Riga – Around the World in 99 Days

Riga

On our last day in Riga we went on a boat ride along what was Riga’s former moat. We waited for the boat down by Riga’s grand Central Market and watched as it appeared from under the canal bridge and slowed to a stop to collect the six waiting passengers.

The captain greeted us all and bustled us onboard. Before we set off, he asked us all where we were from. Scotland, Norway, Australia, we all answered.

‘‘And where are you from?’ he asked the dark haired girl next to me.

‘Germany,’ she answered.

Satisfied, he proceeded to rearrange everybody from where we had settled in order to distribute the weight evenly in his 100 year old wooden canal boat. For stability, he explained.

Finally off we chugged, past the Central Markets and straight out into the massive, choppy river that runs through the middle of Riga, the Daugava. In his 100 year old wooden canal boat.

We were precariously low in the water as the boat pushed its way through the waves of one of Europe’s biggest and no doubt coldest rivers. The 100 year old wooden canal boat rocked in the waves as our Captain passed around his phone with a photo of the boneless fish we should taste at the markets.

This was the point at which one of the passengers jumped to the other side of the boat to take a photo. Stability be damned, the whole boat tipped to the left, leaving us dangerously closer to the river. Still chugging along through the waves.

Oblivious to the peril, our Captain pointed out more sights as we clung to the sides of the boat. Multiple bridges, the church spires, the massive new library, home to six million books. His spiel was interspersed with stories that kept us entertained and dad jokes that kept him entertained.

And at each landmark the errant passenger would leap to the side for the perfect photo as the rest of us steadied ourselves by hanging on tightly and checking where the life vests were located.

After 20 minutes or so we stopped for three new passengers to board and two to disembark.

‘So, we have new people,’ our captain said excitedly. ‘Where are you from?’ he asked the dark haired girl next to me.

‘Germany,’ she answered, ‘still.’

‘Yes of course,’ he laughed at himself as his mate pushed us back from the jetty.

We bobbed about a bit until we heard our captain mutter ‘Why aren’t we moving?’ before he discovered he’d yet to start the engine. Another laugh and a turn of the key and we were off, into the much calmer canal.

We wound around the canal, heads swivelling from side to side as we were directed to more sights. The Freedom Monument, the Latvian National Opera building, parks, canal fountains. An office block, a public school, a restaurant.

Eventually we were back at the Central Markets where we’d started.

‘Thank-you,’ we said as we climbed out.

‘Danke schön,’ he replied happily.

You see, this is what you need a tourist activity to be – informative, funny and with more than a hint of danger.

Five stars. Highly recommend.

Riga

What a fascinating city Riga is. We are staying in the old town in a fabulous art nouveau building, with big windows overlooking the rooftops of the town.

On our first day in Riga we went on a morning walking tour through the streets of the old town. We learnt about the history of Latvia, the occupation by Russia, Poland, Sweden and the gaining of independence – twice. We saw churches, exquisite old buildings, the Freedom monument and ancient walls and towers. We heard about Latvia’s favourite sport, the local foods and Riga’s famous drink – Black Balsam.

In the afternoon we went up the tower of St Peter’s Church for beautiful misty views of the town. We walked along Alberta iela and marvelled at the intricate art nouveau buildings, and later we found the Baltic Way Footprints, the other end of which we’d seen in Tallinn.

To top off a marvellous day we had dinner at Rozengrāls, a 13th century medieval basement restaurant, full of uneven wooden furniture, shields and stone walls. All of the staff were dressed in tights and hessian sacks, although a glance into the kitchen caught chefs in tracksuit pants. The only light came from enormous wax candles on each table. Peppa nearly went up in flames when she bent her head to read the menu.

Our waiter arrived at our table in full serf attire. Pen poised, he began with drinks.

‘We’d like to try the Balsam,’ I said.

‘The Balsam to start?’ he asked, ‘excellent. Is 43% alcohol.’

‘Sorry, come again?’

‘One of each,’ he continued as he scrawled on his pad, ‘traditional and blackberry. BlackBerry only 32%. Only small glasses.’

‘Ok, great,’ said Nat.

She turned to me. ‘Should we try the honey potheen?’ she asked.

‘Moonshine,’ our serf interrupted, nodding and scribbling, ‘good choice, is also 43% alcohol. Three?’

‘43%? Same as the Balsam?’

‘We make it ourselves,’ he said, nodding proudly, ‘three?’

‘One. To share.’

‘One,’ he repeated, scratching on his pad in disappointment. ‘And to eat?’

We started with thick chunks of salted fried rye bread with garlic sauce, so crunchy that Peppa called them ‘jaw defining’. Smoked chicken, venison and lamb followed, all served on enormous piles of barley, with bread that came wrapped in hessian.

And our drinks. They were not small as promised, they were in fact quite large. And quite alcoholic. Our serf presented them to us with a proud flourish.

The Balsam was thick and black and not unlike cough medicine.

‘Tastes like panadol,’ Peppa said after her first sip, screwing up her face. Five minutes later she was singing ‘Holding out for a Hero’ and searching for a knight in shining armour. I guess if there was one to be found anywhere, here would be the place.

Completely stuffed with food and Balsam, our pumpkin pie dessert arrived, along with the potheen. Also in a large glass, and also, unsurprisingly, quite alcoholic.

‘This one’s smoother,’ I wheezed, reaching for my water.

We couldn’t quite finish the pumpkin pie, but Nat insisted it would be rude not to finish our drinks, so finish them we did.

A bit blurry (hee-hee) we had a jovial walk across the cobblestones and back to the hotel.

Our first day in Riga a day well spent.