Riga, European capital of culture 2014

17/01/14 onwards to the cold

Friday! If you look at it, it is simply put the best day of the entire week and today it is even a better one coz this afternoon I was leaving for a short getaway towards the Baltics.

Since I wasn’t leaving until 2 PM in the afternoon, I took advantage of the situation and decided to sleep-in, something which wasn’t really working by the way and after snoozing for about an hour, I decided to get up. After all it was already after 9 AM, a good enough hour to enjoy the best meal of the day, breakfast!

I still needed to pack all my stuff, not that I could take lots with me coz the regulations of the Wizz Air company concerning hand luggage is so strict that I had difficulties finding the right bag, but after a bit of searching (read almost an hour!!!), I did manage.
Luckily I had lots to choose from, the advantage of traveling much I guess, you keep on buying more and more bags in all sizes available!

While I was busy packing, my mum came upstairs and told me she just looked up the temperatures in the capital city of Latvia and guess what … it’s minus 14 degrees!!!! What the ****, I knew it was going to be cold, but THAT cold ???

Just to make sure I wouldn’t regret something later on, I packed an extra pair of thermal underwear and even warm gloves … I grabbed a banana for the road and as soon as my dad started the car, I was more than ready to leave towards the cold. Bring it on!

Traffic wasn’t all that bad and about half an hour later (more or less) we arrived at the small airport of Eindhoven and if I say small, I really mean small but it was cozy nevertheless and did I also mentioned busy??? It seemed that I wasn’t going to be the only one leaving today.

With a little bit of spare time on our hands, the three of us had a quick cup of coffee at the local Starbucks, which tasted yummy as always and about 1 PM it was time for me to say “adieu” to my parents.

Although there was quite a queue at the luggage control, I was glad to be out of there after waiting in line for about 15 minutes or so only to be utterly disappointed that there was only one tax free shop with the usual candy, liquor and useless junk.

It was almost time to board anyway so in a very slow pace I walked towards the gate but upon my arrival they told us there was going to be a delay. No miracle of course, our plane wasn’t even landed yet.

Luckily I found myself an empty seat and the only thing I could do was wait, wait and wait some more.

It must have been more than half an hour when I finally noticed the bright colors of the Wizz Air plane. Secretly hoping it being ours, I was more than happy to notice it coming in our direction and as soon as all the luggage and people were out of the plane, we could board as well.

Yes, finally I could leave for Riga!

Once on board, I quickly found a seat in the back of the plane and while I got settled as good as I could, I noticed the crew doing some safety checks. It looked like they wanted to get out of here as well, who could blame them, there is nothing much to see here!

The flight is a good 2.5 hours and while we are air born, I catch up with my reading. I bought a travel guide of Riga a few months ago, but I am a bit ashamed to tell that I haven’t found time to read it, now is as good as time as ever I suppose.

We’re almost in Latvia when I finish my book, so that means good timing! Since I was lucky to get a window seat, I had more than a nice view on the winter sceneries down below.

Sadly enough as we are landing, it gets darker and darker and by the time we reach our gate it is pitch dark and it is freezing cold as well. Boy, we are definitely not in Belgium anymore!

As quickly as I could, I hurried inside coz it was just too cold. I was looking forward to spending some time in real winter weather, but now that I was actually here, I was beginning to doubt myself, was this what I really wanted!?

Once inside the terminal it was really warm and as soon as I reached the luggage belt, I got a message from Tania telling me that she had a delay as well … it seems that not one airplane was going to be on time.

For the second time today there was nothing else for me to do than wait, but this time around I had the chance to collect a few brochures and tourist maps with the main sights of the city and without even realizing it, an hour went by and I could finally welcome my best travbuddy into the country!

Both not feeling up for it to seek out transportation towards the city, we just booked a taxi and within half an hour we were at our hotel which looked more than fine.

Check-in went very smoothly and as soon as we got settled, it was time to find something to eat, after all it was already after 7 PM.

Since it was just sooooo cold outside, we didn’t feel up to walking through the entire old town and instead we found something yummy to eat at the local shopping mall.

With our tummies filled and our bodies still warm of the heath inside the shopping mall, we dared the cold outside and walked for a while through the many streets of the old town till eventually we got cold again and decided to pay a visit to one of the many coffee thingies we crossed during our walk.

Double coffee is definitely worthwhile and after a glass of mulled wine with something stronger, I must admit that we almost “flew” back to the hotel.

Since it was already quite late and the both of us were really exhausted after such a long day, it didn’t took me too long to get to dreamland!


