Special Day in Riga

Sun, Jul 21, 2024

Riga, Latvia

We slept in today... until almost 8am! Breakfast...

Once again, our rest day was very busy.  The only things we planned were to see the Freedom Monument and Doma Square. The rest of the day was bonus time! 

We walked to The Freedom Monument. 

It was pretty cool to watch the guards move from standing very still to marching.

We walked to Doma Square. 

During this walk, we made plans with Līga and her daughters to meet for dinner. Then Arnold wanted to meet for lunch.  Then, we saw there was a 20 minute organ concert at 3pm in the Doma Cathedral. And just like that, our day was full of fun things to do! We went in search of a pastry called Vecriga.

We found the pastry at the central market. 

I found a couple others to try. I took the pictures so it was easy to order since they were around the corner from the cashier.

This indoor and outdoor market has everything. 

We went back to the hotel to rest a bit and recharge phones. 

Then we met Arnold across fun our hotel for lunch.

Have you ever been served a stack of pancakes with American cheese and bacon on top? We had a nice visit with Arnold and said our goodbyes. He is heading home tonight so he can get started with all the sets of shots he will need because of the dog bite. 

We went back to the Doma Cathedral for the organ concert. It sounded great in that large Cathedral. 

On the way back to the hotel, I saw this tower with people in it. We decided we had time before dinner. 

The views were amazing! 

We went back to the hotel to sit and recharge for about 20 minutes.

Līga, Paula and Krista came by the hotel then we walked to dinner. They picked a local casual restaurant that serves traditional Latvian food.  It was very good.  I had some traditional soup, chicken with creamy cheese and pineapple, potatoes and an apple filled crepe. Līga bought a bottle of non-alcoholic Kvass to try. It is dark and foamy like beer but, in my opinion, much better. 

We sat and talked for a couple of hours about Latvia (before and after communism), hiking, biking, jobs, school, etc. Basically, Lynn and I got a crash course in Latvian history and culture. It was a very special evening.  Paula is studying to be a pharmacist and Krista is planning to become a Physical Therapist (she had another year of high school).

it was hard to say good bye.  They have us each a special gift of Latvian amber to remember our short time together.  Hopefully, we'll meet again!