I ran out of pages on my passport (first world problems!) so after applying for a replacement passport, I finally got my passport back. This was ready just in time for a weekend trip to Riga in Latvia.

We only stayed here for one night but with an early Saturday morning flight and late Sunday night flight, this was plenty of time to explore the Old Town and city. We also happened to be in Riga the weekend where Latvia celebrated 100 years of independence. The atmosphere was buzzing and there was lots of people around to celebrate and honour those in the Latvian War of Independence.

Things to do in Riga
– Three Brothers in Old Town – the oldest medieval houses in Riga. They are said to be built by three men of the same family over three different centuries.
– House of the Blackheads – this beautiful building is located in the Old Town and was used as a venue for meetings and banquets but destroyed in WW2. It was rebuilt again in 1999.
– Freedom Monument – this monument honours the soldiers killed during the Latvian War of Independence. Most of the celebrations was centred around here.
– Riga Cathedral
– St Peters Church
– Riga Castle
– Nativity of Christ Cathedral – with its stunning gold roof tops, this was my favourite cathedral in Riga.
– Rozena Street – check out this street which is meant to be the shortest and narrowest street in Riga

Eat and drink in Riga
– Skyline Bar – go for an afternoon drink at the Skyline Bar on the Radisson Blu hotel to see the sunset and for the great views of the city. We also ate here on another occasion but I don’t recommend it.
– Domini Canes – we had lunch here and it was probably my favourite of the places we went to in Riga. The trout tartare and salad with prawns and trout were both so fresh and the fish was also very good and they didn’t go small on the portion size!
– Milda – we had dinner here on Saturday night and I highly recommend booking ahead. The pan fried meat and potato dumplings (“cepelinai”) were so hearty and delicious and I had the duck breast for my main which was well cooked and delicious.
– Folkklubs ALA pagrabs – a great pub to go for a casual drink. The food is also meant to be Latvian and hearty but we didn’t get a chance to eat here.
– Limonade Bar – across the road from Ala, was a great place to drink and for a dance!
– Trompete – we were recommended to go here but the service was very average and so was the food!
– Whilst in Latvia, you must try the black balsam liqueur. We had the blackcurrant version which was actually really tasty!
– Other places that were recommended were Riits and Locale for Italian with a Latvian twist and Biblioteka 1 and 1221 which are more fine dining restaurants.

We had a fantastic time in Riga and it’s a great weekend destination especially with cheap flights in the low season of Winter.