Last night, I dug through the dark corners of my closet in search of my warmest of blanket scarves.
Scarves of the blanket variety are wholly unnecessary for an autumn here in San Francisco. They’re, however, absolutely critical for a November weekend in Europe, where I’ll be for half of Thanksgiving week this year. I learned this the hard way. Rewind to 2017 when my best friend and I skipped turkey and pie to freeze our tails off in the Baltics.
Oh, the cold! The chill was the kind that coaxed icy tears from our eyes. But these warm weather dwellers did learn a thing or two about winter survival. Zipping up your parka does matter. You should always take off your coat indoors so that your body doesn’t adjust to the extra heat. (Even if peeling off eighteen layers for a coffee is the last thing you want to do.) Hold Hot Hands inside of your gloves. And! Blanket scarves are your best friend.
I look back so fondly on this moody, subtly glamorous city. Allow me to be nostalgic today and reminisce by sharing some of our standout experiences!
Exploring The Central Market
Visiting markets is one of my favorite things to do anywhere in the world. Despite seeing the Central Market repeatedly in my Riga research, it felt more local than any I’d been to before.
Each of the five converted German Zeppelin hangars is dedicated to a different food group: meat, seafood, produce, etc. Easily overwhelmed, Cassandra and I bee-lined towards the section with the fewest people.
We found ourselves in an isolated corner, beckoned over by the sweet scent of caffeine from a little cafe. In eavesdropping on the owners, who were carefully rolling pastries, we realized they were speaking Russian. Whis whole time, we’d assumed that everyone was speaking Latvian! Through our Balkan travels, we’ve picked up some VERY elementary Serbo-Croatian, which has a fair bit of crossover with Russian. As such, we ended up exchanging pleasantries with the cafe owners in Serbo-Croatian-Russian-English-one-word-of-Latvian babel.
Amused by our effort, they insisted on giving us a couple of delightfully crispy crepes to accompany our cappuccinos. This five-minute exchange is seemingly insignificant in the grand scheme of life or even this trip; but in hindsight, it became a pattern. The people we met, however briefly, in both Latvia and Estonia were all incredibly kind, generous, and genuine.
Wandering Aimlessly Around Old Town
Okay so firstly, there were maybe six other tourists in all of Old Town Riga, all of whom we ran into time and time again. There was no. one. there. All the better for us because it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves!
There was a loose list of five or six points of interest that we wanted to hit up. The Cat House, the Three Brothers, some historic, ornate churches, and the granddaddy of them all: the House of Blackheads. Other than a quick glance at Google Maps, we mainly… drifted. The grand spire of a church would tempt us from afar. Streets lively with color and art drew us in. Unable to resist, we’d duck into cozy shops along the way for children’s mittens, books, dainty soaps and lotions. After a couple of hours, we slowly checked off our hit list items: the Cat House, the Three Brothers, churches…
all except for the piece de resistance: the House of Blackheads, the cover of every Riga brochure.
Unbothered, we kept going, noticing that we were re-tracing our steps at certain points. This time, we saw even more: a flock of stately government buildings, a retro movie (or commercial?) being filmed, and we even de-frosted ourselves in a quaint cafe over steamy lattes and gingerbread.
But still no House of Blackheads!
We wandered some more. Re-traced our steps some more. Frustrated now, we located a map but just. could. not. find. the. dang. place.
As these things go, Cassandra declared that we must give it one last shot, aaaaand:
Mission. Freaking. Accomplished.
And clearly, not even a nice photo together to document the feat.
(Turns out a major building nearby was under construction; its scaffolding disguised the famous square, which led us to walk away from it each time we got close. Face palm.)
Thanksgiving Lunch at Lido
Riga’s fine dining scene is developing quickly and furiously, and I was keen to let my tastebuds run wild. But then, I realized:
firstly, it was Thanksgiving. My first Thanksgiving away from home, and I craved hearty dishes that screamed Thanksgiving more than I thought I would.
and secondly, we only had time for one big meal in Latvia. Most of the fancy restaurants boasted dishes with Latvian influence, but typically fused them with another world cuisine. And I really, really wanted to try good old-fashioned 100% Latvian food.
That’s when we heard about Lido – a cafeteria-style institution featuring traditional Latvian dishes. Comfort food. Cabbage salads, borscht, sauerkraut, beets and potatoes, baked chicken smothered in cream, fried pork, smoked fish, and more. It was delightful, stick-to-your-ribs food. We toasted to loved ones back home and to best friends who could make a tavern blasting Latvian folk music half a world away feel like home.
Appreciating Art Nouveau Architecture
I’m no architecture buff. But after hearing that Riga has the highest concentration of Art Nouveau buildings in the world, I needed to see ALL THE BUILDINGS.
Our Airbnb was actually located near Alberta and Elizabetes Streets, the center of the Art Nouveau district. Bundled up in our parkas, we pointed out every sphinx and funky statue and colorful facade in the district to each other, competing for who could find the most extra of them all.
Indulging in Nightcap(s)
Several people recommended drinks at the Skyline Bar on the top floor of Riga’s Radisson Blu at sunset. There was, however, no sun to set while we were in town. Read: winter in the Baltics. We decided to go anyway, and stayed until well after lights glittered on throughout the city in sweeping waves. Even with no sun to speak of, the vista was quite the sight!
Easy Wine was next for a light dinner and lots of wine; its beer-centric sister bar been highly recommended by our tour guide, buuuuuut we’re really more wine people SO. The walls are lined with wines on tap. You purchase a card, and then swipe it at any tap for a generous pour. Adult Disneyland!!!
Finally, during one last Old Town stroll (to find ice cream or chocolate probably), we stumbled upon XL Pelmeni. Google calls it “a dumpling house,” a house I certainly want to live in. In the name of eyes being bigger than stomachs, we eagerly joined students queueing for a late night snack. The woman in front of us in line patiently described the pelmeni, sauce, or toppings nestled inside each pot. Pork, beef, chicken, vegetarian, cheese, fried, steamed, soup pelmeni, the options were endless! We copied her, scooping one tasty choice after another into our bowl and then proceeded to inhale its all in ten seconds flat.
Brunch, Robert’s Books, and Souvenir Shopping
I’m smiling just thinking about this morning. En route to dropping off postcards, we feasted on a brunch spread at a trendy spot that cost us something ridiculous like eleven euros total.
Then, I looked up a bookstore I’d seen on the ‘gram and lo and behold, it was a only few blocks away. Instagram did me SO RIGHT! Hip bookstore and cafe by day, intimate event space and bar by night, Robert’s Books oozed charm. That adorable outdoor nook!
The handsome barista said that he’d whip up a fun surprise drink for us. It turned out to be a spiced cider with blackcurrant tea and Black Balsam, the Latvian national liquor. He asked about our impressions of Riga, shared some Latvian history with us, and eventually pulled up a chair and a map so that he could mark museums and attractions that he thought we’d enjoy.
Our final stop was a small corner market to pick up boxes of honey cookies and tiny Black Balsams in the hopes that we’d be brought right back to Riga when we dug into them at home.
With that, the two of us boarded a bus back to Tallinn to finish off the week!
With its Eastern European atmosphere, Parisian whimsy, and its own special flair, Riga is everything we love in a city. I’m impatiently awaiting the day I find my way back to fully explore its nooks and crannies.
Perhaps in the summer next time, though?
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