One Day in Riga

I love modest sized cities, and Riga with a population of just 600,000 people is just about the right size for me. Although the city looked very appealing at first sight, it did not get off to a great start with our first taste of Latvian weather.

Our original program for today was to have a morning walking tour, followed by an afternoon cycle to a nearby seaside resort. Since this was to be our only chance to explore Riga,and since the wet and grey morning did not exactly look like great cycling weather, we made the intelligent decision to cancel the ride and spend the entire day in Riga instead.

At 9 am we assembled in the foyer of the 4 star Metropole Hotel. All our team had donned wet weather gear and most were also clutching umbrellas. Our guide introduced herself as Anita and we headed out into the steady rain. Like most cities around the world, Riga had almost no protection for pedestrians in the rain. Progressively we got wetter and wetter.

Anita did an enthusiastic job to inform us about the city and the history of Latvia, however the conditions made it quite hard to hear what she was saying.

After the tour a few of us decided to hear "almost the biggest pipe organ in Europe" at a lunchtime recital in the Lutheran Dome Church. The entrance cost 10 Euro a head for the 25 minute recital. Considering the hundreds of people crammed inside, it must be quite an earner for the church.

I have to admit that the thundering sound from the hundreds of pipes was quite impressive and somewhat emotional. The effect was sufficient to put me to sleep about 2 minutes into the first song, however I did awake in time to hear most of the remainder.

By the early afternoon the skies had cleared and the sun emerged. This gave me a great opportunity to wander the city from end to end. About 20 km later my feet told me they had had enough, and I returned to the hotel for a rest.

My impressions of Riga are mostly very favourable, however when we were told that the temperature can drop to minus 28 C in the bitter winters, I don't think it would be a place that I would want to live permanently in.Read more