Our flight out of Dublin left on time and less than three hours later, we landed in the Latvian capital, Riga. Once through the mandatory airport customs and baggage area, we headed outside to get the local bus which will bring you right into the centre. There are plenty of cabs but we were in no rush so the public bus more than sufficed. The journey from the airport takes about 30 minutes, depending on traffic and the amount of stops along the way.
For this trip, we’re staying in a Hilton (Hilton Garden Inn Riga Old Town), not usually our normal choice, but, the price, at time of booking was really good and it’s smack bang in the centre of Riga. Once checked in, we dropped the bags in the room, which was clean and a decent size and hit the streets in search of something to eat.
As it was a Friday evening, it was pretty busy, the bars and restaurants were pretty full, it was also a pleasant evening so lots of people were eating and drinking outside, there was a really good atmosphere. After wandering around for a bit, we shortlisted a few places that looked decent, we decided on Easy Wine as they did pizza and this was our meal choice.
The place has one of those unique things, where you top up a credit card, of sorts, then you can help yourself to your wine. The idea is, you can just have a taste of a wine, if you like it, you can go back for more, if not, try something else – what a great idea. Our pizzas arrived, I went with the salami option, C went with a veggie option. The pizzas were reasonably tasty, what was interesting though, neither of them had a tomato sauce base, rather a white sauce of sorts, still though, they more than sufficed and the staff were very friendly.
Once done, we hit the streets again for a short wander around to get our bearings before heading back to the hotel for a really good nights’ sleep.
The following morning we were up reasonably early and as breakfast was not included in our stay, we headed out for some brekkie. The weather was really nice, not warm, just goldilocks. I had shortlisted a place for brekkie before we arrived so we were headed in that direction. What was interesting as we made our way along towards our brekkie spot, there were several people outside drinking at one or two of the bars, we initially thought, even by Irish standards, it’s very early to be having a drink, it had just gone 9:00am. However, we soon realised, they were not out early drinking, they had not yet gone home, as some of the bars are open 24 hours J
We arrived at Big Bad Bagels for our breakfast, it’s a bagel bar where they make their own bagels on site. They have a menu displayed showing the selection of fillings you can get including about a dozen or so for breakfast alone. We both went with the bacon, cream cheese and egg option. We also ordered some freshly squeezed juice and coffee. The bagels were really tasty, as were our drinks and the staff were very nice.
Once done with brekkie, we hit the streets for a wander around. It was surprisingly very quiet for a Saturday morning, except for a few tour groups who were setting out for the day. After wandering some of the street for a bit, our first planned stop was to visit the Riga Library, yes, I know, libraries don’t usually spring to mind as a must see when visiting a city, but this is famous for its architecture and as you can see from the photo below, it’s pretty impressive. As well as an impressive exterior, the interior is equally impressive.
We also took the elevator to the top of the Church to admire the view
Entrance, no surprise is free and you can wander around as much as you like, however, some sections are for members only. The library also has plenty of event space, including a rooftop area which offers nice views back to Riga. Once done with the library, we decided to visit the Latvian Railway History Museum, which is less than a five minute walk from the library.
The museum is quite small but once inside, you can read all about the history of the Latvian rail network. There are several locomotives on display as well as several other exhibits and a large miniature railway, which puts on a show every hour or so. Outside, there are more trains you can check out, unfortunately all are closed so you can just peer in the windows. If you like all things trains – and who doesn’t, it’s worth checking out.
Once done with the train museum, we made our way back over the Akmens bridge in search of lunch. However, once across the bridge we decided to head to the huge Riga market where we knew we should have no trouble finding lunch and we could check out some of the venders. We had lunch at Grill Chef which was reasonably tasty, both dishes were pretty much the same, some salad and a protein of your choice, beef, port or chicken. Once done with lunch, we wandered around a tad more checking out some of the other part of the market.
After, we headed back to the hotel to relax for a little as we had dinner booked that evening. Latvia has two Michelin star restaurants, both are in the capital and our choice was restaurant JOHN Chef’s Hall located in the A22 hotel.
JOHN Chef’s Hall was less than a ten minute tram journey from the centre of Riga and once there, we made our way inside. The restaurant, while not full, was busy and we were escorted to our seat by the maître d. We had a nice seat close to the main bar, which was very well stocked and had a fantastic cocktail set up. JOHN Chef’s Hall offered both a à la carte as well as a taster menu, which was our choice. On a side note, the restaurant is actually named after John F. Kennedy, yep, former US President who stayed in the hotel as a young Harvard student – the hotel had a different name at the time. As always, I’ll let the photos do the talking.
So how was JOHN Chef’s Hall, overall it was pretty good, the staff were very professional and while some of the dishes were a tad bland, overall, it was an enjoyable dining experience and a place we would recommend.
Once done and as it was a nice evening, we decided to walk back to our hotel along by the river and once back at the hotel, we had a drink at the bar, before calling it a night.
The following morning we hit the streets again in search of brekkie. We went to a place called Street Fries Kitchen, which was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel and as it was a really nice morning we sat outside. I opted for the meatball type thing and C went with smoked salmon. The brekkie was fine, but we both agreed, we would go back to Big Bad Bagels the following morning J
Our plan for the remainder of the day was to check out a few museums and the nearby shopping mall. As the weather was fantastic, we walked everywhere, which was nice as we came across several parks where you could sit and have a break while watching the world go by. The first museum we visited was the House of the Black Heads, it was not too busy and made for an interesting two hours or so. After we made our way to the Galleria Riga shopping mall to grab some lunch. There are several dozen options for lunch at the mall in the large rooftop food hall. You can get pizza, burgers, Chinese, sushi and of course some local grub.
After some lunch we decided to visit the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia. The museum was a good size but all you really needed was an hour or two to see most of the exabits. We spent most of the rest of the afternoon checking out more of the sights, some minor attractions and admiring the architecture as well as enjoying the parks. Once done with museum hopping, we made our way back towards the centre and stopped for some cake and a coffee along the way in a really nice courtyard we spotted. We also had a sneaky drink in a rooftop bar in one of the hotels 🙂
That evening for dinner, after much discussion we decided on a place called Kalku Varti which looked inviting from the outside and the menu read pretty well.
The food overall was pretty ok, nothing outstanding but we would not rule it out as a dining opting when next in Riga.
The following morning, our last day in Riga, we went back to Big Bad Bagels for brekkie before hitting the streets again. We only had a few hours before our flight home, so we did some window shopping and grabbed a coffee here and there while enjoying the sunshine. We also went to the top of the Academy of Sciences building which is one of the highest buildings in Riga which offers great views of the city below.
Overall we enjoyed our weekend in Riga, while it may not have as much to offer as some of the juggernauts of Europe, such as Munich, Prague or perhaps Barcelona, it still makes for an enjoyable short break and certainly if you’re looking for a quieter capital city, then it is certainly work checking out.
Until next time,
Bye for now,
C&J
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