
City and buildings look good. If you had a choice to live in Vilnius vs or Latvia where would you live and why?
Who took care of the cats while you were gone?
Latvia is more centered around it's capital Riga, than Lithuania is centered around Vilnius. And Riga is a seaport city, which makes it more accessible and important than Vilnius is. Many foreigners don't know the difference between Lithuania and Latvia, they think it's the same country, and they think that capital is Riga. Lithuania pays more attention and care to other cities than Latvia does. One-third of Latvia's population lives in Riga (33%), while only almost one-fifth (19,5%) of Lithuanians live in Vilnius.
Pupulation:
Riga - 633 thousand. Vilnius - 544 thousand
Latvia - 1,92 million. Lithuania - 2,79 million.
Teisingai - in addition to Riga being a larger city than Vilnius, Riga is much more a primate city in the Latvian context. The next 3 largest settlements - Daugavpils, Liepaja, Jelgava - are relatively small. Lithuania has a much more developed urban population structure. After Vilnius, the next 3 largest settlements - Kaunas, Klaipeda, Siauliai - are substantially larger cities.
Countries characterized by primate cities are typically easier to dominate or control. By controlling the primate city, we have control over most of the population in a given country. In Soviet times, it was more of a challenge for the Soviets to control or dominate Lithuania, compared to Latvia, because Lithuania has population clusters in addition to Vilnius.
Exactly - in Riga's district lives 55% of Latvia's population meanwhile in Vilnius' district lives less than 30% of Lithuania's population. Soon Latvia and Estonia both are gonna be considered as one city countries.
That is very interesting. I can't believe 1/3 of the country live in Riga, that's quite a big percentage!
@@gediminasmurauskas7817 wow! very interesting! never thought of that!
Correction on Latvia's population - as of now it is around 1.86 mil
Actually Riga has smaller area than Vilnius (304 km2 vs 401 km2). But it is flat so you can see more and Vilnius is quite hilly I would say so if you on Gediminas Castle hill you can see just central part of the city. Riga was much bigger city by inhabitants during soviet times (900 thousand vs Vilnius 550 thousand) but now difference is very little (Riga 614 thousand vs Vilnius 588 thousand). Im not sure why these changes happened in Riga but is getting smaller. Riga has pretty good tourism and Vilnius not, probably because is not at the coast and Latvia is in the middle of baltic countries. Latvia has their own airline company and we in Lithuania always failed when we tried to create one. I love these cities has different vibes and architecture in old towns. Happy for you guys you experienced them both.
Riga still has a way bigger metropolitan area. Jurmala, Jelgava, Ogre, Sigulda and many other towns around it. The residents everyday go to Riga. So, during day time there are much more people in Riga than the official population.
Vilnius 'prisigrobė" nemažai rajono žemės. Vienas iš tikslų buvo padidint gaunamų mokesčių kiekį, todėl realus miesto plotas turėtų būti gerokai mažesnis, bet dabar jau yra kaip yra. Problema tik ta, kad labai lengvabūdiškas požiūris - daugiau ploto, daugiau infrastruktūros išlaidų ir nors mokesčius surenka iš tų plotų, infrastruktūra jiems kainuoja daugiau... Todėl, arba jos neplečia, arba eina į nuostolį.
Riga is the biggest city in the Baltics and the only one with over 1 million inhabitants (note: not inhabitants; see below), so it would make sense for it to also feel bigger! It has always been the single most important city on the eastern shore of the Baltic sea. And even these days all the multinationals who want to serve the entire Baltic market at once build their headquarters in Riga. Although to be fair, Vilnius is supposed to overtake it in population sometime in the medium term. Those are going to be big shoes to fill 'cause Vilnius is so vast and sparsely built-up in comparison, and there's a lot of pushback already against "densification".
@@litd3x411 Counting the metro area or whatever it's called, obviously. The people who commute to work from their sodų bendrijos in the morning and share all of the same streets and buildings as anyone else within the official city limits.
@@litd3x411 Fair enough, it's the daily user base then. I've added a disclaimer to the original comment.
