The Ham Nomads

11 Aug 2015. <LV> Rīga —

Okay, today's another big one. We went into Rīga, and found a lot to do and see.

We walked out to the road to catch our bus across the bridge (as promised) — there's an underpass, so you don't have to contend with the traffic. Before we caught the bus, however, we went over to the Swedbank building on the banks of the Daugava for a great view across to the city.

Back to the bus stop — the buses are frequent, so we were soon at the ext stop, just by a park at the northern end of the old city. A pleasant walk through the park brought us first to part of the old city wall and the Powder Tower.

Then we walked round to Līvu Square, built post-World-War-II, but preserving round its periphery some wonderful 18-century residential buildings, as well as the Large Guild Hall and the Small Guild Hall. A very popular square in the summer, with restaurants and outdoor concerts in the evenings.

By now it was morning tea/coffee time, so we found a spot in Kaļķu iela, Double Coffee (one of a chain, with good coffee and, incidentally, a good menu). After a pleasant break here, we went on along Kaļķu iela to the Freedom Monument. This monument is at the end of Brīvības iela that comes into Central Park.

We wandered the park for a while, then continued along it towards the Opera House. The National Opera House, built in 1863 as the German Theatre, has been fully restored (the restoration being completed in 1995). Its exterior apparently resembles Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre, and the interior (which we couldn't visit, unfortunately) is finely decorated.

Near the Opera Theatre is a fine statue of George Armistead, Mayor of Riga (1901-1912), with his wife Cecile Pychlau — out for a promenade in the park with their dog!

There's a fine assortment of trams here!

From here, we went towards St Peter's Lutheran Church. Outside is a whimsical portrayal of "The Town Musicians of Bremen" ('Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten') by sculptress Christa Baumgartel, given to the city of Rīga by its sister Hanseatic city Bremen, presumably in 1990 (the date of the statue).

 

Opposite the church is a building with a very interesting treatment of its brick walls.

St Peter's has a tower with two viewing platforms, accessible by lift, which provide a magnificent platform fro viewing the city. We looked out over the river and back towards our campsite. We looked southwards to the Central Market, which we would visit later, housed in four otherwise disused Zeppelin hangars. We were even able to see the port district to the north — and we could see the tower of the Dom Cathedral, currently under wraps for restoration.

At the bottom of the tower was the old rooster weather van, the sixth, mounted in 1690 and remained in place until a fire due to warfare in 1941. A new seventh rooster now sits atop the tower, and the sixth is relegated to being a museum piece!

We then went out into Rätslaukums (Town Hall Square) where we found The House of Blackheads, which was originally built in the 14th century, belonged to the Guild of Unmarried Merchants. Severely damaged in World War II, it was rebuilt in 1999 as an exact copy of the original. We couldn't go in, as the Chancery of the President of Latvia has taken up residence there until December 2015. But we did enjoy a couple of buskers outside singing mainly Latvian folk songs — although one sounded suspiciously like the old Yiddish song 'Tumbalalaika' that was in Warren's repertoire about 40 years ago — he had troubles restraining himself from joining in!

From here we walked round to the Central Market. We really enjoy our markets — although the fish markets have a certain aroma! This market, as mentioned before is in what used to be a group of Zeppelin hangars. When you go in, you began to get an idea of how huge the Zeppelins really were! They got a bad rap after the Hindenburg disaster, but that was really a direct result of Hitler and his war machinations. Zeppelins were really designed to use helium, an inert gas, rather than the explosive hydrogen. The only producer of helium in the wold at that time was the USA, and they refused — for good reason — to sell any to Germany. Anyway, the lighter-than-air rigid dirigible balloon has become just a part of the colourful past.

There was an outdoor berry market that had to be smelt to be believed! The aromas of raspberries, strawberries and all other kinds of berries mixed and merged in the air to make a delicious heady scent!

Walking back into the old town, we went up to Doma Laukums (Cathedral Square), where we first went round the corner into Mazā Pils iela to visit the Three Brothers, three residential buildings, each from a different century, but appearently all built by members of the same family. The oldest, looking slightly wonky, dates back to the 15th century. We enjoyed a couple of buskers outside, a French horn and tuba combo — weird, but it worked! And then the tour groups arrived! One thing about Rīga at this time of year is the tourists — they are everywhere, and the tour groups are a constant challenge on the way round — but they are also entertaining in their own right!

On the square is another magnificent building — the Bourse (Stock Exchange) building, now an art gallery, the Latvian Museum of Foreign Art. 

Back into Doma Laukums and the cathedral. This is another fairly restrained edifice, but when you look into it a bit more closely, you see some wonderful things going on. In this case, the stained glass windows were just exquisite. There's a whole series about St George and the dragon, for example. And the cloister attached to the church is being used to display an assortment of old artifacts from the history of the city and its cathedral.

The Salaspils stone head

Leaving the cathedral, we came back into the square where we found one of the restaurants had set up its own quirky display — a table with a 'Reserved' sign sitting under the spray of a garden hose!

Well, after a very full day, we made our way back to the van (via the beach area set up on the western side of the Dauguva, just near our camping site, where we had a good view of the beach, the Vanšu tilts and the cruise liner that was currently in port — it was a different one each day!