August 11, 2026
We had our first sunset last night. Every other night it has been too cloudy to see the actual sunset.
Today was another new port for us. We got to dock very close to town so easy to walk. The high today was only supposed to be 65 but when we went out on the balcony it seemed warmer so we did shorts and t-shirts which turned out to be a good move.
The view from our balcony.
We had a food tour scheduled for 1pm so the first thing we did when we got off the boat was find where our food tour met and then walk around town.
Our ship docked in town and us by the Riga sign.
The town has several rivers running through it and lots of green parks. All of the roads are cobblestoned and while the town was occupied by both the Germans and the Russians very little was destroyed. You can take scenic boat rides through the town.
The architecture is very ornate and has lots of detail.
The prettiest street in town is Albert street. This street is named after Bishop Albert who is credited with founding Riga in 1201. Most of the grand Art Nouveau buildings along the street were constructed between 1901 to 1908.
Lots of green spaces and cafes around town.
The cat seems to be the symbol of Riga and there are lots of stories about cats. One of the most famous ones is that in the early 1900s there was a wealthy Latvian merchant or trader who was denied membership into the prestigious Great Guild of Riga which was seen as a massive insult.The merchant commissioned 2 copper sculptures of black cats with arched backs and raised tails and he placed them on his roof turrets so their rear ends pointed directly toward the Great Guild building across the street.
The petty gesture sparked a massive public scandal and a lengthy legal dispute. Eventually a compromise was reached and the merchant was granted membership into the guild and he had the cats turned around. The cats were actually destroyed by the soviets during their occupation and then reinstalled by a local artist from photographs.
The building is under renovation but you can see the cat at the very top. The cat is the unofficial mascot of Riga.
After walking around for a couple of hours we met up with our food tour which consisted of our guide and 3 other guests, all staying in Riga. The guide took us on a walk for 15 minutes to the central market which consists of 5 warehouse size buildings. One is the meat market, one cheese and produce, one bread and bakery items & fish. The market is near both the river and the train station so produce can be easily transported.
Our first food stop was with different hemp spreads. They take hemp seeds and roast them and then mix them with different ingredients including tomatoes and herbs, pesto and not sure what the 3rd was. It was surprisingly good. My favorite was the tomato one. Our next stop was cheese and we had 4 different varieties.
The cheeses had different things mixed in including garlic, stinging nettles (who knew they were edible) and hot peppers. We also had beer. We had to leave a little early since all on board was at 2:30.
We had a brisk walk back to the boat along the river and made it back on by 2:15. Since we had some food on the food tour we were not hungry and we entertained ourselves by watching the “runners” come back on board late. Some seemed oblivious that there was even a time they had to be back on board. Just strolling casually along the pier with several crew waving them on and pointing at their watches.
We were not back on board long before it got very cloudy and then it started to hail. A ton of it collected on our balcony. It lasted 5 minutes but it was impressive.
Hail on the balcony.
We had dinner tonight in the Italian specialty restaurant and like the steak house it was pretty empty. The $55 per person cover charge is really affecting reservations. If we did not have the package that included unlimited specialty dining we would not have been there.
Tomorrow is Tallin, Estonia and again we have been here before but it was 18 years ago. We plan on exploring town on our own and finding a good spot to watch the partial eclipse.