Riga Off The Beaten Path

Lido Atputas centrs is one of the largest corner-jointed buildings in Europe, hosting up to 1000 guests, presenting a unique type of wooden building. Latvian and European kitchen, 3 kinds of LIDO home-made unfiltered beer. Live Latvian folk music every evening 19.00 - 23.00 in the Beer Cellar. Children and their parents can enjoy special attractions and entertainment, open-air dancing, concerts, fairs and presentations. On Sat and Sun children can attend the "Family Days" where they can dance, sing, draw or just have fun together with their favourite fairytales heroes. To get to this family restaurant take bus No.A17 from central post or tram No.7 or 9 up to "Dzervju iela" or "Krasta masivs".

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When I was second time in Riga (April 2006), I decided to make day - half days trips into Sigulda and Jurmala. Sigulda is about 50 km from Riga and it takes a bit more than 1 hour to get there by train from Riga Train station. It is nice small town surrounded by Gaujas National Park and few medieval castles.

Jurmala is Latvian seaside, about 30 km from Riga, can be reached by train too. Very nice atmosphere walking the streets full of wooden houses, bars, restaurants, relaxing walk along Baltic sea.

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During the daytime you can go and see the outdoor museum of Soviet Aircraft at the airport. There are dozens of jets and helicopters. The ‘Curator’ comes to the gate when you sound the bell and will negotiate a price for entry. I think I told him I only had 5 Lats. He restores the aircraft and I watch him working on a jet. You can actually see the development of soviet planes to jets and also helicopters. You also can see some of the Cold War adventures of the USSR. Signs are in Russian and English. It’s not cheap to get in, but almost no museum in the world has this collection of aircraft. Besides, the owner restores the aircraft.

In the largest Hind helicopter he has different uniforms and aircrew gear on display. It is really impressive if you are an aviation or cold war enthusiast. It is amazing how many troops they can get into one and how big it really is.

Please note: The white haired man in the photo is the curator.

Open 10:00 - 17:00, Sat, Sun by appointment only. Admission: 2Ls for locals, 5Ls for tourists. I rang the bell and he let me in anyway!

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Sigulda is not off the beeten path but it is outside Riga. I visited Sigulda on a daytrip from Riga. It was in December and the weather was the worst, it was grey, there was some rain and on the ground there was wet snow mud. Sights are quite spread out around Sigulda so I went by bus and on foot (and got very wet feet).

The small town Sigulda is situated 53 km northeast of Riga, by the Gauja River Valley. The landscape is beautiful with rolling hills. There are many activities to do for the visitors. In the area there are many caves and medieval castles and ruins. Between the sights there are often good walking trails.

Sigulda is the Latvian centre for sports and outdoor activities. Besides walking you can in summer do horse riding, cycling, ballooning, bungee jumping and much more. If it is enough snow in winter you can go skiing and there is also bobsleigh run open on Saturdays and Sundays.

In a way I was delighted to see this relict of Soviet architecture in Riga - the typical Soviet skyscraper type building, which houses the Academy of Science. I put it here in the "Off The Beaten Path" section, because we actually never got there - it is on the other side of where we spent our time!

From what I read there is an elevator which you can take up to the 17th floor (they do charge 1,50 Lats) - this should give you an excellent view of the old city of Riga! As I said, we never went there, but it sure is an option!

The Academy of Science is situated at Akademijas laukums 1, 1050 Ríga

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Everywhere you walk, a lot of green places are composing this beautiful city.
Could maybe sound strange, but even if the city could seem pretty busy, you can still find a peaceful place where to enjoy green, flowers and nice fountains.

Riga is really full of green beautiful parks.

Seems kind of tradition that when a couple gets marries, they leave a padlock with their names and wedding date attached to bridges.

Really something particular, something to leave the remember alive forever.

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If you want to enjoy the view of Riga from high, here's a list of places:

Television Tower
1 Zakusalas krastmala

Skyline Bar
Reveal Hotel Latvia
55 Elizabetes iela

St. Peter's Church
19 Skârnu iela