The Interbull meeting and the ICAR session take place in Riga (Latvia) in the Reval Hotel Latvia in Business Centre. Address: Elizabetes str 55, 1010 Riga.
Official language
The official working language of the session is English.
Translations
Organizing committee will provide translation from English to Russian, if in Session of ICAR will take part more than 50 participants from Eastern Europe countries.
Riga is the capital of the Republic of Latvia, the state‘s administrative and political centre and the largest city in the Baltic States. Riga is located in the coastal lowlands on the banks of the River Daugava, close to its estuary in the Gulf of Riga.
www.li.lv
Latvia’s place on the map of the world has always brought along not only welfare, but also a wide variety of disasters. Often enough the people of Latvia have been forced into a sense of hopelessness. Over the course of the centuries, countless invaders have tried to make this small country on the shore of the Baltic Sea a part of their empires. Latvia is in the very centre of the continent of Europe, and it is no accident that it is often called a bridge between the East and the West. The Latvian capital city of Riga can be accessed with equal speed and ease from Moscow and from the largest cities of Western Europe. Latvia is 64,589 km2 in size, and it has 1,865 kilometers of border - 1,350 on land.
Christianity arrived in Latvia from the West and the East. The church is separate from the state in Latvia, although since the restoration of the country’s independence, the importance of religion in the everyday lives of Latvia’s residents has increased to a significant degree. Increasing numbers of parents wish to christen their children, while young couples more and more often wish to get married in church. Traditionally, the largest denominations in Latvia have been the Lutheran, the Roman Catholic and the Russian Orthodox churches.
The state language in Latvia is Latvian. Latvian is an Indo-European language, part of the Baltic branch of languages. The only two living languages in the branch are Latvian and Lithuanian. Many people in Latvia also speak Russian.
Latvia has fewer than 2.3 million residents at this writing. The ethnic composition of the population has changed again and again over the last several centuries, and Latvia has always been inhabited by representatives of various ethnic groups. Latvia is certainly a multi-national country. The majority of Latvia’s residents have long since lived in cities and towns. Rural regions tend to be quite sparsely populated. At the beginning of 2007, there were 722 485 permanent inhabitants in Riga. The density of the population was 2352 inhabitants per km2.
Average air temperature 2008:
January +0,7 °C
July +16,3 °C
Information: www.meteo.lv
Riga public transport system consists of bus, tram, trolleybus and taxi bus routes, which are running daily from 5:30 up to 23:30. Journey to the centre by taxi bus during the daytime costs Ls 0,45, while during the nighttime costs Ls 0,50.
www.rigassatiksme.lv
The Organizers will not accept any liability for personal injuries, loss or damage of property. The participants are requested to arrange their own insurance for health, travel and property.
Денежной единицей Латвийской Республики является лат (1 Ls = 100 сантимов)
1 Lat (1 Ls = 100 santims)
The Lat is freely convertible currency. The exchange rate set by the Bank of Latvia on 1 January 2005: 1 EUR = 0.7028 Ls The national currency - the lats - was introduced in 1993. You can get 5-, 10-, 20-, 50-, 100- and 500- lats banknotes,and 1-, 2-, 5-, 10-, 20-, 50- santims and 1- and 2- lats. Most Latvian banks are open from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM on weekdays, while some are also open on Saturday mornings. www.bank.lv
Credit cards can be used in Latvia, and the most common ones are VISA International, Euro card and MasterCard. Less commonly found are American Express, Diner’s Club and Eurocheque. All of the aforementioned cards can be used to withdraw cash advances from ATMs.
HOTLINE FOR TOURISTS +371 67001188
| Fire station | 01 |
| Police | 02 |
| Ambulance | 03 |
| Gas emergency service | 04 |
| Inquires | 1180, 1188, 1199 |
| AIDS centre | +371 67543777 |
| Central phone (in case of any accident) | 112 |
www.icar.org
www.interbull.org
www.zm.gov.lv
www.ldc.gov.lv
www.rigatourism.lv
www.meteo.lv
www.rigassatiksme.lv
