We started the morning with the breakfast. The hopes were high, but turned out they didn't have much else but oat meal for my taste. But at least the oat meal was delicious :D
Since we didn't manage to get in to the Buržuja yesterday, I started to call them first thing in the morning to make sure to get a table for dinner. Nobody picked up the phone. Neither did they later and more later. I looked at their Facebook page and it appeared that they are using Sunday for the purpose that it was created for by the Almighty. Which is not serving food.
For the sightseeing we had a plan in place - the most breathtaking and unforgettable views open up from the Skyline Bar (the ones we enjoyed yesterday through the rainy window while breaking through the dry sponge cake), tower of the St. Peter's church, from the 15th floor of the Latvian Academy of the Science and library. Library had the most pitiful view of the four and was located on the other side of the river also known as very far, so we decided to skip that. We also planned to walk in old town, take a look at the Three Brothers and House of the Blackheads and go to the Central Market on the other side of the tram line. We started with the church tower as it was conveniently right next to our hotel. There were views for more than 9 euros. Also couldn't complain about the lack of the wind. We just in case used both hands to hold our cameras.
The upside of winter and out of season trips is the lack of other tourists. The slightly chillier temperature can be seen as downside, but it's still better to walk on empty, although cold streets rather than make your way in the summer heat through the sweaty bodies of other tourists and look later at your vacation pictures where the contour is lined with heads of fellow tourists. Anyway within an hour or two we had walked through all the streets in old town, paid a quick visit to the bastion, I had gotten lovely blue glass earrings from my husband and we made our way to the Academy of Science to enjoy the views from there as well. Sun had started to peek out and we thought that now Riga might look even more gorgeous. It did. Also our clothes, smelling from the smoke in the car, got well aired. We had to hold on to the railing every now and then, but other than that the trip was safe.
The market is right in front of the academy and we spent the next hour admiring huge pomegranates, at the counters covered with pierogi and pastries and in the food court. Since we still had high hopes on gourmet dinner and total overeating, we compromised in the food court and took some elk dumplings right next to the pizza joint (that Scott eyed very longingly and shot some clearly disapproving looks to my direction every now and then).
While walking back to the hotel I remembered that during our morning sightseeing walk we hadn't come across the House of the Blackheads yet. So, I put it on the map, saw that once again it was a building that was basically next to our hotel and when the map informed me that "Here you are, step in!", the backside of a more modern building and Rimi Express was all I could see. No baroque or renaissance. We returned to the hotel, booked a table in a seafood restaurant and went for a nap.
As planned we arrived in Zivju Lete at 7:30pm, sat down and placed our order. We chose octopus carpaccio, salmon-tuna-langoustine tartar with avocado and fish and chips. For complimentary bite from the house we got some delicious crunchy baguette with tuna spread. Tartar was served with raw quial egg, capers, onion and chives. It was exquisite. As was the fish - extraordinary tender with thin breading and crispy chips. The octopus carpaccio was the only thing that was just average. After finishing all that we were sure that there's some space for more food and ordered some grilled Atlantic tiger prawns, which turned out to be just heavenly, so juicy and soft. Definitely best ones we've had in a while. For the dessert we decided to share a cannoli, because I was certain that no matter how good it is, it can't be as delightful as the ones Rebecca makes or we've gotten from Mike's in Boston. I was right despite the fact that the cannoli was very rich and tasty.
Since we didn't manage to get in to the Buržuja yesterday, I started to call them first thing in the morning to make sure to get a table for dinner. Nobody picked up the phone. Neither did they later and more later. I looked at their Facebook page and it appeared that they are using Sunday for the purpose that it was created for by the Almighty. Which is not serving food.
For the sightseeing we had a plan in place - the most breathtaking and unforgettable views open up from the Skyline Bar (the ones we enjoyed yesterday through the rainy window while breaking through the dry sponge cake), tower of the St. Peter's church, from the 15th floor of the Latvian Academy of the Science and library. Library had the most pitiful view of the four and was located on the other side of the river also known as very far, so we decided to skip that. We also planned to walk in old town, take a look at the Three Brothers and House of the Blackheads and go to the Central Market on the other side of the tram line. We started with the church tower as it was conveniently right next to our hotel. There were views for more than 9 euros. Also couldn't complain about the lack of the wind. We just in case used both hands to hold our cameras.
The upside of winter and out of season trips is the lack of other tourists. The slightly chillier temperature can be seen as downside, but it's still better to walk on empty, although cold streets rather than make your way in the summer heat through the sweaty bodies of other tourists and look later at your vacation pictures where the contour is lined with heads of fellow tourists. Anyway within an hour or two we had walked through all the streets in old town, paid a quick visit to the bastion, I had gotten lovely blue glass earrings from my husband and we made our way to the Academy of Science to enjoy the views from there as well. Sun had started to peek out and we thought that now Riga might look even more gorgeous. It did. Also our clothes, smelling from the smoke in the car, got well aired. We had to hold on to the railing every now and then, but other than that the trip was safe.
The market is right in front of the academy and we spent the next hour admiring huge pomegranates, at the counters covered with pierogi and pastries and in the food court. Since we still had high hopes on gourmet dinner and total overeating, we compromised in the food court and took some elk dumplings right next to the pizza joint (that Scott eyed very longingly and shot some clearly disapproving looks to my direction every now and then).
While walking back to the hotel I remembered that during our morning sightseeing walk we hadn't come across the House of the Blackheads yet. So, I put it on the map, saw that once again it was a building that was basically next to our hotel and when the map informed me that "Here you are, step in!", the backside of a more modern building and Rimi Express was all I could see. No baroque or renaissance. We returned to the hotel, booked a table in a seafood restaurant and went for a nap.
As planned we arrived in Zivju Lete at 7:30pm, sat down and placed our order. We chose octopus carpaccio, salmon-tuna-langoustine tartar with avocado and fish and chips. For complimentary bite from the house we got some delicious crunchy baguette with tuna spread. Tartar was served with raw quial egg, capers, onion and chives. It was exquisite. As was the fish - extraordinary tender with thin breading and crispy chips. The octopus carpaccio was the only thing that was just average. After finishing all that we were sure that there's some space for more food and ordered some grilled Atlantic tiger prawns, which turned out to be just heavenly, so juicy and soft. Definitely best ones we've had in a while. For the dessert we decided to share a cannoli, because I was certain that no matter how good it is, it can't be as delightful as the ones Rebecca makes or we've gotten from Mike's in Boston. I was right despite the fact that the cannoli was very rich and tasty.
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