Today we are driving to Riga, Latvia – a medium long drive of only 4 hours which ends up being quite pleasant, with rest stops, stops at the beach alongside the Gulf of Riga and lunch in a truck stop cafeteria, that is called a “bistro.” When in Latvia….

The scenery along the way is interesting, lots of forest and lakes and water. Plus old houses and little villages. Never boring, plus with the Wifi, you can do most anything. And Ieva is narrating all the time, as well as giving us tons of history and interesting facts about all Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, most of which I’ll not bore you with here. But some things are fascinating, like the fact that as we move south, we will gain 1 million in population in each country. And that Estonians are considered to be northern people, calmer, hard to make friends with, but if you succeed you’ll be friends forever. Lithuanians are more excitable, more prone to anger and outbursts. Latvian are neither fowl nor fish, somewhere in-between. Interesting.

Our first stop is for lunch at the truck stop, Via Ikla. Combination rest stop and food, we order the Solyanka soup (which Ieva told us was a specialty – a thick soup with cured meat and sausages) and a pork goulash that I thought would be more like a soup type goulash, but it was sautéed in some gravy and served over french fries? Good – but definitely not what was expected! then we made the disastrous decision to buy some snacks for the road and the room. Ugh. It took forever to pay for them as there were 2 security people in front of us who constantly talked, asked questions, ordered weird things! Sigh. Virtually the last people on the bus…hate that.

Anyhow, after that, we made a brief stop to walk on the beach along the gulf, then moved on into Riga proper to check into our hotel.

After we all ran to our rooms quickly, Ieva then took us on a short orientation walk across the street from the hotel, past the gorgeous orthodox church with its gleaming gold dome, across the canal and through a lovely park, before ending up at the freedom monument, which was supposed to be our last stop. But Ieva, being Ieva, actually took us on to the market, which she raved over as it was so big and full of produce and meat and anything you would want. Originally built for military use, the 5 semi circular buildings were never actually used by the military. They became this farmer’s market, the biggest covered farm market in Europe and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sadly though, it was closed due to maintenance. She was so disappointed! It was still a lovely walk and very interesting to imagine what the market would be like open and teeming with people.

Once done with the market, we peeled off in search of a grocery store for supplies, marveling at the fabulous architecture all around us. And this is only a fraction of what we’ll see during the rest of our stay in Riga. Beautiful.

Back in the room we freshen up, then head to the awesome rooftop bar for a drink and views before dinner.  This is definitely a go-to place for drinks, and if we are lucky enough, maybe sunset tomorrow night.

Then we hopped on the bus for a mini-city drive on our way to our group dinner. The drive circled around the town passing more gorgeous buildings – both gothic and nouveau art-deco – and churches, even the modern buildings are amazing. We could not stop gazing out the window or taking pictures.

Off the bus, we skirt the Latvian Riflemen monument (pictured above) and walk into the beautiful Riga Town Hall Square with the Gothic House of Black Heads, built in 1334 to for the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried merchants, taking center stage. it was bombed out of existence in WWII and rebuilt to its historical splendor in 1999.

The old world glamour truly set the stage for the wonderful ambience – and food – at Salve, the the traditional Riga restaurant where we are eating this evening. Sitting with a lovely mom and daughter travel “team” from Portland, we dig into a delicious meal of vegetable puree soup, goulash (again, not the soup style that we have traditionally made at home, and eaten elsewhere) and strawberry dessert. Excellent.

We walked back from dinner -of course – it is a gorgeous evening and it was just one stunning building after another. Riga is the most beautiful architectural city!!  And the atmosphere and vibe here is so alive and young and vibrant. Waxing poetic, I know, but we are quickly falling in love with Riga.

Funnily enough, we arrived back at the hotel at the same time as the bus carrying the rest of our group. Timing is everything! Now it is off to bed to be up and ready for our true city tour in the morning.