18/01/14 Cold, cold, cold!

When I opened my eyes, I was surprised to notice it still being dark inside the room and while I was thinking that maybe I woke up in the middle of the night, I knew I was wrong the minute I opened the curtains. It was quite bright outside with little to no clouds at the sky.

Mmmm, maybe it was a mistake not setting an alarm clock yesterday?

One look at our phone tells us that it is past 9 AM, which is a good enough time to get up, get dressed, have breakfast and enjoy a day outside in the cold.

If we thought that it is was cold yesterday evening, we were in a real treat today!

The minute we opened the entrance door of the hotel, it felt like walking into a refrigerator and a real cold one I might add. There were just no words to describe what was going through our minds at that moment.
But now that we were here, we were going to make the most of it!

Our first goal of the day was central market. It was in the vicinity of our hotel and most important, it was inside, so this meant warmth as well.

It didn’t take us too long to get there and although it was almost noon, the place was still a hustle and bustle of people coming and going. I just loved the atmosphere and I was even surprised to see that there was a large market outside as well, selling all kinds of stuff. At one given point I was really interested in the hats, but I was a bit surprised to see the prices, talking about expensive!!!

From the market we walked in a slow pace towards the “Spikeri” district. Although there was not much activity at this time of the day, I must say that I loved what they had done to the old warehouses. Walking a bit further towards the water, we had a spectacular view on the railway bridge as well.

Instead of just gazing at it, we decided to do some more walking. Standing still with these temperatures was not entirely a smart thing to do.

After walking just a couple of minutes, we noticed people going towards the Stone bridge and from a distance we even saw quite a lot of people on the bridge itself.

Yesterday we read somewhere that this weekend was going to be the “inauguration” of the city as cultural capital of Europe 2014. Not a bad thing to tell you the truth and although it came as a surprise to the both of us, it was a welcome one.

There were quite a few events going on today and it seemed that we found the first one, the Chain of Booklovers as they call it. The main idea is to hand over all the books from the old library to the new one using a human chain.

When we came closer towards the bridge, we had a better view on the “human chain” so to speak. In front of us were standing the army of Latvia and after shooting a few pictures, one of them came up to us and asked us to join.

According to our friendly corporal, lieutenant or whatever his rank was, we had to stay because the first book that was going to be passed around was some kind of “magic book”.

If this was true or not, I don’t know, but I must say that they were all eagerly waiting for the first book to arrive. We kept on waiting and waiting, but at the same time we were freezing as well. Several times we were thinking of leaving, but every time the nice guy kept on telling us we had to wait.

I guess we waited for about 2 hours or even more when finally the “magic book” came around. Like I said before, I don’t know if it really was a magic one, but if I have to be honest, there was some kind of a vibe going around, so in a way he was right and I have to admit that it was a magical experience.

Cold to the bone, me and Tania decided to go and have a cup of coffee to warm up and the first place we crossed was Golden Coffee. Although it was nice and comfy inside, we were just so cold that the only thing we did was shiver and hold our freezing hands close to a nice hot cup of coffee.

Still cold after more than half an hour, we decided to take the advice of the army guy and went to a shopping mall in the vicinity of the train station to buy some warmer clothes.

Although it took some searching, a few hours later I scored myself a new pair of ski pants and Tania found an extra pair of thermal underwear. We were more than ready to dare the cold again!

As it became darker and darker, we first went back to our hotel to drop of our stuff and then we were on our way again towards the Daugava river. This evening more events were happening, amongst them the world championship of fire sculptures, a parade of light and last but not least, a light spectacular.

Upon our arrival at the river, we had an amazing view on the illuminated railway bridge. By day it is an impressive one, but by night it is “magical”!

As we walked towards the stone bridge again, we noticed many people in front of us, it seemed that we weren’t the only ones who got excited for the coming events.

We tried to look up the place for the fire sculptures, but it seemed we were too late for that one, instead we had to make do with the parade of lights which was already going on.

There were just so many people up and about that we could only catch a few glimpses of it, but it was sure worth it.

Now that we were still early for the next event, we tried to look for a good enough spot and I must say that we didn’t had to search long. The only downside of it all was the fact that we had to wait almost half an hour in the freezing cold and if I have to be honest, that is a freaking long time!

On the other hand we were a bit lucky that we had music on our side. That helps a bit, but a person can only jump so much you know!?

In front of us were 3 older ladies waiting for the fireworks as well, but every 5 minutes or so, they opened their fur coats and revealed the best cure there is against cold … vodka! It seemed they were a hell of a lot smarter than us two!

