RIGA, LATVIA
2016-01-16, 16:44, JASON
STAY: CENTRAL HOSTEL RIGA
After our fun business in Estonia, we headed down to our last destination of our trip: Latvia. A good high school friend of mine is actually from Latvia, and back when he first moved, no one knew -- or really understood -- where and what Latvia was. This was 5th grade, and I'm not sure if our geography programs have improved since then...
Again, Riga is like the other cities we've visited on this trip in that there is a central old town, some churches surrounding it, and some good local food joints. They recently converted to the Euro here so prices had slightly inflated. Nevertheless, this country felt a lot more Slavic compared to Estonia and Finland. Actually, from the three Baltic states, I'd say this one maintained its "Russianness" the most. Other than that, the rest of the city had similar architecture to Lithuania. The Orthodox churches here really shine in terms of building design: tall grandiose ceilings inside, and usually ladened with some sort of gold outside.
When we first get in, we do a self-guided walking tour of some of the sights. Of course, here are the main attractions, such as St. Peter's Church, a Freedom Monument, some museums. The old town is also decked out with small shops along the way, making it easy to browse and get lost in the aisles. What I enjoyed most was the fact that the entire Old Town looked like a model village set, each building with unique facades. But, given my shitty photography, it's a bit difficult to distinguish this.
We took a small detour and checked the outskirts of the Old Town. Came across this really cool street market where people were selling junk that they've found or hoarded. Usually spare bits such as screwdrivers, nails, and random trinkets. Gave me a whole new meaning of what a flea market was: not just a weekend gig propped up at De Anza College, but an actual means of living. Other things that we found were some more communistic-inspired buildings, as well as this Uzbekh bread stand, made by popping the fresh dough in an open-fire kiln. Bought two.. and probably some of the best carbs ever!
Returning into the Old Town, we check out the main Cathedral, go up the clock tower, and take a few pictures of the town from above. We've been up our fair share of clock towers, and it's always fresh to see the city from above. Gives you another vantage point to appreciate the city.
We also heard about a cool area with converted warehouses that were being utilized for art installations and housing new small restaurants and cafés. I think they were going for a Shoreditch / hipster vibe with this one, but when we got there there hadn't been too much yet. One of the art exhibits that we entered (free, of course) was called kim? Yeah, artists, never understood the execution, really. But, that probably says more about my character!
Our flight was early the next morning. Were we excited to do the Baltics? Yes. But, we felt the trip was a bit rushed since we only got to spend at most 1 whole day .5 in these cities. We'd come back for a chance to do more in-depth exploring outside the Old Town, as well as have some more delicious Baltic food!