A girlie weekend in Riga is definitely not the same as a stag weekend in Riga. On the flight out there were two stag ‘parties’, a load of lads who barely know each other thrown together a thousand miles away from home and expected to have a fun weekend drinking lots of beer. Luckily, they didn’t decide to start drinking on the flight although I did notice one of the stags (or is it ‘bridegroom-to-be’) removed his wedding dress at the border control in Riga. I was sat next to a very friendly Latvian marine engineer whose English was excellent but I think a few of the conversations went down some weird rabbit holes, particularly when we were talking about copper piping.
Our AirBnB was centrally situated and the owner clearly loved rope. Every light-fitting involved about 10 lights hanging from various forms of rope. I had a narrow bed which felt a bit small and the cushion-as-a-pillow always feels wrong to me. However, as I soon found out, actually sleeping in the bed was just a challenge in itself. It seems the partying never stops in Riga and the cobbled streets act as natural loud speakers.
But I am rushing ahead. We ventured out for beers before dinner and found a Michelin recommended restaurant, Tails, which was a 20-minute walk away. I had read about Latvians love of sprats, so we ordered some, along with some padron peppers, tuna tataki, and fish tacos. It was almost like being in Vejer and Arizona in one sitting. The butter was pretty.
It seemed like the stag carts (you probably have seen them in other cities – 10 or so lads appearing to cycle while sitting at a bar with a glass samovar of beer) go through the night. At one point during our first night I thought I heard a shot but it was just my 3am mind playing tricks.
Feeling less than rested, but actually not too bad, we went for breakfast at the Big Bad Bagel place – a second choice as the ‘This Place Has No Name’ was closed. Interesting name given the history. I had read a review that the bagels were freshly made each morning and that the Bacon in Mexico bagel was tasty. It was. The service everywhere was extremely slow and seemed to get slower and slower as the trip unfolded.
The more efficient member of our girl gang had pre-booked a tour guide for the day. A big thank you for that. Harijs (say Harrys) was probably one of the best tour guides I have ever had. He was funny, had an amazing mind full of stories and facts, which mingled in a way that kept you guessing what was true and what wasn’t. It was Latvia, after all. He was a teacher and if he had been my teacher at school, I would have looked forward to his lessons more than any lessons I attended ever. He started by asking if we knew any famous Latvians. We ummed and errd and then he put us out of our embarrassment by saying he loved asking that question and watching the guilt fall across our faces. There were so many highlights, honestly. At one point we were standing outside The Three Brothers which is the Latvian Museum of Architecture. There were two guys standing outside it playing a tuba and a french horn. Harijs explained that they listened to which language the group of tourists spoke and played a tune which they felt represented the tourists’ country in order to get good tips. It just so happened that the group standing next to us were from the Ukraine and Harijs recognised the tune immediately. As the group disappeared inside the museum, the band started playing a tune that sounded like ‘Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag’ but was definitely not that. The most musically astute member of our girl band recognised it. The most moving moment came when the Ukrainians came back out and the guys played a haunting song that Harijs explained was a sort of anthem that the soldiers were singing, well everyone in Ukraine are singing. Will not forget that moment. Harijs then lead us through the art nouveau area and told great stories about the architects who he seemed to have known personally so great was the detail but obviously he wasn’t alive in the early 1900s. It just felt like he was.
He also told the story of when he was about 7 years old and he was celebrating his name day and he learnt of the death of a child in the 1991 in a time of increased Soviet military activities. Until that moment, his parents never discussed politics with him. If you grow up in an environment when you can’t trust anyone for fear of being reported, it must have an everlasting impact on you. I think the fact that he called his tour company Honest Tours is actually very meaningful.
We ended the tour at the Central Market which was in five Zeppelin hangars; a meat hangar, a fish hangar, a cheese hangar and then a couple of others with a mixture. We tasted some freshly made cheese with rye bread and hemp paste, some delicious smoked pork, bbq chicken wings, some pickles (well, lots of pickles) and ended with some toffees.
If you find yourself in Riga, definitely book a tour with Harijs. https://honesttours.eu/#aboutus
The Russian embassy now stands on Ukraine Independence Street and opposite the exit is a medical museum with a great banner.
There were so many interesting places that we didn’t have time to go in and see everything – the barricades museum was one that I sadly didn’t get to, and the Dome Cathedral has the largest organ in the world, or maybe the largest wooden organ, or maybe Harijs was embellishing a little. But we didn’t have time to go in. Definitely worth a visit though.
Saturday night we went to Kolonade on Harijs recommendation. Again the service was a bit slow but our resident wine expert chose a lovely white wine which went well with (so many Ws) the fish. I think the fish was cooked sous vide as it was a weird texture.
After a better night’s sleep, say four hours rather than the previous night’s two, we set off for three places we decided to investigate further. The first was St Peter’s church tower which handily had a lift to the viewing platform. Great views of the city!
Next stop was the art nouveau apartment that was maintained exactly as it was when the architect lived in it. Bit disappointing but the stairwell was awesome!
The next stop was the KGB museum. Initially I had been keen to see this but in the middle of the night while I was unable to sleep I read some reviews. By the morning, I had decided that I would go and see the free bit but not join the tour. As I get older, I know there are images that I would rather not have seen. My feeling here was that there were rooms in the KGB museum whose walls would have such darkness that that my ever-shortening life did not need to see. I understand the notion of “lest we forget” and that it is very important to acknowledge the terrors of how humans can treat each other. So I watched a film of some survivors and waited for the girls in a coffee shop. I think I made the right choice.
To wash away the horrors, we went to the seaside! The train was great – and took us all the way to Jūrmala. The Baltic Sea was warm – no tippy-toeing for me. It was very shallow and unsalty. So more like a lake really. There was a sandy beach and we bathed and basked for a good few hours. Our next trip has to involve a beach or a swimming opportunity (not cold water).
We were worn out and full from a great meal at a Georgian restaurant and some beers on the way back that took about an hour to arrive at our table, so plumped for a local pizza place for our gala dinner. It was an ok pizza but wouldn’t win any awards.
I slept well (must have been all the swimming) and the last day, we bade farewell to two of our mates, and we went in search of a good breakfast and some funky art. We found both. The breakfast was homemade sour dough toasty and yummy coffee.
The art gallery reminded me of Tate Modern. It was housed in an old cork factory and there were two exhibitions.
There were some amazing pieces in both exhibitions. But the one we both liked was entitled ‘Two Sonnets’. My cleverer friend noticed that the two installations had some matching items and probably, if spoken in Latvian, might have some kind of rhythm. But even if they didn’t, it was a great way to interpret the objects.
So with a storm brewing in Riga, we headed to the airport and flew home. The same stag parties were on our flight – no wedding dress this time. I hope they have great memories of their trip. I know I have. thanks, Ricky Roaders for another fab trip – see you again next year!
Snoo's kitchen 