Roaming Around Riga (Latvia, N E Eur #6)

Dear Friends and Family,

Four hours from Vilnius, Lithuania by bus, Riga, the capital of Latvia, sits on a wide river, the River Daugava. The river flows through Russia and Latvia, then into the Baltic Sea, making Riga an important trading center. Riga is a UNESCO world heritage site city that was founded by the Germans more than 800 years ago. It has a rich and rather dark history of occupation, similar to Poland, Latvia, and Estonia. As we mentioned in an earlier post, these countries were first occupied by the Soviets, then the Nazis, and then again by the Soviets. Even with their histories of occupation, 2018 is being widely celebrated as their centennial year of independence. Today Latvia is 52% Latvian, 38% Russian, and 10% “other,” mostly Germans and Swedes. One-third of Riga was destroyed by the Nazis during WWII. Then the Soviets began re-building. Consequently, the architecture is an interesting mix of German, Russian, and Neo-Renaissance. The expansive Old Town blends easily into the busy modern downtown.

Our Old Town Doma Plaza hostel room was on the 5th floor, 97 steps up, with no elevator. The inside leaves a lot to be desired, but the building façade is beautiful. The hostel is right in the heart of Old Town, with an upscale bar/restaurant on the cobblestone street below. With its tiny kitchen, shared bathrooms, and odd residents, the place was really funky, but very friendly. We heard great live singers/guitarists from our dining area five floors up above. Outdoor cafes, bars, souvenir shops, and clothing stores line the streets. It was very touristy, but loads of fun.

We were in Riga for three days. One day, we took an informative free (+tip) walking tour through old town. Afterwards, we wandered around a huge central market that is housed in five arched buildings and spills out into the alleyways in-between, as well. One building contained every kind of fish, including the famous “Riga gold sprats.” These are like sardines, but golden colored. Another had every cut of meat imaginable. There was a building for cheeses, nuts, and dried fruit, and another for produce. Bruce sampled smoked salmon and also sauerkraut, while Linda enjoyed raspberries and delicious European coffee. We both found the cheesecake raisin danish irresistible!

Another day, we strolled across the River Daugava to the National Library. It is in a building that looks like a mountain. It was designed by Gunnar Birkerts, a Latvian-American architect. We also visited the KGB building, known as “the corner house. This is where the Russian KGB, aka. “Cheka,” imprisoned, interrogated, and executed enemies of the state. They beat and tortured prisoners so badly. Of the approximately 48,000 people who entered the building, only about 10% survived. Our guided tour was bone-chilling and left us feeling fearful as we exited. We bought a booklet about the museum and its history. Our wonderful guide told us the museum is being shut down this month because Russia is applying pressure. When we go to St Petersburg, we’ve decided not to take our KGB book with us. We’ll leave it at our hostel in Helsinki.

On our third day in Riga, we walked across a different bridge, and happened upon a Latvian Food Festival! Half of the exhibits were local and half were international. We sampled local meats, cheeses, coffee, teas, wines, bread, dried fruit and more. We each received 4 chips to award to the best food stations we found. At the end of the festival, the vendor with the most chips goes to an international food festival. We spent most of our time sampling local cuisine. It was a blast! We also sampled international foods.“Handsome Henri” from Portugal served us delicious coffee. He seemed smitten with Linda and invited us to dinner when we come to Portugal. We all said goodbye with handshakes and double-cheek kisses. Bruce has his business card, which he would like to toss, but Linda is trip-planning!😜 (jk). It was a really busy, fun filled 3 days in Riga!

We are a bit behind on our blog so will close for now.

Love n hugs, BnL

Author: bnlmos

We are a retired couple, together nearly 35 years, who love International travel. Having a "blog" is brand new to us, so have patience as we do our best to keep in touch with our friends and family. Please feel free to comment on this blog or contact us via personal email. brucemos@hotmail.com View all posts by bnlmos