#riga2014

Best for: food lovers

Bring: your other half

Price: €€€

http://www.liveriga.com/en/3819-galerija-istaba

Riga is an unknown mystery to many people, admittedly including me before I moved over here. Reactions to telling friends I was moving to Riga include:

"Where's that?"

"Who?"

"HAHAHAHA. What, seriously?"

Whilst it now has a reputation for stag dos, in between world wars it was nicknamed the Paris of the Baltics. Cue another guffaw.. IT'S TRUE.

So, when people visit I feel the need to show Riga off and prove that its a hidden gem. Which it is.

One way I decided to do this was to take visitor #1 to a quirky, cool, and ultimately TASTY eatery. Galeria Istaba is comprised of art shop on the first floor, with a mezzanine restaurant looking down to it on the second floor. The decoration is offbeat and mismatched: a plush velour sofa in one corner, exposed pipe and dishevelled chairs in the other. Its authentically downtrodden, but definitely in a down the rabbit hole kind of way.

Friday morning: run around being extremely loud and excitable. Execute shoulder bump in morning broadcast (http://bit.ly/1sIGac2) then leave work. Light canter home. 

Friday afternoon: go to monster shopping centre for pillows. End up buying shoes, dress, sushi, ice cream, plastic cups..  

Friday early evening: crash and burn. Have used copious amounts of energy being excited and generally sweating anticipation. Try to nap. Get woken by German techno. Decide to eat fistfuls of hummus. 

Old Town - Riga

Spikeri District - Riga

Art galleries, creative industries

Dali Cafe - closest to artisan coffee I have found in Riga