Latvia’s Capital Riga

After getting off the bus, my hostel was a ten minute walk away. For once, it wasn’t raining when I arrived at a new destination, and I quickly made my way to reception.

After my last less then stellar hostel, I was a bit leary of this one. I would be spending 3 nights at the Tree House and hoped that it would be nice. Reception is on the 4th floor of a building, and the common areas are located there as well. It’s not great, but it’s better than the last place. Coffee and tea are free here, too.

Again, I paid a little extra for a private room with a shared bathroom for CAD 70 a night. My room was on the 6th and top floor. There are 4 family rooms on my floor, and two toliets and one shower that is shared. It is actually really nice and quite spacious.

It is located in the old town near many restaurants, bars and sites. I headed down for dinner at a pub right outside the door. It had an amazing Latvian beef burger with bacon jam and coleslaw. They even gave me disposible gloves to wear, which were needed.

The next morning, at 8 a.m., I was off exploring and passed a karaoke bar still going strong. It was an interesting blend of people who still hadn’t made it to bed from Saturday night partying and people heading to church or excersizing on the street.

Park near the center where people come yo run or walk. There are lots of waterfalls, flowers, and statues here.

Sunday morning may not have been the ideal time to visit the churches, but everywhere else was less crowded.

I started off walking a few meters to the Laima Clock, which is a popular meeting point for people. From there, I could easily snap a picture of Brivibas Piemineklis (Freedom Monument), which commemorates soldiers who died in the Latvian War of Independence of 1918-1920. To either side is Bastion Hill, a popular park.

I continued walking past Powder Tower. In the 17th century, it was used to store gunpowder, hense its name changed from Sand Tower. It quickly led to Swedish Gate and City Wall, which is the only surviving part of the cities original fortification from 1698.

From the gate, narrow winding streets, through embassies, lead to St. James Cathedral and St. Mary Magdalene’s Church. Entry into St. James is free, but mass was about to start, so I left fairly quickly. As I left, the bells began ringing, calling people to mass. They rang for a surprisingly long time.

St. James on the left and Mary Magdalen on the right.

Down the road are the Three Brothers. Three adjacent houses, each from different times and styles and are the oldest dwellings in the city. The oldest is the white building from the late 1400s. The middle yellow house is from 1646 and is Dutch Mannerism in style. The newest is the narrow green Baroque structure updated in the 17th century.

From the brothers, I wandered past an Anglican church and nunnary to Big Christopher (Lielais Kristaps), who is regarded as the founder of Riga. There is a whole myth story involved, and in 1683, a statue was placed where the hero supposedly lived. Rīga – Lielais Kristaps (vanderkrogt.net)

Near there is the Presidential Residence and Riga Castle.

A few minutes walk brought me back into the center of the old town and Riga Cathedral and Square. Still, it was Sunday morning, and I wasn’t able to go inside, so I kept on walking towards Townhall Square and the House of Blackheads.

Latvia Radio building off Cathedral Square

The Brotherhood of Blackheads has nothing to do with pimples and is an old order of single male merchants. Their patron saint was the black Egyptian Saint Maurice. Brotherhood of Blackheads – Wikipedia

Traditionally, Christmas trees are put here

In this square is where the first communal Christmas tree was set out, and every winter, there is a Chrismas market set up. It costs 7 Euro to go inside the House.

A few meters away is St. Peter’s Church. It costs 3 euros to enter the church or 9 to include the tower. It is a bit pricey, but the views from the tower are amazing.

Part of the 360 view from the top of the tower

Behind the church is a famous Bremen Musicians Statue, illustrating a Grimm Brothers tale featuring a donkey, dog, cat, and rooster who stand on top of each other.

By this time, the weather was starting to turn, and the dark clouds had rolled in, so I decided I was close to my hostel and should probably take a break during the rain. On the way there, I passed the Cat House, whose cat sculptures on its roof are famous landmarks for Riga. It was originally built in 1909, but the building was destroyed by fire in WWII and rebuilt in 2000.

After waiting out the rain for a couple of hours, I was hungry and went to a traditional Latvian cellar restaurant, Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs. It was amazing. I had a sample flight of local beers with a cheese plate menu. It was all so good that I decided to try the weekend special, hang-over soup (Sojanka) with their seasonal ginger and lemon cider. All of this cost me just 25 Euros. I might have to go back tomorrow.