The Search for the Perfect Pint
Riga - Latvia
It was an early start - especially for me as I had to pick up NL, JH and JP before driving to John Lennon airport for our early morning flight to Riga. We arrived at the airport at 4 am and remarkably even though JP had been up most of the night he was not that much under the influence.
The first couple of pints were the awful Carling. I abstained but the other three decided to start as they meant to go on.
Norm and I spent most of the time asleep on the flight except when we were interrupted by the irritating announcements for scratch cards and crap cans of Carlsberg for £4 for 33cl. I wouldn't drink that if it came out of Cheryl Cole's minge but JP bought 2 cans and almost threw up the contents after just one sip.
We landed in Riga without mishap and JP quickly grabbed a taxi to take us to the fantastic Hotel Konventa Seta in the heart of Riga Old Town. The exchange rate in March 2011 was around 82 santims for £1. The taxi ride cost 9 Lats or about £10.80. The Latvian Lats is the currency in Latvia. The Latvian Lats is divided into 100 santims.
Twenty minutes later we'd booked in and had to find a pub to watch the United v Aston Villa Carling Cup Final. Normally we don't venture into the ubiquitous Oirish / English bars but if we wanted to watch the match...
.
The first couple of pints were the awful Carling. I abstained but the other three decided to start as they meant to go on.
Norm and I spent most of the time asleep on the flight except when we were interrupted by the irritating announcements for scratch cards and crap cans of Carlsberg for £4 for 33cl. I wouldn't drink that if it came out of Cheryl Cole's minge but JP bought 2 cans and almost threw up the contents after just one sip.
We landed in Riga without mishap and JP quickly grabbed a taxi to take us to the fantastic Hotel Konventa Seta in the heart of Riga Old Town. The exchange rate in March 2011 was around 82 santims for £1. The taxi ride cost 9 Lats or about £10.80. The Latvian Lats is the currency in Latvia. The Latvian Lats is divided into 100 santims.
Twenty minutes later we'd booked in and had to find a pub to watch the United v Aston Villa Carling Cup Final. Normally we don't venture into the ubiquitous Oirish / English bars but if we wanted to watch the match...
.
Alus Seta - Tirgonu Iela 6,
1019 Riga
The first pub we found was Alus Seta on Tirguna Ilea. I'd been in this place 6 years earlier and rated it highly. It didn't disappoint. It's located just off the Dome square and gets quite rowdy and bubbling over with Latvian youth.
It (self) serves traditional Latvian food, kebabs, roast tatties, a variety of stews plus salad. All were tried over the five days and were highly recommended by each of us.
The beers were Ventspils Lazavas at 1.30 Lats and JP tried a Kiss cider at 2 Lats. Over the next few days we also tried Aldaris and Uzavas Gaisais (pale unfiltered lager type beer), Aldaris Zelta and Uzavas Tumsais a dark unfiltered beer. The background music was apparently traditional Latvian Folk music. It didn't bother me but JH found it annoying.
It (self) serves traditional Latvian food, kebabs, roast tatties, a variety of stews plus salad. All were tried over the five days and were highly recommended by each of us.
The beers were Ventspils Lazavas at 1.30 Lats and JP tried a Kiss cider at 2 Lats. Over the next few days we also tried Aldaris and Uzavas Gaisais (pale unfiltered lager type beer), Aldaris Zelta and Uzavas Tumsais a dark unfiltered beer. The background music was apparently traditional Latvian Folk music. It didn't bother me but JH found it annoying.
Inside Alus Seta
Paddy Whelans - 4 Greccinieku iela but I won't be back.
After we'd fed our faces and had a couple of pints we headed towards and Orish pub called Paddy Whelans. What a shit-hole. Televisions all over the place but it was full of ignorant wankers from London watching Spurs on tele. We made the mistake of having a pint in here. Three of us had Guiness for 2.50 Lats whilst Norm chose a Leffe Brun at 2.40 Lats. Utter shite so we quickly left.
Alberts Bar - Skunu Ilea
The next port of call was Alberts Bar on Skunu Ilea. This was an English bar (owned by a Swede) and although we never went back after watching United retain the Carling Cup, it was ok. This is an ex-pats meeting place.The barmaids were well worth looking at and the beer was ok - Azagus Aldaris at 1.40 Lats for 1/2 litre and Kiss Cider at 1.50 Lts. I don't think it was cider - more a perry but it was very refreshing.
Victory Pub 10 Tirgonu iela
Not a lot to write home about. It#'s an English pub near the Dome Square selling bog standard beer but at least it kept us out of the snow.
Brasserrie Bon Vivant 8 Marstalu iela
This is an excellent pub. Based on Belgian bars and selling the likes of Leffe and other magnificent Belgian beers. We spent most of our time here. It wasn't the cheapest place in town, but the beer was by far the best. Recommended. It is Riga's only gastro 'brasserie' serving epicurian fantasies of Belgian and European cuisine.
Shot Cafe - Near the Powder Tower
It was alright in here, although both times we went in (during the day to shelter from the snow), it was pretty quiet. The girls behind the bar were very pretty and the beer was reasonably priced and suppable. The first one we sampled was a 'Sun Cider' which was interesting. It tasted of a mixture of apple juice and those purple violet sweets we used to eat as a kid. Anyway, it cost 2 Lats so it wasn't going to break the bank. The next one was a premium pilsner from Lacplesis. Another strange one here - it looked as flat as a wotches tit but was incredibly fizzy. (Back to the 70's again). If you want to urinate into Mick Jaggers lips, this is the place to do it as there is an Andy Warhol type piss-pot shaped like Jaggers lips.
