Latvia and its love for Garlic

We rounded off our Baltic State holiday and delighted in finding last minute culinary and cultural delights the city had to offer.   From the outset of our trip, I was happy to note that Baltic cooking in all three nations delighted in garlic infused treats, particularly deep fried rye breadsticks served with a garlic dipping sauce. It was in this spirit that we came upon a simple restaurant on a cobbled side street in Riga's old town: the Garlic Pub. 

For those of you who know me, you'll know that garlic is in my top five of foods to adore and cherish.  I was ready for the garlic experience and the menu was chock full of choice--from garlic beer to pickled garlic, ranging across from garlic soup to garlic ice cream. 

Since the summer hadn't officially died yet, a few tables were strategically placed outside.  Inside, the rest were a collection of wooden benches and tables, to the effect of a Scandinavian Sauna effervescing garlic.       

                                      

The three of us opted for the garlic mezze--'a medley of garlic delights', their words not ours.  The plate came loaded with garlic stuffed olives, roasted garlic, garlic flatbread, pickled garlic, garlic infused green beans and garlic cheese.  

                                     

 Rosa and I, but not Judith, then made the further decision of washing it all down with a pint of garlic beer.  The beer, brewed in Latvia, was stored in casks infused with garlic.  It was then served with little flecks of pickled garlic to enhance the taste. Finally, it was topped off with a skewer of roasted garlic to nibble on in case you forgot what garlic tasted like.  

I got through about half my pint before the indigestion set in.  Heartburn shortly followed. A series of man-sounding and smelling toxic fumes escaped Rosa's and my mouth before we could put the whole ordeal behind us.  

Now this isn't to argue that the restaurant was bad. Far from it.  The service was delightful, the food that other people ordered looked and smelled like good food should look and smell, the prices were reasonable and it wasn't at all gimmicky.  Tripadvisor disciples swear by it: Tripadvisor Garlic Pub. None of these critics appear to be vampires.

I have to respect Latvia's love for the garlic but as for the beer, we'll agree to disagree. And my final opinion of Latvia as a whole still stands.  Go! Visit! You'll fall in love.

Riga by Boat

We got lucky with the weather on our last day and Rigans came out of the woodwork to enjoy the warmth in the park.  In this way, we encountered a small stand next to the city's tiny chain bridge, The Bridge of Love, advertising boat rides for cheap.  We paid 5 lat to hop on a boat with a small group of strangers and ride through the city via water.  

                                      

                                                  

The boat slowly meandered through Bastejkalns park which circles the city's old town before cutting under the central shopping mall, past the central market and onto the Daugava river which offered some stunning views of Old Town before slowly circling back in.  

Riga Rail Bridge

                                      

Magic Sand Riga, the sand castle park on the west side of the Daugava. 11 sand-carved sculptures stand on the side of the river whilst people build, play and throw sand around.  A pretty spectacular idea, actually. 

                                      

The ride was a fitting farewell to a city rich in quirkiness.  We topped it off with a stroll through old town, drinks and dinner.  

                                                
Where we found the above.

Baltic Graffiti (and some signs)

It was everywhere! 

Lithuania

                                      

On the dry cleaning van. Penguins--doing the washing!

Next to the old city walls. 

Indeed. 

                                         

My personal favourite. Oh Dubya, you and your empty threats.  

                                       

Across the street from the hotel that double booked us and then proceeded to scream at us and above the bookshop that was next to the Native American shop with the Native American man decked out in leather and feather.  Street name, you ask? No idea. 

 

                                                   

Someone made the effort to superglue the boots to the wall. 

                                       

It's the same in every country.  

 

Latvia

Play ball in the street and get hit by car.  Cautionary Tale? 

Less coverage of Latvia, but only because I begun snapping the day before we left. 

The Lux Express

At first glimpse, this may seem like a fancy airplane--with in-seat tv screens, leg room and a fold down tray with cup holder. With a closer look, you'd notice the clean toilet, free earphones and complimentary tea, coffee and latte machine. Or the first class divider curtain separating the plebs from the well-to-do types. And if you've ever taken a trans-european budget flight, you're probably wondering where this has been all your life.  

