Riga – the Paris of the North

03.06.2022

After a 4 1/2 hour Lux Express bus ride (offering free movies and coffee) from Tallinn, we arrived in Riga. Our hotel was conveniently located on the corner of the beautful Kronvalda Park which we were able to stroll through on our way to and from the old town.

Older than both St Petersburg and Stockholm, and easily the largest and grandest of the three Baltic Republic capitals, Riga is the Baltic Sea’s sleeping giant. Once hailed as the "Paris of the North" by Graham Greene, the Latvian capital is only now finally starting to enjoy a tourist renaissance, led by a boom in cruise ships.

Like its Baltic neighbours, Latvia threw off the shackles of the Soviet Union in 1991, became a Nato and European Union member in 2004, three years after the capital celebrated its 800th anniversary and kicking off its slow-burning rebirth.

Any lingering anachronistic images of Communist-era deprivations are quickly blasted away by a stroll around the city, with its gleaming renovated buildings, fashion-conscious youth and the swathe of bright new bars and cafés that are popping up everywhere. On a sunny day, as the smart office workers vie for space in pavement cafes in the city’s grand squares with students clad in all the latest designer clothing, this could be indeed be Paris.

We joined the 3 hour Guru free walking tour over cobbled streets to discover the marvels of the Unesco World Heritage listed Old Town, a charming maze of medieval streets, vaulting church spires, squares and alleyways. Starting at St.Peter’s cathedral, then through the Town Hall Square with the famous House of the Blackheads and ending at the «Three Brothers» (the oldest houses in the city).

The essential Riga experience is the Central Market, the largest of its kind in Europe. Housed in five enormous 35m-high German-built Zeppelin hangars and spilling outdoors as well, we found a hip food court and lots of Latvian foods, all manner of pickled treats, unusual cheeses, luxurious smoked fish, wild berries, unusual mushrooms and much more.

We then hopped on a train at the nearby train station for a short 30 minute excursion (fare 3 Euros for 2 persons) to Jūrmala, a jet-setting sea resort on the Gulf of Riga. It offers a stunning 25km long white-sand beach, solitude, gorgeous sea dunes and blueberry-filled forests just right outside the city boundaries. We also saw some romantic wooden houses there in the Art Nouveau style. While Latvia was part of the Soviet Union, Jūrmala was a favorite holiday-resort and tourist destination for high-level Communist Party officials, particularly Leonid Brezhnev and Nikita Khrushchev, and it is easy to see why.

Back in the capital, we ended our short visit to Riga by checking out its impressive German Art Nouveau, or Jugendstil, quarter, also recognised by Unesco. This lies across Bastejkalns Park in the New Town, the commercial heart of the city.