After having a great time exploring Ligatne and Sigulda it is now time for Riga which is not that far away. We know that we are approaching Riga when the traffic gets progressively more busy and trolleybuses, a staple of major European cities, appear in front of us. This is even though we are still in a wooded area but that changes fast.
As we get closer to the downtown area we start seeing more impressive buildings, they really whet our appetite for the next two days that we are going to spend here.
The last kilometers the traffic is more snarled until suddenly everyone disappears (due to a stoplight) it feels we are the only car for a few meters, that is quite fun. Then we drop the bags at the hotel and return on one way streets to find the parking place for our car rental and then it is time to find the dropbox for the keys. We bring it to the hotel nearby but the guy at the reception tells us that it is actually a different hotel with the same name further away that is the right one. We find also that one and happily we are rid of the key and now can explore the city.
We return to the hotel to unpack a bit and explore the room before going outside to look for something to eat for dinner.
The restaurant we choose is close by and is actually a chain of self serve restaurants that was highly recommended in the reviews we have seen and read. It is quite easy to pick up the food and order and with our tray full we are ready to taste and see if it is as good as advertised.
And yes the food is quite good especially the potatoes with mushrooms and the crepes we really like them and even take seconds until we are quite full and then it is time to explore Riga while there still is sunlight.
Riga is well known for its beautiful buildings and we pass already a few as we move towards the park that surrounds the old center.
We soon arrive at the Independence Monument, it is quite dark already when we arrive and the sunset provides a beautiful backdrop for the monument.
We do not go far only to a plaza just inside the old center which is quite busy. There are lots of restaurants and even a few open stores and after exploring a bit it is time to the return to the hotel.
We return on a slightly different route passing the massive and impressive Orthodox Church and lots of buildings with Ukrainian flags or colors. As in Estonia, Latvia is one of the countries firmly on the side of Ukraine given the history of conquest from Russia. And then we are at our hotel and given that we are quite tired are soon asleep.
As we wake up in the morning we discover that our room being on the top floor has a bonus, a small balcony from where we can enjoy the views of the city. We cannot see far but still it is nice to be able to get outside and get some fresh air before going down for breakfast.
This is the first hotel we stayed in since we are in the Baltic countries and the first time we have breakfast included in the rate. And the breakfast is like the typical European breakfast quite expansive with many choices and a very good way to start our day.
The previous day we had a lot of trouble to enter the hotel parking area as the gangway was quite narrow and the traffic on the street quite serious but we made it without scratching and today we have time to wonder how we ever pulled it off. The hotel itself is located inside an interior courtyard, the parking area, but it is not the only business, only a side of the courtyard is occupied by it.
As we exit onto the street we have driven the day before we notice it is way more empty and devoid of traffic compared to the previous day. We decide today to start exploring first the area just outside the old city walls, which is part of the Art Nouveau quarter. But instead of going towards the famous Art Nouveau buildings, that we plan to visit tomorrow, today we just plan to explore a less touristy area close to the hotel.
While this is not the main Art Nouveau area this does not mean that it is not an interesting area with many beautiful buildings. As a bonus in this area there are some of the only remaining wooden buildings from the olden days with most being burned during various city conflagrations.
Next we pass St Gertrude’s, an impressive old church that we admire from different points of view. But what we find most impressive is the pigeon whisperer in front of it, a tourist (?) holding a pigeon on its hand which seems to be quite friendly. We are entranced but don’t want to gawk so we move on.
We continue exploring the area, which is quite interesting and pass a few more wooden houses and quite a few francmason mansions that we follow for an adventure lab but then it is time to change our direction towards the old downtown area as it is getting late in the day.
The houses here continue to be mostly beautiful Art Nouveau ones but there are also a few more modern ones which also are quite interesting architecturally.
We also enter multiple stores on the way but most of them are quite expensive. Still we find one where the pricing structure is quite weird it is by the kilogram and the price decreases each day as we assume the most special clothes are bought in the first days. Still it is quite interesting even though we don’t anything, wonder if this made it over to the US already.
And then after another stroll near beautiful Art Nouveau buildings we reach the garden ring of old riga, where we assume the old walls were standing protecting Riga proper during medieval times.
Now instead of the former walls there is a string of parks and canals that we will pass repeatedly during the days we are spending here. There are also quite a few statues obviously, there is a lot of space to place them all around Riga.
We start our visit with the Opera House, it is an impressive neo-classical building and a good entrance point for us into the warren of pedestrian streets of old town.
We now enter the pedestrian area going towards the Powder Tower to visit the War Museum which is our first major goal for the day.
The buildings here are quite impressive and well renovated and we enjoy our walk through the downtown area as we make our slowly towards the Powder Tower for a visit described separately.
