I’m on a bus from Tartu to Tallinn. My two stops in Estonia. But I haven’t finished Latvia so I’ll try to do that here. BTW this really is a luxury bus! My transportation from Cēsis to Tartu involved public transportation on a Latvian train and from the border town (Valga/Valku depending on which side you’re on), an Estonian bus. They both stopped a bunch. The Tartu TI women suggested this bus as better than the train (which I would typically prefer) and now I see why. Decent WiFi (but honestly almost every trans has had free WiFi), each seat has a tv (iPad) screen (that no one is using), outlets, and even ac and apparently a free coffee machine in back?? Fancy! I think it did cost more but with my 40% over 60 discount I paid about $8 for a 180 km (112 mi), 2.5 H ride. The public trains and buses were cheaper but less clean and comfy. 

Anyway I digress. I wanted to talk about my food adventures in Latvia. I sorta OD’d on potato and fried bread dishes in Lithuania. Though I had a lot of pork and it was good. It was all fine but not my palate for everyday. Heavy. Salty. Really sticks to your gut.

Highlight. When in Cēsis since I haven’t had a sauna, I decided to treat myself to one of the three Michelin (presumably bib gourmand) restaurants in the area, H.E. Vanadziņš. 

It was quite good and only a bit over $32… including a local beer. And since tax is included and people don’t really tip there, that was it!!! Amazing. Also in Cēsis, I realized I hadn’t had Latvia’s famous dish, gray peas with bacon/speck. Sounds grosser than it is. It’s actually a brownish-gray pea that’s unique to Latvia? Maybe akin to a black eyed pea but nuttier and better. It’s a classic Christmas/New Year food because they (of course) represent money. Like Italians with lentils. Anyway it’s not an everyday thing so the TI woman recommended the place I’d be most likely to find it and it was basically a cafeteria-like eatery. She also said the classic drink with gray peas is a kefir — and tried explaining to me what it was but when I told her I knew already she was shocked and actually said it must be different even if called the same thing. From what I could tell, it is not.

The cafeteria place had no ambience but seemed a popular spot. It was also pretty cheap though of the three Baltics, I think Latvia is the cheapest anyhow. I also tried my first local beer there (no kefir — I’m not a big fan) … and threw in a chicken meatball and a cuke and cabbage salad since I craved something green and they don’t really seem to do it much!?

In Riga, there’s a famous place for pelmeni — their version of dumplings — in the central market I’ve blogged about. I dutifully went there on a Wednesday morning and while every other shop in the food court was open (and their sign said they were open that day and time), no one was there. Just a dark stall. I had plans to see other stuff so I just went to a neighboring, less famous stall, and got their boiled version. You can get them vegetarian or with various fillings and there’s some speculation on exactly what constitutes the mystery meat (the area has lots of rats and pigeons?). But I asked the woman there and she said the meat was the best so I did it. Anyway they are often shaped differently (but still called pelmeni) if boiled or fried — boiled ones look like a cross between xiao long bao and (non egg) tortellini though no soup. And of course, with sour cream!! Annoyed that I never tried the more famous place — and also curious to try the fried ones, on my way out of Riga, I stopped again at the famous spot — they were working that day — and got the fried ones. With chicken and mushroom filling but I can’t say I tasted the shrooms.

In Jūrmala, at my fancy cafe, I had a fish stew which she said was not traditional but good (they have a more meat-based stew with potatoes and spices — think goulash). I had the meat stew in Kaunas and thought — hey I’m at the beach I should have fish — but I added on a side of the garlic bread. I swore it off after Vilnius but I needed carbs! And as she pointed out, it was traditional. It was a better version. The garlic is fried somehow in with the bread instead of the garlic in the dip? And the dip was a cheese dip instead. All tastier. And more like fried bread, less like croutons. They also did three different types of dark bread — no doubt all rye but slightly different versions and I definitely had a favorite. I was going to order a vegetable plate but she encouraged me not to as it was a lot of food — and it was. I could not finish that bread plate.

It could’ve been that I was at a better restaurant (the last version was at the converted prison in Vilnius) though the meals cost almost the same. But I’d also met, and had a cocktail with, one of my fellow tour people. She’s a schoolteacher from Queens and had spent a rainy day in various cafes in Riga and said the bread was delish. So thank you Frances!