Promptly at 7 PM we were welcomed with a lot of noise of the fireworks. Boy, it was just unbelievable! I was even surprised it lasted longer than half an hour, they surely are proud to become the culture capital of 2014 !

After the fireworks it was amazing to see all the people leaving as quick as they could, I guess we weren’t the only ones after all who were freezing. I was glad to see there were more.

As the two of us are walking towards the statue of Big Christopher, we both decided to go and have dinner at Lido’s. According to our guidebook it is a well enough place to taste some Latvian food so … after such an evening, this was just what we were looking for, only at our arrival at the joint it was completely packed. It looked like we weren’t the only ones wanted to taste the local specialties. Bummer!

Since we didn’t want to stand too long in the cold, we walked for a while through the many streets of the old town, only to end up at Friday’s. Never tried this before, we gave this one a go and since they also served Mexican food, the both of us were over the moon!

I must say that didn’t take too long though coz the food wasn’t all that good in the first place, but hey … at least we were in a warm place.

Not really tired yet, we yet again roamed through the streets of the old town, but as it was getting colder and colder, we just looked up the coffee thingy from yesterday and once again we tried one of the yummy warm fluids. This time around I went for the hot mojito and together with a piece of lemon cake … it was heaven!

Just like yesterday evening, we didn’t had any trouble with the cold anymore, I guess the key to it is to drink as much alcohol as possible!
When in Riga ….

By the time we had all our stuff organized and went through the possibilities for our sightseeing tour tomorrow, it was time again to hit the sack. It didn’t take me too long to go to sleep and I can only blame it on the mojito … but hey, it was just so delicious!!!

19/01/14 snooping around town

Today, unlike yesterday, we were a bit smarter and set an alarm clock, which went off at exactly 8 AM.

I have to admit that it was difficult to open my eyes straight away, but since we were planning of seeing as much of the old town as possible, there was no way out, so in not so many words, this meant no snoozing today or at least not long!

Although we had seen already lots of the old town,  it was always at night time, so not really the best of time to take pictures, especially not with these temperatures.

Yesterday evening, Tania and I worked out a walking route of the old town so that we could see pretty much all the sights of the city and as soon as we had some yummy things to eat and made sure we had more than enough layers on our body, we were more than ready to explore the many streets of the city.

Once back in the refrigerator that is Riga, I was amazed to feel that it wasn’t as cold as yesterday, but this might had something to do with the extra layers of course, anyway … I wasn’t complaining at all, it was a welcome change.

First sight of the day was St. Peter’s Church, but in order to reach it, we first paid a visit to the Musicians of Bremen statue located at the back of the church. This bronze statue was a gift of the German city of Bremen in the early 90’s and shows the four animals of the famous German story, to be more precise, the donkey, the dog, the cat and of course the rooster.

Upon our arrival at the church, we couldn’t go inside to have a closer look since mass was going on and instead the two of us decided to go and have a look at the observation platform.

While we were discussing if we wanted to go upstairs or not, there was one person making all kinds of sign language telling us that it was cold upstairs, but we just didn’t care all that much, after all … we came for the views!

But once taken the elevator towards the platform, I have to admit that it was just freezing cold out there and more times than one I had difficulties taking a picture, but the view … AMAZING!

Since it was impossible to stay long at the platform, we waited for the next elevator back down and from here it was but a short walk to the Town Hall Square with of course this impressive building on one side and one of Riga’s architectural treasures, the House of Blackheads on the other side.

From here it was but a short walk towards the biggest church of all, Riga’s Cathedral or Dom Cathedral, which is said to be the largest medieval church in the entire Baltics. This sounded so impressive that we wanted to have a look inside, but unfortunately it was closed. Bummer!

Nothing to do about it, but standing outside in the cold for a few hours wasn’t smart either, so we just walked on in the direction of the Daugava River where we found Riga’s most famous protector, Big Christopher.

Legend states that one day after returning home from carrying the Christ child across the deep waters of the river, the humble giant found a pile of gold which he used to build Riga. For centuries he has been a symbol of the city, and its inhabitants paid tribute to him with flowers and lit candles, asking for his blessing before embarking on a long journey.

The both of us didn’t exactly donated something,  but I secretly hoped he forgave us  and gave us his blessing anyways for travels yet to come!

Just across the street of Big Christopher, stands Riga castle, but when we wanted to take a closer look, the only thing we could see were the scaffolds placed all around the building. Too bad! Maybe this is a sign saying that we have to come back some day.

