Riga Archives ⋆ The Passenger

July 6, 2019March 31, 2023

Triathlon

You can for sure spend months in the Baltic states to enjoy the beautiful landscape. But they are gives you also the chance to easily visit three countries in one week: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. And it is not one homogenous area without differences – that can easily be observed in the capital cities: Tallinn with its wonderful old city fortifications, Rīga with its fantastic art nouveau quarter and Vilnius with its nice baroque style buildings and more than 50 churches.

July 4, 2019March 31, 2023

Guided tour

I usually try to omit travelling in groups – you never know whom you’ll have to spend the day with. But I learned that you can also miss a lot of fun. When I planned my trip through the Baltic states I booked a normal long-distance bus from Tallinn, Estonia to Rīga, Latvia. When planning the segment towards Vilnius, Lithuania I tried to find a railway connection but found an unexpected alternative.

July 3, 2019July 10, 2019

Monte Kristo

The owners of the hotel Monte Kristo at Rīga, Latvia must be fans of the adventure novel ‘The Count of Monte Cristo‘ by Alexandre Dumas. The hotel looks pretty ancient, everywhere you can see paintings of ships and harbours and in the corridors there are barrels and trading sacks. Even though you won’t see much of the Baltic sea during your visit you’ll at least have maritime flair.

July 3, 2019October 12, 2019

Botāniskais dārzs

I like visiting botanical gardens while travelling around the world. It’s about relaxation, having a nice walk through a park, seeing wonderful plants and often the chance to have a look at exotic plants in greenhouses. The botanical garden (botāniskais dārzs) of Rīga, Latvia offers all of these, but has another nice feature: a house full of butterflies. There you can walk around in tropical atmosphere and watch those beautiful animals.

July 3, 2019July 21, 2019

Brāļu kapi

The brothers’ cemetery (Brāļu kapi) at Rīga, Latvia is a fascinating memorial for the soldiers of World War I and the Latvian independence war between 1950 and 1920. It was created between 1924 and 1936 and was designed by Kārlis Zāle who also created the freedom monument. The memorial is located in the north of the city centre in a vast complex of different cemeteries.

July 3, 2019July 21, 2019

Zooloģiskais dārzs

The zoological garden of Rīga, Latvia dates back to the year 1912. It is located north of the city within the giant Mežaparks and close to the Ķīšezers lake. The zooloģiskais dārzs is a classic zoological garden with 4000 animals of 500 species – you’ll find every animal you would expect. But it is also still a zoo in the making – with some areas deteriorating and some areas buing currently rebuilt.

July 3, 2019July 21, 2019

Occupation museum

The museum of the occupation of Latvia (Latvijas Okupācijas muzejs) at Rīga is currently at a temporary location. A new and modern building is created next to the town hall and the Melngalvju nams. Until its completion the museum can be found in Raiņa bulvāris 7 – not for from the freedom monument. There it is only a small collection of texts, images and some items in display cabinets.

July 3, 2019July 21, 2019

National art museum

The national art museum (Latvijas Nacionālais mākslas muzejs) of Rīga, Latvia can be found close to the art nouveau quarter of the city within the Esplanāde park. It is located in a wonderful building designed by Wilhelm Neumann and dateing back to the year 1905. It contains 52.000 art works and is the most important collection of works of Latvian artists – including paintings and sculptures.

July 3, 2019July 11, 2019

Getting around

If you’re just visiting the old town and the art nouveau quarter of Rīga, Latvia you’ll probably don’t need public transport. But there are also interesting places like the botanical garden, the zoological garden or the Brāļu kapi memorial cemetery that are a bit further away. Good news: using public transport at Rīga is fairly easy. A hive of busses, minibusses, trolley busses and tramways is waiting for you to jump in.

July 3, 2019July 21, 2019

Watching trains

The main railway station of Rīga, Latvia (Rīga Pasažieru) is located close to the city center, well-connected with busses and a quite modern one with good shops in the basement. It was once a dead-end station with a beautiful station building that was torn down in 1965 and replaced with the current modern one.