Runcis - Sia Ondle Jana Seta 1
Runcis is Latvian for 'The Tom Cat'and is tucked away in a quiet courtyard of the old town, a very Latvian bar - in fact we were the only foreigners there every time we popped in. Three different types of beers. Tervetes Alus , Aldararis Pilzenes and Aldararis Zelta all at only 1 Lat each. JP also drank Kiss cider (4.5%) for 1.4 Lat. My notes mention something called Kvass but I'm not exactly sure what is was.
Rigas Pirmais Folkklubs Ala - Grecinieku ela
They didn't sell draught beer - cans only. Aldaris was the beer offered and it cost 1 and a half Lats for half a litre. The atmosphere was pretty chilled, let down by the absence of proper beer, but made up for it because it was packed with Latvian women.
Hansa Bars
This was a very smoky bar and we may have made a mistake coming in here as it seemed to have a predominantly gay clientelle. This was the only bar that we went in that allowed smoking so we didn't stay long. In fact we just drank a reasonable Aldaris at 1.50 Lats for half a litre. THhe best thing about the place was it was immediately opposite an off licence called Lavijaz Balzams. This sold a large variety of vodka at 2.99 Lats a bottle. My particular favourite being a 38% cranberry flavoured one.
Indian Raja 3 Vecpilsetas iela AND 7 Skarnu iela
I thought I'd have to mention this because I had probably the best Vindaloo I've ever had in my life in this place. It's gained a very good reputation for it's food - and rightly so. Our party of fout had three onion bhajis, one chicken pakora, one lamb vindaloo, two chicken birianis and one Adraki Murg with naan's, basmati rice and rotis. For drinks we had a half litre each of Aldaris Luksus (2 Lats). The total price was 65.40 Lats. Not cheap but brilliant food. In fact there was far too much for us and we couldn't finish it. If you like you Indian food, this is a must.
OUTSIDE RIGA
CESIS
If you're in Latvia for more than a couple of days, a decent trip out is to Cesis. This is real bear country and the view on the way there is as wild as you're likely to see in Europe. For all that though, it's a great journey to get there. Cesis is an ancient, little town in northern Latvia, 90 km from Riga. Cesis is popular with tourists because of its unique medieval atmosphere, wide range of festivals, outstanding recreation opportunities, and the wonderful nature to be found around the town. Local sights and attractions include the Livonian Order Castle: The best-preserved Livonian castle in Latvia, dating back to ancient times. The castle was partly destroyed during the Great Northern War (1700-1721) and has not been restored since.
New Castle of Cesis (18th Century): This castle houses The Museum of History and Art.
St John’s Church (13th Century): The largest church in northern Latvia. The church tower provides a beautiful panorama of the town. The Old Town is small with narrow cobblestone streets which have retained the original medieval town plan. Tile-roofed houses, souvenir shops and a cafe with a fireplace create an atmosphere of old times and cosiness. However, when we went at the beginning of March, it was under around 6 foot of snow so we didn't see any of the cobblestone streets. It's easy to get to as well. The trains from Riga run three times a day and it takes around 1 hour 50 minutes. Only three of us did the trip as JP was happier sitting at the hotel bar becoming more acquainted with the Aldaris Zelta. The fare was 13.47 Lats for three, for some reason it was dearer for the return journey than it was getting there. The train is one of those old fashioned ones that you see regularly in Eastern Europe but it was warm and clean (except for the two foot turd left by a paraffin in the toilet bowl). There is a brewery in Cesis so we managed to get another drink we'd never had before. A simply marvellous Gavais premium beer of 4.7%. It only cost 0.80 Lats and as they couldn't change a 20 Lat note (about £24), we tried to spend it all - but alas we couldn't as we needed to get the train back to Riga before the snow got too bad.
New Castle of Cesis (18th Century): This castle houses The Museum of History and Art.
St John’s Church (13th Century): The largest church in northern Latvia. The church tower provides a beautiful panorama of the town. The Old Town is small with narrow cobblestone streets which have retained the original medieval town plan. Tile-roofed houses, souvenir shops and a cafe with a fireplace create an atmosphere of old times and cosiness. However, when we went at the beginning of March, it was under around 6 foot of snow so we didn't see any of the cobblestone streets. It's easy to get to as well. The trains from Riga run three times a day and it takes around 1 hour 50 minutes. Only three of us did the trip as JP was happier sitting at the hotel bar becoming more acquainted with the Aldaris Zelta. The fare was 13.47 Lats for three, for some reason it was dearer for the return journey than it was getting there. The train is one of those old fashioned ones that you see regularly in Eastern Europe but it was warm and clean (except for the two foot turd left by a paraffin in the toilet bowl). There is a brewery in Cesis so we managed to get another drink we'd never had before. A simply marvellous Gavais premium beer of 4.7%. It only cost 0.80 Lats and as they couldn't change a 20 Lat note (about £24), we tried to spend it all - but alas we couldn't as we needed to get the train back to Riga before the snow got too bad.