The next important “sight” was just a few blocks away and is called the three brothers. It took a bit of searching but as soon as we found the right street there was no doubt about it, we finally found it! You certainly can’t miss these “3 brothers” which is basically a housing complex consisting out of 3 of the oldest dwelling houses of this city. They all date from a few centuries ago.

I could hardly take pictures because my fingers were almost frozen and Tania had the same problem with the cold, so the smartest thing for us to do was to look up a warmer place, which we found just a few blocks away at Caif Café.

The only thing I can say about this place is that they have divine drinks. I have never tasted such a delicious warm drink like the warm apple juice with a little bit of extra in it. Of course I already forgot the extra, but it was like drinking liquid “Apfelstrüdel” (German / Austrian apple pie). What I am concerned, you can’t go wrong there coz it is my favorite dessert!  Bottoms up!

It was really cozy at Caif Café, but we still needed to see lots of things so as soon as we finished our drinks and checked the weather forecast, it was time to hit the streets again.

A couple of days ago, I was a bit surprised to notice that everything is closely situated here in the old town, so it took us just mere minutes to arrive at the Old City Walls which turned out to be the best place to buy some amber.

Passing the Swedish gate and the Powder Tower, we followed a cat all the way up to the famous Cat House, only to end up at Livu Square, where it was time to have another break.

One can’t help but have one of course when you see all those delicious sweet things from behind a window. It is just an open invitation if you ask me and the only thing I can say about it all … they have yummy things in Riga!

Back outside again, we were so much intrigued by the sparrows, that we kept on taking pictures, but just like the past couple of days we could hardly stand still for long periods of time, so we moved on towards the Statue of Liberty with a little side track to the park and the canal, only to find out that they have a bridge with love locks here as well.

Walking through the park, we ended up at a total different part of the city, we were no longer in the old town, but on our way towards the Art Nouveau streets which are more than impressive!

As it was getting near lunch time, we tried to look up something to eat, but the only thing in the vicinity turned out to be a Double Coffee thingy. Not too bad  of course and it seems that it is our destiny to try out as many as possible!

This time we went for the pancakes with cheese and mushroom sauce and although it sounded like a weird combo, I must say that it worked and it was really yummy!

Since we still wanted to walk towards the other side of the Dauvaga river, we better made a move on coz it was going to be quite a walk, but when you see lots of nice things along the way, than for me, the distance doesn’t matter.

We were lucky to see the sun go down on the other side of the river, and after a short visit to one of the local malls we had quite a nice walk back towards the old town.

From all that walking we got hungry again, maybe the cold had something to do with that as well and since we still hadn’t got a chance to try out Lido’s, this was going to be our goal for today.

Upon our arrival, it seemed that this time we were in luck coz it wasn’t that crowded and as soon as we figured out it was a self service restaurant, we could order some Latvian food.  I have to admit that it wasn’t a total waste of time coz the dessert was very delicious, but my main course wasn’t all that appetizing and the potatoes were even cold! This was definitely a no-no for me, but at least I can say that I’ve tried it!

It was still early in the evening when we left the restaurant but since it was still cold outside and there was nothing much to see anymore, we just decided to go back to our hotel and try out the wellness part of it. The best idea we had when I am concerned and completely warmed up and relaxed a few hours later we ended up in our room again.

After ransacking the mini bar coz we were so thirsty, I relaxed for a bit on my bed while Tania was going through her work mail, but this was the worst thing I could do because just in mere minutes I dozed off. It seems that I was more tired than I could ever imagined!

20/01/14 final hours

Somewhere in the distance I hear an alarm clock going off and it takes me a few seconds to realize it is ours.

7 AM is really early and we decide to snooze for a few minutes more, but eventually we have to get out of bed because today holidays are over for my travel companion, she sadly enough has to work today.

As soon as we finish our early breakfast, it is back to our room to pick up our stuff and check out, which by the way goes very smoothly but I guess the early hour has something to do with that as well.

Tania has to visit a few travel agencies closely situated at the Vermanes park, so I decided to join her and walk her to her work so to speak … what is a friend otherwise to do!

While Tania was doing her thing, I walked a few blocks along the K Barona Street and ended up at the Orthodox Cathedral, which is an incredibly beautiful church if you ask me.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed  to go inside and instead I just walked around the building which was under construction. Maybe that’s the reason why they didn’t allow people inside or maybe I wasn’t allowed inside because I am not Orthodox?