Soviets planned to concentrate Latvian population to Riga and make it in to 1 city country, 1 million was back in the day, now people scatter around more. Lithuania at first was also planned for 1 big city, but our architects decided to scatter industrial plants around the whole territory, so we have more smaller towns concentrated around huge manufacturing plants. That was planned in ~1960 Kėdainiai, Jonava, Mažeikiai etc, all of these towns were created artificially with the rule that each them have to be 30mins away (by driving the car) from the region center, so Jonava is ~20km from Kaunas, Kėdainiai ~30km away from Panevėžys and so on.. Thats why region centers all had big hospitals and so on. This change of plan to spread the manufacturing plants across the whole country instead of concentrating them in one place was made with the idea that it would be harder for the Soviets to incorporate Russians in Lithuania. In fact it is one of the reason, why Latvia have so many Russian people compared to Lithuania. So our politicians back in the day managed to convince the central Kremlin authorities and managed to resist their plans of further Rusifiction of the Lithuania. At least that what they taught me in city planning back in the day.
Greater Riga population (with suburbs) is 1.07ml people and keeps growing, many people buy private houses in suburbs, moving out from Riga proper, seeking a quieter life. Every working day about 200 thousand cars are entering Riga, which unfortunately creates huge traffic. Riga still is the largest Baltic metropolis, with Riga proper 304.03 km2 and Metro 7,292.8 km2
Can I get Latvia tourist visa now ?
Next time try Lux Express or Eurolines - Kautra :)
Hello
Nice trip. I want to ask you. Are tourist visa's open to Latvia ?
Did your parents liked Lithuanian food?☺️
They loved it!!
Next trip must be to Tallinn ;-)
5:30 Wonderfull hair :)
What do you all do as to living in Vilnius Lithuania, Teachers or something?
Riga is defintly on the to do list, also do you know George Poulos by any chance ? Asking because of the Arrow skate Co tshirt Alex is wearing :)
we just like his channel a lot!! there's actually a picture of alex on the arrow skate co instagram though :D
@@LifeinLithuania awesome ahah, I've started a skateboarding youtube channel about 7 years ago and he was one of my first subscribers, just starting out too
Hmu if y’all come to Tallinn
I had no idea about the Art Nouveau architecture in Riga. So glad you photographed it!
Too bad you had to encounter that anti-LGBT crowd.
More than 800 Art Nouveau buildings were built between 1900-1914
Did you see any halal or kosher restaurants/fast food places/options?
Are “covid passports” required for entering restaurants and grocery stores?
@@WuTangChopstick ah yes, another person who doesn't even know the meaning of "fascist"
P.S. get vaccinated - it's super easy, barely an inconvenience and saves some headaches from thinking about restrictions
It's not required for necessary things like the grocery store or bus, but they are required to sit inside at restaurants and bars. Without the pass, you can sit outside at bars and restaurants.
@@LifeinLithuania Yep, thanks for those people who protested today.
Is Latvia giving tourist visa's now ?
@@deutschlandfz4877 no?
Vilnius or Riga?
Like- Vilnius
Comment- Riga
Interesting video but please use better mike
Riga welcomes you with some cold showers and food poisoning.. : )
😂 otherwise, we had a nice time! we'll be back!
Hi.i love your videos about my country and i know you lost your job.and if you need any help please let me know...
First time I have arrived to Rigas central market it wasn't best experience. Was in a rush to take a bus to Lithuania. Rushing around from the airport to Rigas bus station, stressed. And every few metres I was harrased by homeless or junkies 😂 Just saying, people traveling there should be aware of that. Especially when I pretend that I don't speak Russian when someone asking me for change or cigarette, getting all kinds of verbal abuse 😂 I mean it's part of experience, it's all cool for me as a person who is used to homeless and drug users (I'm a nice person) Another thing iv noticed in Riga is that most of the men have beards , at least they had it in 2016-2018. Cool city, would love to stay there for few days before my trip to Lithuania but... They banned all non vacinated people 😂
I have the same experience from my trip to Riga. Old town is ok, but the market area is horrible, there are so many drunk, homeless, junkie people around, I am not used to this, whenever I think of Riga the first thing I remember is those people.
We were harrased as well. Also lots of scammers pretending they got robbed and need money for their bus ticket home.
@@brooklynasz Isn't that a bit of a retarded statement? Most of the population is vaccinated, ofcourse there will be more infections of vaccinated than unvaccinated.
@@domasa732 Do not try to argue with anti-vaxxer, it is hopeless thing.
1) Where did you get "they banned non-vaccinated" from? No such thing has happened.
2) You must have some pretty bad luck on the streets. I study in Riga (live outside) and have never had a rude encounter with someone asking for money or something - and that in itself happens rarely (maybe once a month).
kaunas is the best, but riga is awsome too :), better than vilnius in my opinion.