Riga, Latvia
To be honest I had never even heard of Riga, Latvia or knew where it was. With only a month and a half left, you stick me on a plane and I am pretty much willing to go anywhere.
Latvia is located in northeastern Europe bordering Russia, and on the other side is the Baltic sea. We were really hoping to go to Saint Petersburg Russia, but the VISA requirements were a bit tougher than expected for us to make it there in a short window of time, so we settled on Latvia instead.
Neither of us had been to Latvia before and didn't know what to expect. Riga is the capital city and has about 700,000 residents. This is quite large considering the entire country is just over 2 million people, and it is the largest city of any of the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia). One of the features Riga is best known for is the large open air and covered markets. We got the same kind of eastern European vibe at these markets with lots of meats, cheeses, all sorts of pickled vegetables, like local style sauerkraut, and beer as we had from Poland. One of the most famous dishes was what resembled a pea soup, but rather than peas you use a garbanzo looking bean without smashing it up. It was delicious! We also saw a lot of the same traditional clothing with white shirts and colorful weaving as you would have from other eastern countries.
I expected a smaller and less kept city, but to be honest it was beautiful. The streets are small with cobblestone laid in the streets. We are always so impressed to see women in high heels risking their ankles for fashion. The buildings were maintained and the parks were some of the best we have seen thus far. We even managed to see the president of Latvia walking out of the church right next to our house. During a tour he was attending a funeral service at the most prominent church and there were two cars parked outside with the Latvian flag. We thought no way, but our guide explained that it was the presidents car and he was inside, then sure enough president strolled outside with five people, waved us a quick hello, got in and left as if he were a normal guy. Not exactly how you would see a US president do it.
While we were there the Buddy Bear traveling exhibit was visiting Latvia. It is a German idea that recognizes a bear for every country in the United Nations. One of the main bears recognizes human rights and unity to bring all countries together in shared existence. The bears are world travelers to major cities on all continents, spreading the idea to unite the countries and were sent to Latvia to help them celebrate their 100th anniversary of independence!
Since we haven't gotten in beach days since Croatia we decided to get it while we could and hit the sands of the Baltic Sea. Visiting the small beach resort towns is only a 40 minute train ride from central Riga and cost $2 for each of us. Since the weather was so good and visiting was easy we decided to go two days. The train ride out and back each day was pleasant, watching the countryside go by.
The beach looked like California minus the waves! Both days we got some fancy lounge chairs on the sand and sipped Coronas and read our books. For the most part the waters were calm and the beaches were filled until about 2PM when a full downpour came along and drenched us. As I am sure many of you have seen this dress before (with my selected closet) it is normally a bit brighter without the two pounds of rain water sitting in it. All in good fun!
Besides visiting the beaches, we spent the other days touring around the town seeing the sights, eating local food, and a bit of shopping. Not a ton of museums or major attractions so we didn't have particularly full days.
Neither of us had been to Latvia before and didn't know what to expect. Riga is the capital city and has about 700,000 residents. This is quite large considering the entire country is just over 2 million people, and it is the largest city of any of the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia). One of the features Riga is best known for is the large open air and covered markets. We got the same kind of eastern European vibe at these markets with lots of meats, cheeses, all sorts of pickled vegetables, like local style sauerkraut, and beer as we had from Poland. One of the most famous dishes was what resembled a pea soup, but rather than peas you use a garbanzo looking bean without smashing it up. It was delicious! We also saw a lot of the same traditional clothing with white shirts and colorful weaving as you would have from other eastern countries.
https://www.masterfile.com/search/en/latvia+traditional+dress+males
While we were there the Buddy Bear traveling exhibit was visiting Latvia. It is a German idea that recognizes a bear for every country in the United Nations. One of the main bears recognizes human rights and unity to bring all countries together in shared existence. The bears are world travelers to major cities on all continents, spreading the idea to unite the countries and were sent to Latvia to help them celebrate their 100th anniversary of independence!
The beach looked like California minus the waves! Both days we got some fancy lounge chairs on the sand and sipped Coronas and read our books. For the most part the waters were calm and the beaches were filled until about 2PM when a full downpour came along and drenched us. As I am sure many of you have seen this dress before (with my selected closet) it is normally a bit brighter without the two pounds of rain water sitting in it. All in good fun!
Besides visiting the beaches, we spent the other days touring around the town seeing the sights, eating local food, and a bit of shopping. Not a ton of museums or major attractions so we didn't have particularly full days.
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