Good morning, the blue sky! The weather forecast was correct, at least in the morning. The Riga TV Tower, the highest building in the region and the third highest TV tower in Europe stood tall over there.
We also witnessed Riga's morning commuting rush.
The first destination of the day was Riga Central Market, situated next to the Old Town, along the Daugava River. Built in the 1920s, the pavilions were originally military airship hangars and later became market venues.
The pavilion that we first entered was mainly for seafood vendors. There were many kinds of fish that was fresh, dried, smoked, and etc. When I saw shiny fresh fish, I thought I could live in Riga.
There was a pickles stand that J (a pickles lover) was quite interested in.
There was also a pavilion for bakery, sweets, cheese, and a food court.
Interestingly Halva seemed popular there.
A lot of bread and pastry! They looked lovely and I was confirmed that I could live in Riga.
There were many options for take-out, but we wanted to have breakfast there. We chose a vendor in the food court, Pīrāgu Fabrika. Pīrāgu is traditional Latvian bacon buns, but the vendor sold various savory stuffed pastries, some sweet pasties, and a lot of dessert jars that looked like rye bread soup. Fabrika means factory in Latvian, by the way.
I had an indulgent idea to start the day with a jar of rye bread soup (if they were), but somehow chose carrot walnut cake that looked like a proper breakfast. The lady at the shop sliced the cake generously. We were seated at the counter of the shop. When I saw the giant piece, I wasn't sure what would be proper anymore. Anyway it was nice, not too sweet. J had a slice of savory pie filled with potato and something (mushroom?). It looked good.
Fruit and vegetable vendors were at the outside of the pavilions.
Latvians must like cranberries.
Taking advantage of the nice weather, we explored the Central District, looking for the historical Art Nouveau style buildings that we learned at the Riga Art Nouveau Center the day before.
There were a large park area between the Old Town and the Central District. The Freedom Monument stood in the center of the park area.
The large golden onions of the Riga Nativity of Christ Orthodox Cathedral couldn't be missed in the Central District.
We walked, stopped and looked up the building, and repeated it. The city was like an open air museum of the Art Nouveau architecture.
We walked up to Alberta street and took a closer look at the buildings there. They were splendid.
Here was the familiar building of the Riga Art Nouveau Center. Hello, again!
In the neighborhood were more traditional Art Nouveau buildings.
When we were looking for another traditional Art Nouveau building, we saw a kitchen through the window where a couple of staff were filling creams in éclairs. It was a patisserie located in one of the traditional Art Nouveau buildings by chance.
Mulberry is a stylish patisserie with Parisian charm, serving fresh bread, pastries and cakes that they bake here every morning. Their beautiful cakes worked like a magnet on us. We decided to have a tea time at their cafe space.
It was hard for me to choose only one cake. With a deep consideration, I selected traditional Latvian honey cake. It was divine. Honey cake is popular not only in Latvia but also other Baltic States and Russia. I have had one or two sometime somewhere before, but this was the best so far. It seemed that J knew what he would order before entering the patisserie. He had a pistachio éclair and a raspberry éclair. I tasted both and they were wonderful.
We haven't done shopping yet. We headed to a honey shop in the Central District I had in mind.
The sign told us we arrived at the honey shop. I picked up a jar of Latvian honey.
We went back to the Old Town and visited St. Peter's Church. It was originally built in 1209 and heavily renovated in the 15th century.
Behind the church, there were bronze figures of "Bremen Town Musicians" based on a fairy tail by the Brothers Grimm. Made in 1990, the sculpture was a gift from Riga's sister city Bremen.
The interior was rather simple.
We explored the Old Town more. There were black cats on the top of the famous "Cat House," built in 1909 in the style of a medieval castle with some Art Nouveau features.
Many buildings in the Old Town were also in the Art Nouveau style.
There were some exceptions. The Three Brothers looked like visitors from the Old Town of Tallinn. Built between the 15th and 17th centuries, the complex of the three houses is the oldest known surviving stone house in Riga. It houses Latvian Museum of Architecture today. There was only one room exhibition space. We popped in and out briefly.
It was time to think about lunch/dinner. It was a chilly day. We just remembered we saw a Ramen shop near the excellent patisserie Mulberry. Although it was kinda far from the Old Town, hot soup noodles sounded nice. We decided to walk all the way back to where we were in the morning.
We passed by a huge yellow building with uniformed guards. It was Riga Castle that was originally built in the 14th century, was destroyed several times and is now the residence of the President of Latvia.
After a long good walk, we arrived at the Ramen shop, Shōyu (soy sauce).
The small dining place was packed even though it was in the mid afternoon. Luckily there was a table available next to the door. We had Black Tiger Ebi Kyshiyaki for starter. Delicious.
I had a basic Shio ramen - Shio tare, crafted noodles, chicken&dashi double soup, Ajitama, sous vide chicken, Chashu pork belly, Kikurage, and scallions. The noodles and soup were superb. Those toppings were wonderful. I have never dreamed I would meet such a delightful Japanese style Ramen during the trip.
J tried a New Wave Shoyu Ramen. The toppings were the same as mine while the soup was flavored with Shoyu tare instead of Shio tare. It was definitely worth coming back there from the Old Town.
We admired the historical Art Nouveau architecture around the area one more time.
Then we headed toward the Old Town, walking through the park. I wonder how many steps I earned on the day. I should keep a pedometer.
To be continued...