About the cocktail. Frances had read about this cool cafe called Black Magic and we both wanted to try Latvia’s famous herbal drink, black balsam. She got hers in a coffee concoction but I took it straight.

We sat in the front room, right next to the secret bookcase. Surprisingly I did not jump when a man came out of it while we were sitting there. They offer reservations-only tastings down there which Frances wanted to do but it was all booked on the days she was available … anyway, during the tour I asked my fellow Chicagoans if they’d tried black balsam (they had) and how it compared to the much-maligned Malört. They said it was easier to drink. And given that I also drink fernet often, this so-called bitter herbal concoction was very easy to down. I liked it. So much so, I bought two bottles — a tiny one to try a new flavor and a regular one to help warm up those cold, wet nights in Riga (and Kaunas, Tartu, and Tallinn!). I must’ve liked it because they come in these obscenely heavy non-recyclable (I checked) bottles which I carried around quite a bit since it took me awhile to finish the big one.

The Baltics also seem to love their pastries and chocolates but since I’m not a big sweets eater, I didn’t take photos. But I got a few pastries as breakfasts and snacks on the go. Filled with spinach and cheese or maybe a rhubarb one to try a dessert one. They were quite good. Buttery!

Finally about food and drink. On the wet day I returned to Old Town Riga from my art nouveau tour, I really craved a beer and some warmth. Of course the highly-rated bar on my way back was closed Wednesdays. So I walked further to the center and of all things, saw a Belgian bar. I felt a tad guilty but it was open, though relatively early, didn’t look crazy touristy, and had good ratings. So I had one small beer … not that small (!) and it was good! I stayed awhile, dried off, and heard a lot of UK voices. And hey, the Belgians DO make the best beers.

A note on the drinking of beers. It seems a small, though sometimes .35L, is usually .5L (over a pint). I can’t imagine ordering a L of beer in one go — it’s like a half gallon?? Anyway I never ordered more than one .5L and they always list the ABVs being less than 6% but for some reason I could feel it!? With food. Maybe I’m eating less but it was surprising. Other funny comment — the two times I had pelmeni at the central market, I was there before noon. They have communal tables so I always shared with some old codger who looked local and was …yes, drinking a beer. With no food. At 11am. The Riga guide said people really love drinking beer there and I guess he’s right.

Ok so much for food. Final thoughts on Latvia. I’ve liked it the best of the Baltics but maybe that’s a blog for the end of my trip to Estonia…

They LOVE the Great Outdoors. There were parks in towns and national parks everywhere. And in my quiet town of Cēsis, I hit the weekend where there were races on the castle grounds one day and bike races for all ages the second day. On nice bikes, btw. Lots of Lycra and helmets on ages 4-60!?

Speaking of, I saw more kids everywhere in Cēsis. Alone, in couples, in packs, with parents, in prams, on bikes, on foot, one on a Vespa-type scooter doing a wheelie the entire way down a quiet street…. A Riga guide bemoaned the fact that at its height before the wars, Riga had over 500k people and today it’s just 600k … he thinks Latvia cannot become a stronger nation without more people to do the work! But if Cēsis was any indication, they seemed to be doing a great job reproducing. The kids seemed to mostly be on their own which seems like a great life.

Other thoughts – thx to the German and Russian aristocratic invasions, arts (opera and ballet) are big. The guide was surprised I knew that Baryshnikov (Mischa!) was born and started dancing in Riga. Frances had booked tix to see their ballet before she left NY. They were sold out when we were there.

Riga was my favorite city so far. Everything was beautiful and clean and different eras coexisted with modern thoughts. Funnily on my day trip to Jūrmala, on the way out I caught a very old, creaky, slightly smelly, just bench seating train (though still had WiFi), which I felt was from the Soviet days. But on the way back, I caught a very new and modern one. Coexisting!

The land is very flat near Riga and the sea but it was quite hilly in Cēsis. And my views from various trains and buses reminded me of NC. Lots of pine and spruce trees.

Those are my final thoughts on Latvia. I stayed in this morning to finish this thing and it’s actually sunny outside so I’m not even proofing this. It’s time to start my day!!