Riga

14 Dec Riga

Posted at 16:12h in City vacation, Latvia, UNESCO HERITAGE by Timo Hellman 0 Comments

Latvia’s capital Riga is the pearl among the Baltic cities and radiating Hanseatic history. It it situated on the shore of the Riga Bay and estuary of the Daugava, and it has appr. 640,000 residents.

Riga was the European Capital of Culture in 2014 and it is also has been announced the European Capital of Free WiFi for over 2,000 free wireless Internet access points. Vivid atmosphere is easy to sense everywhere in Riga.

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What to do and see in Riga

Vecriga

Vecriga AKA Old Town, located on the eastern bank of the Daugava, is the oldest part of the city and idyllic combination of churches, cobblestone streets and comfy cafés. Here is a chance to see Riga’s beautiful cathedral, the historical Three Brothers building complexin Maza Pils Street and House of the Blackheads.

Riga castle

Extraordinary Riga Castle is dated back to 1440’s and currently it is the residence of the President of the Republic of Latvia and the National History Museum of Latvia, the third oldest museum in Latvia. Skillful restoration and reconstruction has helped in preserving this magnificent castle as the historical gem of Riga. National History Museum presents in many exhibitions history of Latvia ethnographically and even numismatically.

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LIDO Recreation Centre

LIDO could be considered as place of the places in entertainment. The main building of the centre is one of the largest and most beautiful log buildings in Europe and it can host 1000 guests. Here in 5 hectares wide territory is an amusement park and a three-floor restaurant famous for its Latvian cuisine and beers, where chosen dishes are cooked in front of a customer. In wintertime the recreation center offers a spacious ice-rink for skating with equipment rental.

Central market

Riga’s Central market in Negu iela street is located in former hangar. This is the place to get cheap souvenirs and enjoy bazarish feeling..

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Shopping

Alfa is a large shopping mall, in which is sold, for example, women´s and men´s clothing, sportswear and shoes. There are also several restaurants, fast food places, a cinema and a large hypermarket Rimi, which is open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Barona Centrs is a shopping center located in the middle of the town with 40 shops. Also from there you will find a Rimi with the same opening hours.
In the shopping mall Basteja Pasāža located in Old Riga, there are several exclusive boutiques.
Berga Bazārs is the most glorious shopping mall of Riga with high-quality shops, restaurants, cafés and a fitness club. On every second and fourth Saturday of the month, a food and antiques bazaar is held.
Domina Shopping is a luxurious shopping mall, from which can be found cafés and fashionable shops.
Galerija Centrs is a shopping mall originally opened in the 1920s and renovated in the 1990s and 2006. It fills almost the whole area of the Old Riga, and there are cafés, a supermarket, dozens of trendy shops and a day spa on the top floor.
Origo is a shopping mall with three floors in the central railway station, from which you can find everything and in which also are several cafés.

Pictures: CC licence / Santa Felkere, Gytis Liutkus, Paleokeittiö, blue_quartz, Mark Healey, Bryan Ledgard, Giorgio Minguzzi