It was supposed to be Thailand. When the Sun Devil said she would not be able to join us for Christmas in Europe, we had originally though that it would be a good time for us warm up a little in a resort in Thailand with a quick side trip to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Given the political unrest in Thailand and our relatively late planning, we decided to postpone that trip for a couple of shorter trips, a bit closer to home. Which is how we found ourselves on a propeller-driven Dash 8 on Baltic Air heading for Riga.
Riga sits on the Coast of Latvia and is split by the Daugava River. We arrived around mid-day, however being so far North, it was already beginning to look like dusk. We stayed at the Gallery Park Hotel, which was a good choice. The location was perfect, right between the Old Town and the Art Nouveau district. The hotel itself is a step back in time but looking fairly recently restored. The young staff were quite attentive and made our stay very pleasant.
After about 3 hours on a propeller airplane, we were quite hungry so set out to find some food after checking in. We wandered around for a little while until we found a small garage themed bar where we could get pork sandwiches and watch some hockey. As with almost all the meals that we had in Latvia, the food was simple but good. Overall, I would have to say that we were surprised with how good the food was. The service ranged from excellent to absent but as a whole you can eat quite well on a limited budget in Riga.
SWMBO and I have spent quite a bit of our travel time recently in countries that were formally behind the iron curtain. It is always interesting to see how the country has adapted since that time. Latvia will switch to the Euro on January 1 but for the moment, the Lat is still the currency. What is interesting is how inexpensive things like locally produced food can be while imported products are substantially more expensive. This seems to result in a very economically polarized environment. Bentlys and expensive restaurants on one end with the Riga Central Market on the other. Not much in the middle however.
The Riga Central Market is vast. It is centered around 5 Pavillions that are repurposed German Zeppelin hangars. Here you can buy anything, food, clothing, housewares, you name it and all at very low prices. The food quality looked excellent and if you are into Eastern Bloc Chic, the clothing pavilion may be right up your alley.
On Christmas Eve, we spent the morning wandering around the Art Nouveau District. It was very near our hotel and is really quite nice. I am often surprised at how much original architecture has been preserved in places like this. Particularly when one considers the successive Russian-Nazi-Russian Occupation history of Latvia. Many of the buildings seemed to be undergoing some level of restoration which is really good to see as some of these buildings are truly spectacular.
One thing that did strike me during our wandering of Riga was the number of security cameras. They are on most every corner. It definitely had a bit of Big Brother feel to the whole thing, which is surprising. Riga generally feels like a pretty safe place. There is very limited pan handling, particularly as compared to Brussels, and even later at night we never felt uncomfortable.
Six days was probably a little more time than we needed to see Riga. I think it would make a nice three or four day weekend, maybe tied to a trip to Tallinn or Vilnius. Next up will be Lisbon for the New Year!
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