Latvian Ice Cream Is Amazing
On 2 January, 2014 Estonia’s then-president Ilves journeyed to an unassuming Latvian town just south of the border. His goal? To buy something in euros! We’d just adopted the currency. Media followed Ilves into the local supermarket so that Latvians across the land could see him fork out on a tub of Rūjienas saldējums, the […]
Best Coffee In Riga (Updated in 2022)
So you’ve been googling ‘coffee in Riga’. Well you won’t find it at Starbucks. There are no Starbucks in Riga! The city’s home to a whole host of wonderful local roasters and age old coffee shops. We’re happy to share some of our favourites. All local businesses doing magic. Buy us a cup of coffee […]
Online Shopping in Latvia
Since moving into the new home, Alex and I have spent a LOT of time browsing both bricks and mortar furniture shops, and their online counterparts. At times I’ve been on the verge of tears – coming to a standstill mid-shop-floor surrounded by an odd mix of blinged up, faux Rococo sofa sets, plastic chandeliers, […]
Weekend Trip From Riga: Tallinn
One of the things I love the most about living in Riga is that we’re in the heart of the Baltics. Vilnius and Tallinn are just a 4 hour bus ride away and are both ideal for a weekend trip from Riga. Lux Express buses make the time fly quicker than any low cost airline. […]
Where To Buy Spices & International Food In Riga
Shock horror, your local Riga supermarket isn’t guaranteed to have an ethnic food section! And there’s no Asian supermarket as of yet. So what do you do when you crave a kickass korma or desire a decent dhal? Well, you could just visit the one-and-only Stockpot bistro that rates its food on a scale of […]
Laimīgu Jauno gadu! (Happy New Year)
I don’t know if it’s just me, still high off the rum-infused fumes of Christmas pudding, but it strikes me that “laime” or “prieks” (happiness) is most certainly in the air now that we’ve hit 2015. Despite the crisp, biting -10 (feels like -16) temperatures outside, I continue to experience little nuggets of happiness during […]
Useful Addresses In Riga: For Renovating Your Home
Renovating a property in Rīga? You’ll find there are a whole host of massive hardware stores for pretty much everything, as well as smaller specialist shops for articles like sink fittings and paint. If you live out of town and don’t have access to a bricks and mortar store, there are also a number of […]
How Latvians Earn A Living
Three conversations and events inspired this post… Then, a colleague told me a fourth story about a taxi driver that really drove the point home and made me want to write about the mad ways in which Latvians earn a living. 1) Recently, a Riga citizen journalist reported a police raid on a number of […]
Latvians & Mushrooms – A Not-So-Secret Love Affair
Anyone who is privileged enough to be friends with a Latvian or two on Facebook may have noticed that over the past month, the usual slew of cringe-inducing baby photos, screaming goat videos and ice-bucket mishaps were replaced by unfathomable mountains of mushrooms, hand-picked, fresh and displayed in various assortments, next to proud pickers with […]
Weekend Trip From Riga: Cēsis (Updated in 2023)
Life in Rīga wouldn’t be complete without the occasional weekend trip from Riga to one of Latvia’s charming small towns. One of them – Cēsis – is a particular favourite. If I were a singer-songwriter, I’d write a serenade to Cēsis in a heartbeat. It’s the kind of town where the local newspaper (Druva) still […]