What we have loved most about being in Europe is the close proximity to so many exciting destinations and what makes it even more attractive is the cheap airfares. Ryanair had €21 fares to Riga, about a two hour flight from Bremen. We had not been to Latvia before, we have been to Tallin in Estonia and we enjoyed our time there. Latvia, being a former Soviet Union country like Estonia, we had expectations of it being just as nice.
Riga! 
Old town
Our neighbors in Hude offered to look after Carlo the cat while we were away, as we looked after their rabbit when they went to Sweden earlier in the year. We flew on a Monday and returned on Friday giving us a good amount of time to explore the city.
We started off by doing a walking tour of the city. The arrangement was to meet our tour guide with a bright yellow vintage suitcase at the rear of St. John’s church and we had no trouble finding her. Our tour guide was a young girl from regional Latvia and was very proud of her heritage.
Our tour guide 
Monument of Freedom 
Nativity Cathedral
Amongst visiting many landmark buildings we were taken to the market halls, which are apparently the largest fresh food markets in Europe- the Valencians told us their market was the largest so I think someone is telling porkies!
Market 
Fruit & Vegie hall
It was actually an informative tour and our guide spoke authoritatively with confidence and pride. She was rudely corrected by a Russian couple a few times but she carried herself well and managed to put them back in their box without making too much of a scene. The rest of us were left wondering why they bothered doing the tour when they already knew everything! It was a ‘free’ tour but at the end, most of us put a generous amount of money in the hat- we don’t think the Russians did!
Main square 
Old town
3 Brothers 
Old wooden homes
The tour ended at around lunchtime. The cold weather together with the long walk had built quite an appetite. When we separated, our tour guide pointed us in the direction of where we could find some restaurants but we ended up in a park with no restaurants in sight. I took a chance and asked a passing woman if there were any restaurants in the direction she came from, and to our surprise she spoke English and was very helpful. After a brief chat, we learnt she was originally from Russia. It was quite a surprise to us as most Russians we have come across seemed to be more like our friends in the tour group! The woman in the park was refreshingly cheerful and happy to chat. We went directly to the restaurant she recommended and she was spot on. It was as traditionally Latvian as it could get and busy with locals from nearby businesses. It took a little working out but after watching a few people ordering we established that you can select from the many mouth watering trays of food and the plate would be weighed after each addition to determine the total price. It was quite novel and a great way to sample many different dishes at a very reasonable price.
Our apartment was in the old town right by the river. An extremely old building as you may imagine. Our initial impression of the entrance hall and stairway to the fourth floor wasn’t brilliant but we have learnt from previous stays in period buildings around Europe, that there is no effort in restoring and heating the common areas and once the door to the apartment was opened, we were relieved to see it was cheerfully renovated and toasty warm. So warm in fact, it was almost tropical- and not adjustable!
Our building 
Our view
Our days were spent walking and exploring the charms of the city. Forty kilometres actually. Pretty good effort I thought especially considering we were wearing boots and the cobblestone roads raised the difficulty factor.
Old streets 
Main Square 
Old streets 
Roland & Rathaus
Old restaurant 
Old style meal 
Beer bike- pedal for power 
Bremer Stadtmusikanten
We were entertained by a Korean film crew producing a medieval movie in the old town complete with stunts on horse drawn carts and convincing props. The cast and crew were actually staying at a hotel near our apartment and we can confirm that they party as hard as they work during the day!
Linda convinced me to go along to hear the pipe organ in the Dome Cathedral. Apparently it’s the second largest mechanical pipe organ in Latvia and was highly recommended. Ten Euro a head to listen to the thirty minute performance! I couldn’t stand sitting in church for an hour every Sunday as a child- and I didn’t have to pay! So you can imagine I was a little reluctant but it was pretty impressive- even though we couldn’t see the woman playing from where we were sitting and had to settle for a projected image of her on a large screen.
Riga Cathedral Pipe organ 
Riga Cathedral
A walk back to the markets to wander around at our own pace was the order for our last day. A host of merchants in one of the large halls offered all sorts of delicacies so we sampled a few, and went back to some for seconds. The traditional local drink, ‘Black Balsam’ is also available and plentiful in the hall so we tasked ourselves to sample all the variants.
Fruit & Vegie hall 
Fresh Fish hall- Caviar €750kg
When it was time to head to the airport, we were so acquainted with the city we effortlessly found our way there using public transport in plenty of time to have dinner before boarding our flight back to Bremen, where we were picked up by our friendly neighbours and driven to Hude to continue in our duties of looking after Carlo.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable week enjoying a new city. We hope to also visit Vilnius in neighbouring Lithuania some day. If we stay in Europe long enough, I’m sure we will.
People ask us about how we get our house sits. This is the main website we use. https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF147238/
If you use the link above you will also get a discount on membership.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.
Enjoy
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