Oh well, whatever the reason might be, the outside was beautiful enough to take a few pictures.

As I was walking back towards the Statue of Liberty, I suddenly got so cold that I needed to go inside and have a cup of coffee … I could hardly move my fingers, my gosh … it seems I am never going to get used to this cold and coming from me that is just crazy coz I otherwise love the cold … go figure!?

While sitting in the warmth, I got a message from my buddy saying she was early and still had some time between “clients” so we met up again and together we paid a quick visit at one of the local shopping malls.

There wasn’t enough time to have a closer look at some of the stores because Tania needed to go to another agency closely situated at the Laima factory.

Chocolate is never a bad thing, so once again I decided to join her and as I was following the scent of chocolate, I ended up at the museum, which unfortunately was closed. Bummer again!

It seems that in wintertime not many museums are opened, so instead I just walked all the way till the end of the street and ended up at the Great Cemetery.

I must say that I was surprised to see a rather large forest / park if you can call it that, with a few graves scattered throughout the place. Very strange indeed! I must say that I expected it to be more like a real cemetery, but I guess I was wrong and so was my guide book!

While I decided to have a quick walk around, I even passed a few people who were jogging. I must say, that it is the strangest thing I ever saw, but on the other hand … why not!

As I was walking back, I yet again met up with Tania. She still had a bit of time on her hands till she had to visit her last client and together we decided to have a look at the Bergs Bazaar, which was situated in the centre of the city.

Unlike nothing I expected, I guess this place can be very cozy looking in summertime, but during winter … there is not much to see I am afraid, but I have to admit, we did find a cozy coffee place with yummy sweet things and of course we couldn’t pass on that.

About half an hour later I had to say “goodbye” to Tania again, but just like the rest of the morning it was but for a short time. While she was visiting her last client, I stayed at this coffee place and enjoyed the warmth of the place inside with some nice reading materials.

It was already way past 1 PM when Tania’s working day was finally over and we met up again shortly after. As we were walking towards the old town again, we decided to have one last drink since we were leaving the city in just a few hours.

Our destination is Livu Square and to be more precise the Black Cat House restaurant.

Yesterday, Tania noticed they had a special drink on the menu and we really wanted to try this because it was made with Black Balsam, the traditional Latvian herbal liqueur. What a better way to end our short stay here in this city!

It took us a while to find it, the drink that is, but when we did, we knew we made the right choice. I don’t exactly know the name of this delicious hot drink with black currant balsam and other spices, but believe you me … it was goooooooooooooooooood!

Lightheaded and with a smile on our faces, we leave Livu Square behind us and walk in a rather slow pace back to the hotel, but because the distances aren’t that big here in the old town, we arrive at our destination just minutes later.

There wasn’t much to do for us anymore than to pick up our stuff, make a quick phone call to the taxi company and half an hour later we were on the road again, towards the airport this time.

Although traffic was rather busy, we managed to arrive at Riga airport about half an hour later and as soon as Tania was checked in and got rid of her luggage, we could go through customs and find something to eat.

This was kind of a difficult task since it was a small airport, but when it concerns food, we always manage to find something to our liking … pizza it is!
Not noticing how big the pizzas really are, I stupidly ordered one, while Tania (the brains of the 2 of us) was smart enough to order just a slice. The slice on itself was big, so I don’t need to tell you how big my pizza was. Luckily true friends are there to help you no matter what and minutes, minutes and more minutes later, we almost finished this huge but delicious pizza.

I could hardly walk back towards my gate … I was really stuffed. No more food for me today, that’s for sure.

Since my flight was leaving first, I had the company of my best travbuddy till it was time to board and just like my departure a few days ago I quickly found a comfy seat in the back of the plane.

As soon as we got airborne, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep for a bit and it worked as well, coz I woke up just as we were starting to land.

Everything went smoothly and as soon as the doors were open it looked like everyone wanted to get out of the plane as quickly as possible! I guess I was lucky that I had a seat all the way in the back and within 15 minutes I was out of there and on my way towards the arrival hall to be picked up by my family.

Unlike Riga, we had lots of rain on our way back home and although I had a great couple of days in Latvia, I somehow was glad to be back home again as well … strange actually coz that doesn’t happen to me often, I guess the cold had something to do with that!?

Hours later, while enjoying a hot bad, I am reminiscing about the last few days and I must say that it was once again a pleasant trip, also thanks to my best travbuddy of course and I think that there could be a possibility that I might go back again to Latvia some day, but it definitely is going to be in summertime!