My hostel is right in the middle of the Old Town, just around the corner from the Town Hall Square and along the street from the rather uninspiring looking Riga Castle - the Presidential residence. This part of Riga has some buildings which date back to medieval times, with many from the Renaissance and Baroque times - it creates quite a mixture of styles. Riga is notoriously a place for tourists to come for nightlife and drinking - many of the buildings in the Old Town are bars or restaurants.
Here’s a photo of the street my hostel (the Blue Bird) is on, followed by a couple of the street off which my short street runs. The wee buildings with the striped rooves are, I think, to be used for the Christmas market.
The Town Hall looks a bit plain compared with the other buildings in the Square - the House of the Blackheads (second photo on the right) was first built in the 14th century and used as a guild for unmarried merchants, shipowners and foreigners. It was destroyed in a bombing raid on 29 June 1941, then the remains were demolished in 1948. It’s not until 1999 that the rebuilt building was opened to the public, and it is mainly used as an events centre, although it has a small museum as well.
I try hard, but in the four or so days I am in Riga, I never find a really good source of coffee, although I do like the look of this café, despite the rather inane posters they have put up inside. I drink downstairs then pop upstairs to see what it looks like.
The Latvian Parliament Building is also quite plain, sitting beside Saint Mary Magdalene’s Church of Riga.
Some of the buildings around town have interesting decorative features.
There are a few churches around the place.
And now for some more or less random shots of buildings, starting with one that strikes me as being very narrow.
It is a pity that it is so cold here - even when the snow has gone - and that there are so many cobbled streets, because it is a marvelous space to walk around. It’s also a space in which it is very easy to get lost, but that’s fine, as it just means I get to have a good look round.
I think it is time for a change from the canteen food, so go to Peppo’s Contemporary Pizza bar - which I discover when I get there is not just the best pizza place in Latvia, it is the 27th best in Europe. What I don’t know is which body says so - I have found their website, but it seems to just be an online guide. The ingredients are good, but the base is so floppy I need to roll up my pizza sectors (which I have to cut for myself) in order to eat it.
Cheers!