On Day 5 of our roadtrip last winter, we crossed the border from Lithuania to Latvia and enjoyed the Christmas Market in Riga. It looked much different in winter than in summer, when I first visited the Baltic City. It was freezing cold, but the ambiance was light, warm and cozy. Nah.. seriously, my toes went numb! Good thing, warm and satisfying food was available in the sparkling market.

This was our route for the roadtrip, c/o Google Maps:

It was Day 5 and we couldn’t decide where to go next. We visited most of the popular sites in Lithuania in the past days, so we thought of crossing the border to Latvia instead. I first visited Riga in 2014, and had a great solo trip meeting people while getting to know the Baltic City. It’s a bit different this time, since it’s winter and I was with Carl. It was his first time in Riga.

We had a great night in Ibis Styles Vilnius, nothing special: “Spacious room, comfy bed, huge free parking space. Ok breakfast selection.”

Vilnius was a nice city, but we really had a tough time sending postcards from there. We went to a Lietuvos paštas (office) and whatever we said, we were responded with “NO, NO, NO.” I showed my postcards without stamps, used google translate, showed a picture of a stamp, but the staff just shooed me away. We went to kiosks and supermarkets, but they all said they don’t sell stamps. I was about to give up, but then, we came across the postoffice in Architektų g. 19, 04001 Vilnius, Lithuania. Heads up to the hospitable woman on the counter who warmly accommodated us and actually sold stamps!

We reached the border at around 12:30 pm, and by 2:30 pm, we arrived at the hotel.

We decided to splurge a bit and booked a nice hotel with free parking, the Riga Islande Hotel:

Feeling tired from the drive, we rested for an hour before going out again. I like staycations as much as touring around, but my husband of 6 years still don’t get how staying in hotels can also be enjoyable for me. haha

So, Riga. It’s an architectural haven! When I first visited it in 2014, I met Couchsurfers, although I never surfed in other people’s couches ever. They planned activities, like a tour to a KGB museum, walking tour, and cruise on the river Daugava. I also met “a Slovakian in her 50’s. Let’s call her Anna. Met her at the breakfast table in the hotel, went with her to the Flower Show, walked with her across the Old Town, and had dinner with her in an Armenian restaurant. She had lots of stories to tell, both blissful and painful ones. Life is good. 🙂 True enough, the heavens sent us people to teach us lessons or give us a hint on what to do.  Anna left me a wonderful message: “You’re young. Look around. Don’t rush.”

Whenever I travel alone, there’s always a number of people who, for some reason, find me a “listener” and relay their life stories without me asking. It happened to me in Prague as well, in Budapest, Athens, Rome, anywhere. And when the day is over, we usually don’t exchange contacts, and I think it’s a beautiful thing. The moment gets preserved. 🙂 Sometimes, we add each other on socmed. And that’s cool, too.

So, Carl & I decided to take a cab to the city center to avoid the hassle of traffic and finding a parking space. The Christmas Market is smaller than the one in Vilnius, and much more smaller than the one in Oslo, but the I liked the ornaments and the sparkling lights. And like Lithuania, Latvia was also showy of their support for Ukraine.

It was freezing cold, but we enjoyed the delicacies being sold in the market. It was teeming with locals and tourists. Oh, how I miss the hot crepe with creamy chocolate… 😛 And as mentioned, my toes went really numb. So, after an hour, we hailed a taxi and called it a day.

The trip to Riga was very spontaneous. We only spent a night there, and then, we were off to Klaipeda to catch the ferry back to Sweden. Our roadtrip was nearing an end, but we still have Day 6 and 7, so, more about that on the next entry. 🙂

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ALL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS ON THIS BLOG ENTRY ARE MINE. 🙂 Cheers!