After our first day in Riga, we had walked around all of the Old Town and most of the Central District. But as it turns out, the churches were all closed on Monday, so the first thing we wanted to do on Tuesday was visit the St. Peter’s church tower.

Before traveling to Riga, I had looked at a lot of pictures online and my favorite city views were from this tower. It’s the tallest steeple in Old Town and offers amazing views across Old Town and the river. You can walk all the way around to get views in every direction.

From there, we walk towards the river because we had read that there are postcard views of Riga Old Town from across the bridge. It was really windy (which is apparently normal for Riga) but once we made it across it calmed down and we just sat in the sun enjoying the view.

Since visiting Stockholm, we have wholeheartedly bought into the Swedish tradition of fika. Mid morning we stopped for tea and a pastry at a cute 20’s themed cafe in Mode Muzejs, the fashion museum. The pastries weren’t great but it was nice to stop and regroup with a cup of tea.

Just on the edge of Old Town, the Central Market is a huge hub of vendors selling everything from fresh berries and produce to amber jewelry and souvenirs.

We had fun walking around and sampling cheeses. Outside by the produce the air smelled like strawberries. We quickly realized though, that this is one spot where we really needed cash.

Since we didn’t have cash or our ATM cards with us, we walked into the Central District for lunch. There are so many good restaurants over there, and this time we opted for Mio. It was so good! We had housemade linguini with seasonal vegetables, pesto and parmesan. Once again, we ate lunch so fast I forgot to get a picture! We also split a delicious brie, walnut and berry salad with a balsamic dressing. The balsamic seems to always be so good here.

After lunch, we checked out some thrift stores and found really cool old postcards. Many of them were from Russia years ago. It was cool to see which sites were featured on the postcards then.

Walking back towards Old Town, we were passing through the canal park and noticed the Riga Tea House. I think it’s a play off of ‘tree house’ because the cafe seating is on a wooden platform up a spiral staircase.

The seating is floor cushions that wrap around the perimeter of the floor and everyone sits facing outwards to watch the people in the park passing by. We each ordered a pot of tea and a pastry and settled in.

We sat and relaxed for a while, and when we finally got up we decided to spend the evening walking around Old Town.

Eventually we sat down for dinner at Ezītis Miglā. They have two locations, and the first one we stopped at looked like a stale bar. So when we stumbled upon the second location and thought it was such a cute patio and restaurant we were shocked to discover the affiliation. They offer lots of vegan and vegetarian options. Surprisingly almost every menu I saw in Riga had a vegetarian section or symbol!

After dinner we mailed some postcards to family and friends, and packed up. We are leaving early in the morning on a bus for Tallinn, Estonia. On the way we will make a quick stop to explore the Estonian beach town Parnu.