One of the convenient flights to travel to Eastern Europe is Air Baltic. Not just because you can get tickets at good prices, but also that they have a stopover at Riga, Latvia. While I was visiting my friend in Prague, I decided to have a longer stopover at Riga on my way back to Stockholm.

Overall, I had six hours. The idea was to go to the city center, get a map and walk around the city. I reached Riga at about 1400 hours. At the arrivals terminal, each passenger was being checked by a sniffer dog – which was a first for me. I wonder if they do that all the time. Anyway, right in the arrivals section, there is a tourist information desk. Very helpful and they had a concise map of the top places to see in Riga. It showed the location of most of the landmarks of Riga in the old town along with a brief description of each (and was free).

After withdrawing Euros from the ATM, I went to the bus stop at the airport. The buses (No. 22) to the old town travel frequently and it only takes 40 minutes to reach the old town. The stop is immediately after the Vanšu bridge.

Getting off the bus, I walked to the Latvian war memorial. Afterwards, I followed the map and visited all those places I could possibly see in the few hours I had.

In the end, I had dinner at an Indian restaurant – Indian Raja. Decent place, nice food and great ambiance. After dinner, I walked along the Daugava river during sunset following which I took the bus back to the airport. Overall, six hours was not enough and I wish to go back again soon.

(*Apologies for the poor picture quality. My Samsung digital camera had already served well for 5 years and barely made it)