July 2023: Europe and Iceland: Riga, Latvia

Island Princess had attempted for the second time to land in Visby but had been defeated again by high winds. Instead of a busy day we had had a restful day at sea. Baltic before we arrived in Riga.

Day 11: Saturday 8th July 2023: Riga, Latvia

I was woken early by the appearance of the pilot boat below our cabin.Island Princess then made her way slowly up the river.

Our berth was before the Vansu suspension bridge. When I looked out the bridge was already busy with traffic this early in the morning.

Into Riga

Our breakfast was upstairs in the buffet before we picked up our bags and left the ship. We remembered our way along the side of the river walking towards the suspension bridge before we crossed over to the old town.

Riga Old Town

After the old town we walked back to the river the pavement was pretty uneven and as we approached the market buildings it vanished altogether. We had to find our way across a dirt car park on planks until we reached the market.

Inside the market, it was very busy and I refrained from photography until we are being through all three halls and we were outside.

This visit we walked around the outside market before we took a very different way back to the old town. We went underneath a railway bridge to leave the Mark market area. This was a very different part of Riga for us. We walked along the park which had a lake running through it.

As we came to the Freedom Monument there was a crowd of people.

These groups of ladies were dressed in traditional costumes.

A rest and a drink

In one of the squares we sat outside, on the bench listening to the music. The selection of all the songs were ones that we liked. Slowly the tables around as filled with tourist and locals alike all enjoying the weather.

Above us as I watched a fledgling was being fed while balancing on a wire. On our map we had the location of the black cat on the cat house. Standing on the steps opposite we had a very good view.

At the end of a park we were outside the Russian Embassy and stopped to look at the murals painted opposite.

These were the painted along the garden walls of a building on the next street.

From the embassy we walked through the park back to the river and Island Princess.

Our drinks package offered us an ice cream sundae EVERY day. So far we hadn’t one so it was time to try…

Definitely an acquired taste and was our one and only …

At the end of season sale I tried to buy half price T-shirts. But the T-shirts that I chose were not on offer despite being on the tables with the other reduced T-shirts. I was rather disappointed and took them back and get a refund.

Leaving Riga

As Island Princess slowly made her way back down the river to the Baltic. One of the ships talked about by the Captain was a Soviet icebreaker that was moored downstream. Unfortunately for us we were on the wrong side of the ship to see it. In the past, the river used to freeze over and the icebreaker was needed to keep the river open for navigation.

Room service delivered some drinks…

Dinner was in the grill.

Captain’s cocktail party

At the Captain’s cocktail party the most travelled guests had been on Princess ships for an amazing number of nights. In order for the one-2-three these were (approximately) 2,500, 1,400, and 1,300 nights! The number of guests from the USA was over 1100, the number of Canadians was over 300, the number of Australian and people from New Zealand again was over 300. They were just around 80 guests from the UK!!