On the road: 24 hours in Riga, Latvia
After a chilly weekend in Tallinn, Estonia MA headed back to London while I stayed behind an extra day in the Baltics to see Riga (so close by, seemed a shame not to). The beautiful Pedestrian-only Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site is the perfect place to get lost in for a few hours.
Where I stayed: Hotel Neiburgs - I absolutely loved this hotel! All rooms have a kitchenette and I loved the decor. Also, free private sauna, awesome food in the restaurant downstairs (especially breakfast!), really good service and a perfect location in Old Town.
What I ate/drank: everything I ate in Riga was delicious! Beef carpaccio, beetroot soup with horseradish crème, fresh goat cheese with figs, panna cotta with rye crust and blueberries for dinner as well as a breakfast of cheese curd pancakes with berries, all at Neiburgs; Key to Riga - touristy but tasty and hearty food like drain-your-bowl-worthy sauerkraut soup and crispy potato latkes. The best find of the trip was Art Café Sienna - you’ll pay a ridiculously inflated price for a pot of tea but the setting is just beautiful and the tea is flawless, a chic and cozy spot to warm up with a few cuppas while exploring the Art Nouveau neighbourhood, full of stacks of books.
What I did: I mostly just walked around Old Riga and the Art Nouveau neighbourhoods, admiring the beautiful old buildings and visiting a few small Christmas markets. A few of my favourites around town were the Cat House, the Pink Church (Svētās Trijādības Pārdaugavas Baznīca), House of the Blackheads, the Nativity Cathedral and the Bremen Town Musicians statue outside of St Peters, sauna time the hotel and a honey wrap at Park Spa.
But if you only have one day to spend in Riga try to avoid a Monday - I didn’t plan ahead and nearly everything I wanted to see was closed. If there during the summer months you can definitely spend all day outside wandering around town and admiring the architecture but in the middle of winter you’ll be craving some inside time. A few spots that I tried to visit (but were closed on Mondays) were the Museum of the Occupation at Latvia; the Art Nouveau Museum (although you can still see their beautiful spiral staircase when closed) and St Peter’s Church.
Trams and buses are a really easy to get around town; otherwise, taxis are pretty cheap (note that there is no Uber yet)
Photos (mine, iPhone 6S):
Art Nouveau Museum and neighbourhood
The Pink Church/Svētās Trijādības Pārdaugavas Baznīca
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