RIGA , LATVIA

One weekend, Tom had to return to Houston for some business and as a result would be flying out of Riga International. We decided to drive ourselves there and spend the night before his early morning departure and then I could explore a bit myself the next day before returning to Mazeikiai.

We drove into the old town area which was clogged with traffic and made a couple of miscues trying to find the best parking area. Apparently Sir Elton John was performing that night in addition to the GALA opening of the Latvian Opera season, so it was especially busy. As well the confusing labyrinth of one way and/or limited access streets make it an adventure for the newbie. To top it off, RIGA is now boasting tours of singles tour groups. This is a big phenomena in Europe. HEN parties for the 'chicks', often on a stagette trip. More frequently in Riga though you find the groups on guys on a "sex tour". Basically this is a drunken weekend trolling various strip clubs.....there may be other activities included but I didn't need to know.

So here we were wandering the streets of oldtown Riga on a Friday night, mingling with a large motley crowd of young males from Britain, Italy, Germany, etc., in addition to the regular tourists, such as ourselves.



However, as we roamed the dimly lit, narrow cobble stone streets, looking for a place to have dinner it seemed to us that there were bars and restaurants everywhere.

We found a place for dinner that we initially thought would be good. I was in the mood for pasta and this place boasted international cuisine. As is frequently found in Europe, this was a building that had many previous incarnations before restaurant. Numerous small rooms, narrow stairs, stuccoed or muralled walls, detailed ceilings and cornices give you the picture.

Dinner was a bit of a disappointment, as for some reason they were out of the entire advertised Italian section of the menu. Oh well, schnitzel it is.
Service was available in English and we were able to learn a couple of essential Latvian phrases from the friendly but not overly attentive waitress. We didn't allow this to damper the mood though and we were still able to enjoy a relatively inexpensive meal and bottle of red.

We headed back out to the streets and wandered a bit more, but I was really not in the mood to hit any of the loud bars and was content to people watch.

The next day, Tom left and I was free to explore the streets again in the daylight. Quite a transformation.Riga is a tourist town. Like all of the Baltic area, the economy is improving and construction and reconstruction is evident everywhere as they rush to cash in on the boom. So as you walk through old town, many of the old buildings are undergoing major overhauls. The architecture here is touted as some of the best in the Baltics, as the old burghers apparently had a bit of a status competition.

The photos at the top are 2 different views of old town that I took from the tower of a renovated basilica, St Michaels...shown here.


While still hosting a largely Catholic population, it is not as predominant as in Lithuania. Here you also find numerous Jewish , Russian orthodox and Lutheran churches, many of which are used to house art galleries. So the entire first floor of this building was used for this.

While having a coffee on one of the main squares a small parade came by in full Latvian dress, en route to one of the cultural centres that I never was able to locate.






















I will just add a couple of more pictures to give a bit of a feel for Riga, as I am now about 4 weeks behind on my travel blog and need to enter the next trips. I will say though that I have the feeling that Tom and I will likely be back in Riga a few more times to take in an opera or symphony. The opera is actually generously praised in many reviews I have seen so this would be a treat for us.

So....IKI!