A very short hop from our previous Baltic location of Tallinn in our big Northern Europe holiday, was the capital of Latvia, Riga. This city is again a historical Medieval heart, with a modern city around it. However, Riga is much more flat and the castle walls are less defined. We took the 22 bus from the Airport to the edge of the old town. Unlike other transfers that we have done from airports, this was not a dedicated transport – just a regular bus that stops at the airport. The bus frequently stopped, and was quite busy.
Ancient Riga
After we worked out which stop to get off, we dragged our bags along the Daugava River esplanade, and then across some cobbled streets to our magnificent hotel – the Grand Palace – in the same group as our previous hotel at Schlössle in Tallinn. We took the lift up to the fifth floor, opened our room window and saw that the Christmas Market was just down the street.
The Christmas market at Doma laukums (Dome Square) is in the shadow of the Cathedral and was just as beautiful as Tallinn’s Christmas Market. The major difference was the number of food and drink sellers. There were branded spirits bars, but what excited us the most was the number of food sellers cooking over open fires – roasted meats, stews and Glogg. Riga also claims to have the oldest public decorated Christmas Tree from 1510 – but they burnt it down.
The town of Riga is a little more high-rise than Tallinn (on average about 8 stories high instead of 3-4), and the buildings are a mixture of old and new. We explored the streets and found that there was less of a focus on medieval tourist souvenir shops, and instead there were modern department stores and clothes shops. We were intrigued by the CBD shops and availability of cannabis products.
House of the Blackheads
Another square within Riga is the Rātslaukums (Town Hall Square) with the Plac Ratuszowy that was rebuild after World War II, as well as the House of the Blackheads. If you look up what to do in Riga, the House of the Blackheads often comes up first – it is a central attraction. Originally built in 1344, in what I would describe as “freemasons” type of building, as a merchant’s guild for the Brotherhood of Blackheads. The building was bombed in 1941, and then completely destroyed in 1948 by the Soviets.
We paid our entry fee and explored the building. As most of it was rebuilt between 1996 and 2000, it is grand but not very historical – straight walls and even floors, high ceilings and large rooms. We did get to explore the cellars, which are original, and view the silver collections, furniture and the grand ballrooms.
St Peters Church
Nearby, the 15th century St Peter’s Church has a high steeple that has a lift inside. We paid the €9 entry, and walked around the brick-built church before climbing the stairs to the lift lobby. The church has 30m high walls and a vaulted roof, but is not ornately decorated as many European churches tend to be. The altar was ornamented with a simple cross, and there were some large statues and sculptures around the church.
We had to climb four flights of stairs to get to the lift, and waited just a couple of minutes for the single lift to arrive. There was a bored teenage girl collecting tickets, and pressing the button to rise to the top – she just kept scrolling Tic Toc and collected the next people to take down. The view from the top is quite remarkable – the views over the city to the surrounds was quite breathtaking. It is not the total top of 123m, but the lift goes up 72 metres – just enough for us thank you.
Riga
We tried to visit the Powder Tower and military museum – but as it was a Monday, it was closed. However, the nearby park was open, and we enjoyed the lighting by the canal. We walked North, up past the Russian Embassy with the Ukraine protests, towards the street Alberta iela – famous for the Art Nouveau architecture.
One day, we had dinner at Rozengrāls, a Medieval themed restaurant in the catacombs below Rozena iela (the smallest street in Riga). Then the next day, we had lunch at another Medieval Themed restaurant, Lāsīte – not as amazing an experience, but probably one of the most amazingly plated cheese platters we have ever seen.
