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| A stretch of the main "highway" from Vilnius to Riga (under construction...) |
This weekend, J and I made the drive up to Riga, Latvia. Riga attracts more tourists than Vilnius - it has a larger airport and it's also a cruise destination/departure point. It's a neat city with lots to see, and we enjoyed the trip. The Old Town seemed smaller in area than Vilnius, but the skyline was taller - most buildings were about five stories high, rather than two or three in Vilnius. It also felt more commercialized - the whole area is just restaurants, hotels, bars, shopping and souvenir shops, and it's hopping all night long, from what I could tell. In the summer there is plenty of outdoor seating, often with live music and entertainment. All in all, we spent a fair amount of time in Old Town, but we had fun getting to see other parts of the city as well.
We started out our weekend with a day at the beach - fitting for our first 90 degree day all summer! We rented bikes from
Baltic Bike and took a bike path about 5 miles out to the beach. Of course, the Baltic Sea is a tad bit cold for the likes of me, and I only made it in as far as my knees before I had to turn around. I did make it further than J, though!
Food - we lucked out with the restaurants we found, and also we got some good advice from our B&B owner.
Istaba restaurant is a delightful little restaurant situated in the loft of a small art gallery/work space. There is no menu, just a choice of meats and then the rest of the meal is served family style. If you aren't picky and just like good food - this place is amazing! And two full meals with several glasses of wine still came in at under $60.
Start Lounge at
Albert Hotel - the bar is on the 11th floor of this hotel, overlooking Old Town without having to look too far down. Of course, you're paying for the view in the price of your food and drinks, but they're still cheap by DC standards. Service was noticeably quick and friendly, and the food we had was quite tasty. They have a limited food menu and the bar doesn't open until 3 p.m. (same as at the Radisson's skyline bar), but it's a nice view.
For a taste of Latvian food, we liked what we ordered at
Alus Ordenis. Even though it was about 85 degrees and we were hot from walking around, we really enjoyed our spiced lamb soup and lamb stew, along with the Latvian version of fried bread.
Attractions
St. Peter's Church tower - the first time we tried to go up the tower, the cashier stuck a sign under our noses that the tower was closed due to technical reasons. Perhaps unwisely, we returned an hour later and all the "technical" problems were resolved, so we paid our 4 Lats (about $8) a piece and headed straight up in the elevator. I think it was the tallest tower within Old Town, but still not so high that you can't do a little people watching.
Of course we did plenty of flat-out touristy things, such as a boat ride around the canal and out on the river. (Which, by the way, was perfect on a hot day, even if we did get a couple of raindrops along the route!) I even stopped in McD's to use the facilities - no matter where you are in the world, you can always count on McDonald's for that.
The last major sight on my list was to walk around an area of town known for its
Art Nouveau. It's only a few blocks north of Old Town and well worth it! I'm really glad we made the effort to find some good
examples- it's just not the sort of thing you see every day. Much of the work is from the early 20th century. Some of the
art has been well maintained while others were crumbling. If, sometime
in my life, I end up with more money than I know what to do with, I'll
build a house and add some Art Nouveau touches. :)
We've been staying close to home lately, but still taking in the sights. Actually, a few weeks ago, I felt like I became a sight myself - everyone wanted to take a picture of the beer bike as it sped by at about 2 miles per hour. That's right, this contraption seats about 17 people (12 on the bikes, and then up to 5 freeloaders in the back), along with a driver and bartender. A fun time was had by all! If you are seeing this and thinking, "Wow - I could make a killing off this sort of business!" let me give you a few tips. First, adjustable seats would make it possible for the vertically challenged among your customers to pull their fair share. You all know that's not a challenge for me, but two of our would-be-bikers couldn't reach the pedals! Second, I really think there must be some sort of adjustable gears out there. We would nearly lose our toes going downhill as the pedals swung round and round at an ever-increasing pace. On the other hand, those 5 freeloaders earned their keep going up the one hill on our route, when they had to get off and push to help us keep moving. This contraption would not work in the state of Colorado or even Tennessee. 
