Riga Fairytale Tour

Riga Fairytale Tour

Exploring niche countries has always been my first choice when travelling abroad. The mysterious and unknown feeling of "niche" is very appealing to me. This time, I braved a 16-hour flight to Riga, the capital of Latvia, with my best friend, which is the most populous, the largest and the oldest architectural city among the three small countries in the Baltic Sea.

The Old Town of Riga is the highlight of the trip. The Old Town is huge and requires a lot of energy and a memory card with plenty of space! Famous buildings include St Peter's Church, Blackhead House, Riga Cat hedral and many more. St. Peter's Church is the tallest building in the Old Town and is a must-see for travellers, with a panoramic view of Riga from the top of the tower.

The view of the city's colourful buildings from above is wonderfully healing.

I took the lift to the seven-metre-high observation deck, paid my ticket and couldn't wait to get in. Against the blue sky, the earthy colours and goose-yellow buildings became even more beautiful! "Ka-ching! Camera shutter clicks were heard. We stood on the sidelines and watched the other travellers' compliments. Couples were taking selfies, friends were taking photos of each other, and families were busy taking photos. At this moment, I felt a little bit touched. People from all over the world, enjoying the same view from the top of the same tower, sharing the same joy, and sending out a wonderful resonance during the salute.

"The best way to understand the daily life of the locals is to visit their food market". South of the Old Town is another eye-opening attraction - Riga's Central Market, the largest food market in Europe with 3,000 stalls. Here you can find all kinds of food ingredients, such as livestock, fish, vegetable ingredients, bread, drinks, household goods and so on. Outside the market, you can also find clothing, shoes, flower market and so on, which is an amazing scale, and it's also a great place to search for affordable speciality goods and souvenirs! I found a random restaurant in the market to try the local speciality of smoked fish (sprat), crispy fries and veggies, with half a lemon for flavour. Even I don't like fish, I had a good taste of it, and I'm totally in love with smoked fish!

The special smoked fish that you can try at the Central Market has a lot of flavour!

There is more to Riga than the beautiful brunettes. The Art Nouveau buildings were visually stunning, and the breakthroughs in style were so exciting that half a day was not too much to ask for. Strolling through the Old Town, surrounded by cute colourful houses, I felt like I was walking into the illustrations of the English storybooks I read when I was a kid. What fascinated me most was the sight of the colourful buildings in front of me, and the sound of the nearby music in my ears, which made me feel like I was in a small town in the 18th century. This trip to Riga gave me a very special memory and fulfilled my dream of walking into a fairy tale. I am excited that Riga is only the starting point of my trip to the Baltic Sea, and I am sure the journey will get more and more exciting with Estonia and Lithuania to come!

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