Wait no longer.  The Lux Express (does what it says on the tin) has come to your rescue.  Because if you look closely, you'll notice that the window is far too big to be a plane's, the overhead lockers do not close and the 'airport' outside is actually a bus station.  At at 23 lat (roughly £26) for a 4-hour Riga to Vilnius, Lithuania journey, it's pretty impossible to go wrong.   

Map function, wireless and on-the-seat internet, movie function with 8 options in English, Latvian and Russian. 

                                      

It may be one of the five best travel decisions i've ever made, and I didn't even make it! Bless the ticket agent at the International Bus Counter in Riga's central station.  Four hours, 2.5 films, three lattes and a nap later, Judith and I arrived into Vilnius well-rested and raring to go.  And what a good time we had.  

Though we did worry about our journey back.  Lux Express was sold out.  We'd have to endure four hours on the 'Simple Express'...

Cafe life in Riga

I must admit i'm a bit predictable. Give me a good cafe and a good coffee and I can happily sit for hours.  In this respect (amongst many others), Riga does not disappoint. We'd discovered this last time but were delighted to extend our discovery to the cafes outside of old town.  Crazy fact: there's a whole world outside of old town Riga.  In fact, the streets off of Krisjana Barona Iela reminded me a lot of my old home on 83rd and 1st Avenue in Manhattan.  Hear me out. Where else are you going to find the Hare Krishna centre serving vegan buffet lunch for under £2, super cute and delicious basement restaurants that only make it for a few months, boutiques that sell knitted socks, cafes with multilingual baristas and graffiti that somehow looks etched into the original city plan? 

It was surreal in a good way.  

And I know a lot of people/other blogs/tour books mentioned the apparent 'coldness' of people in Latvia, but everyone we met was extremely accommodating.  Everyone  spoke English or was happy to gesticulate wildly along with us. And most people broke into rather large smiles when we practised our limited Latvian of paldies (thank you).  Maybe I've lived in big cities too long or maybe i'm losing that American desire to befriend random strangers on the street.  Not sure if I ever had that in the first place, really; I had overprotective parents.  

But I digress.  Here's a smattering of my favorite cafes, both old town and new, with a few other Riga delights thrown in.  

on Gertrudes Iela two streets down from the big church on the roundabout

amazing lattes, heart shaped sugar packets and quirky art 

banana on banana 

                                               

highlights: chickpea curry and the hare krishna parade marching down the street led by a Latvian woman wearing a sari playing the accordion 

de gusto cafe on the corner of Teatro Iela; highlights: 1.5 lat cheese and garlic mini pizzas and the lovely girl who was patient when we couldn't' decide on a pastry

cheese and garlic mini pizza 

on the corner of mustache and mustache in the Old Town

more Old Town

outside the yarn shop! 

highlights: watching stick thin women in stilettos attempt walking in a straight line. I'm evil

I could write more, but I'm making myself hungry.  Another day.

Majori

On day two of our great Baltic adventure, Judith, Rosa and I took a cheap (£1.20) and efficiently on time train half an hour away to the Latvian seaside.  Jurmala, the direct translation for seaside, turned out to be quite beautiful, despite the not so warm weather.

The town of Majori is biggest area in Jurmala and besides being the home to Latvia's biggest globe, something to be proud of, surely, it reminded me a lot of summers in northern michigan minus the sun.  The roads were wide and sweeping, the town was quaint and the sea looked more like a very serene lake.  There wasn't a whole lot to do so we shopped, ate, dodged the rain, drank beer and walked on the beach, in that order.

latvia's biggest globe...

kiploku grauzdini: rye bread deep fried with garlic and served with a sour cream and garlic dipping sauce. I love a people who love their garlic.  

Hybrid strawberry/raspberries that tasted like seeds.

Okay so there's a whole lot of food pictures here.  And blogger's got a new edition which is placing boxes within boxes within boxes and is really doing my head in.  Bear with me; i'll figure it out eventually.  Let's go back to the seaside:

beach bar hut

ice cold water

sand bars

Latvian beer.

And back to Riga from our little train station.