Really close to the Powder Tower we find the Cat House one of the famous buildings in Riga built in 1909. It is said that the cats on the house initially were facing the Great Guild Hall which is close by due to a conflict with them but a judge ordered them to be turned a different way after a brief trial.
Now it is time to make our way to the Dom using the map we have taken from the hotel and google maps of course. We pass through some large plazas with beautiful buildings and restaurants that are not yet open as we make our way through the maze of roads and alleys towards the Dom.
There are multiple stores on the way and most are closed but we still window shop along the way for amber and of course anything sweets related.
Some of the alleys are very beautiful we especially like the so called narrowest street in Riga which is quite pretty and scenic.
The Dom Plaza is very impressive with many grand historic buildings surrounding it with the most impressive one being of course the Dom.
We spend some time in the plaza enjoying the great views of the Dom. It was built in 1211 by Livonian Bishop Albert of Riga, who came from Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany. It is considered the largest medieval church in the Baltic states and is really impressive from up close. Nearby is the Radio Building which looks like someone cut it in half, at least to us.
Another beautiful building on the plaza is the Riga Bourse, an orange building with a beautiful facade now housing part of the art museum.
Very close to the Dom Square are the “Three Brothers”, an iconic trio of buildings. Together they form the oldest complex of dwelling houses in Riga and there is a story that they were inhabited by descendants of the same family, which is where the name is coming from.
We continue exploring the area passing by St Jacob Catholic Church, an old church dedicated in 1225, which surprisingly is both open and free to enter so we do just that. While under renovation the interior is nice enough and we enjoy the quick stop.
We continue exploring the area as it is quite beautiful with some narrow alleyways and colorful buildings around every corner.
Slowly we make our way towards the next goal for the day, the Town Hall Plaza, which has a few other major attractions in Riga.
And it is as we expected quite beautiful, even though we know that many buildings have been fully reconstructed and quite recently after being destroyed in WW2. But we are getting hungry so why not making a detour to explore the Central Market, described here, and see if we can find something to eat?
With no luck in the Central Market we return downtown and look for a restaurant. The restaurant we choose is Province, it is the only one we have seen in the downtown area to have a local specialty drink, kvass. Kvass is in a way the Nordic countries response to beer as the grain production here was insufficient for beer. We don’t particularly like it but it is also not bad and we are glad we tried it.
The food itself is very good and filling, just what we wanted. Soup in a bread is always welcome but the highlight are the so called zeppelins, they are very good and something that we haven’t eaten before.
Now we return to the Town Hall Square to explore it in more detail. One of more interesting details that we missed previously is that the square holds a monument on the supposed site of the first Christmas tree in 1510, the first ever Christmas tree according to legend. The other attraction of course is the House of the Blackheads which was restored around the year 2000 but was originally built in the first third of the 14th century for the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried merchants, shipowners, and foreigners in Riga..
We now continue exploring the city, as it is late afternoon there are fewer people around and we enjoy getting lost and just gawking at the different buildings.
One of the details we didn’t notice before is that some doors have paintings above them. They can be quite funny or sometimes religious but it is an interesting detail.
Otherwise the buildings are very special and we stop to look up all the time to take in the details, like to fox guarding the henhouse on a building which is quite a fun detail.
As the sunset is fast approaching we pass again the Dom and this time we find something we looked for also the first times but never found, the statue of the Bremen Musicians. It is quite interesting to see it again after seeing the original in Bremen a lot of years ago, we are also curious what is their relationship with Riga, a bit of internet sleuthing reveals that Riga and Bremen are sister cities and the statue is a gift from the city of Bremen.
Many sidestreets are now deserted and they are also quite scenic, we really enjoy how they look in the sunset colors.
We reach now the market place that we also reached the previous day, there is more light today so we are a little bit earlier but not by much. The buildings here are still impressive and today we decide to return a slightly different way.
This takes us past one of what we think is one of the most beautiful buildings in Riga. It has a stark, interesting contrast between the white house and the small dark brown windows on multiple levels. And then it is time to pass through one of the few, we assume restored, gates remaining. Restored or not the gate is quite scenic also.
The restored city wall is quite beautiful also even though it is only a short stretch. It also looks quite interesting in the sunset and we enjoy our short walk but we are already quite tired so it is time to move towards the hotel.
This time we cross the canal on a bridge full of locks, it is one of those bridges that likely will break under the weight of the many locks, quite scary :). Then we pass again the Independence Monument, this time earlier in the day than previously and continue towards the hotel.
The route we follow takes us past a few embassies and a couple museums that we scout for tomorrow. The museums seem impressive, at least from the outside and we still can’t decide which one to visit tomorrow.
The last part of our return trip to the hotel takes us again through the Art Nouveau quarter, this time the most well known part and we pass a few special buildings before finally reaching the hotel and almost immediately falling asleep after our really long (15 km?) walk today as we are quite tired.
