Kaķu nams - Rīgas famous Cat House

Although Kaķu nams translates to the illicit-sounding name “Cat House,” it is actually one of the more famous structures in Vecrīga, and not because of any illegal activity on the premises. 

Located at 10 Meistaru iela in the heart of Vecrīga, the century-old building is the work of architect Friedrich Scheffel.

Legend has it that a wealthy tradesman was denied membership by the Riga Tradesmen’s Guild. He had commissioned the grand Art Nouveau building across the street from the Lielā Ģilde in anticipation of becoming a member, so when he was refused he had two copper statues of cats placed on the turret rooftops – tails turned up at the Great Guild. The story goes that the owner was tied up in court over the angry felines, and eventually gave in to the Guild and turned the cats around. 

Rīgas Centrāltirgus, the Riga Central Market

Kartupeli, kartupeli, kur ir tavi brāļi? Rīgas tirgū, Rīgas tirgū, tur ir mani brāļi!

One of the most familiar and easily recognizable structures in Rīga may be the Riga Central Market. Five pavilions in Neoclassic and Art Deco styles cover a total of 778,000 square feet, with more than 3,000 booths selling anything and everything. A market and produce stalls have been on the shores of the Daugava River in this area since as early as 1571, and today the Market has been included on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Historic Centre of Riga.

Construction started in 1924 utilizing metal frameworks from World War I German Zeppelin hangars from Vaiņode Air Base. The initial large structure design was impractical due to their immense size and the logistical difficulties in heating/cooling such a large space, and so the new buildings were ultimately erected from stone and reinforced concrete only utilizing the upper portions of the hangars. The Market's pavilions are five of nine Zeppelin hangars remaining in the world.

Four of the hangars are located side by side along the canal, with the final and biggest built perpendicular to them on the east end. Its 54,000 square feet are intended for wholesale and meat processing, while the smaller pavilions are meant for retail. Underground is a wide basement for storage, and products can be transferred up top with cranes without disturbing traffic, customers or the seller. The basement has three underground tunnels connecting to the adjacent river bank.

Vendors can also be found outside along Nēģu iela, selling from cars, tables and tents. On our visit we found the freshest strawberries, blueberries and raspberries here, paying $5 for enough berries to keep us snacking for the next three hours with enough left for breakfast the next day. As far as produce goes, the Market will also be your most-reasonably priced destination for honey, mushrooms and other fresh and natural products from the Latvian countryside.

We found the tirgus to be a good source for souvenirs, with good deals on Laimas chocolates and Latvian rye bread. There are also booths of knitwear, wooden ornaments and amber jewelry, however it was the produce and food vendors that attracted my attention most. It was easy to imagine finding a favorite cheese booth over time, getting to know the woman I would buy my fish from and chatting about the best recipes for various cuts with my butcher – just as in our little marché in France…

We made a few more purchases, including mazsālītie gurķi (pickles) to crunch on while browsing, and then beautiful new potatoes I was thinking of boiling up for dinner with some fresh dill. Not remembering the lb to kg conversion I asked for 2 euro worth – and was rewarded with more potatoes than we would be able to eat on our entire trip.

The stroller was laden and our mouths busy snacking as we emerged from the last hanger and crossed the canal into Vecrīga. (Note: the views over Daugava of Akmens tilts and Pārdaugava are beautiful from this point if you can manage to safely cross the many lanes of traffic.) I was already composing a mental shopping list for things I wouldn’t pass up on my next visit – which was not to be during this trip, but is high on my list of priorities next time!

It is estimated that between 40,000 to 160,000 visit the market daily, and on our visit it was rather crowded, even being a weekday. Keep your wallets and purses close to avoid falling prey to a pickpocket, and exercise caution as you would in any public market. However the market was clean, most vendors courteous and the flavors fresh and natural – a day at the Rīgas Centrāltirgus remains a purely Latvian experience that can’t be beat.

Eleventh Latvian School Youth Song and Dance Festival in Rīga

Sākumā ir burts, pēc tam zilbe, un zilbes veido vārdus. Vārdi, ko apbur mūzika, kļūst par dziesmām, bet raiti ritot rotaļīgā ritmā, dziesma pārtop par deju. (Source here)

It was more than 150 years ago that Reverend J. Neikens organized the song days in the birch grove near the manse in Dikļi in which about 120 schoolchildren participated. A couple of years later in 1866 the first official childrens’ song festival was held in Praulienes township, and in the historic 1873 first-ever Latvian song and dance festival there were many school-age participants. However it was in Soviet times that the first official school youth song and dance festival took place. A total of 8,359 singers and 1,200 dancers from 178 schools partook in the event in 1960, and over the years it has grown and evolved to be the largest festival in Latvia to involve children, youth culture and art.

Held every five years, the festival features choirs, dance collectives, brass bands, small musical collectives, folk music ensembles, collectives of visual and applied arts & theatre art, and youth folklore groups. In 2003 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization proclaimed the tradition, symbolism, and uniqueness of the song and dance festivals in the Baltics a ‘Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’, and the Tenth Latvian School Youth Song Festival in 2010 had a total of 30,975 participants from 1,305 collectives.

This year approximately 37,000 children and youth from all over Latvia participated in the Eleventh Latvian School Youth Song and Dance Festival in Rīga, in a weeklong extravaganza that featured everything from traditional concerts to theater productions and the artisan fair Burtiski burvīgs burziņš in Vērmanes dārzs. There were pop-up street concerts, modern dance exhibitions and a fashion show of folk costumes, and then the wide assortment of unofficial events that had been scheduled to coincide with the festival: museum exhibit openings, art shows and rock concerts.

The week culminated with a parade and final concert. Sunday morning there was much confusion as the parade of participants had officially been cancelled, although through word of mouth we learned that an ‘unofficial parade’ was taking place. It’s hard for the spectators to understand the scope of preparation required to put on an event of this scale, and as with any happening of this magnitude, there were bound to be hiccups. Sadly, it was a rather serious incident at the rehearsal for the final concert that marred the festival; as the rehearsal neared its end, dozens of children fainted from exhaustion, overwhelming the first aid resources on location. Only a few were actually hospitalized, and all were released in short order, but the episode raised serious questions on the extreme strain the children are under during the week of the festival: extremely long days filled with hours of practice, hot summer weather, irregular mealtimes and interrupted sleep as many of the participants traveled from other cities and were housed dormitory-style in schools and public buildings. The rehearsal was subsequently cancelled and an orderly evacuation ensued, but the momentary chaos as panicked students fed off of one another’s hysteria prompted officials to cancel the parade the following morning, supposedly allowing for participants to rest before the final concert. (Although up to 500 children required some sort of first aid, reports indicate that 50 children fainted, the majority of the 450 requiring only band-aids or water bottles.)

As participating in the parade is a point of pride for each choir and collective, it was not surprising that many chose to ignore the official cancellation, and an unorganized stream of groups filled Brīvības Street for many hours Sunday morning. It seemed as if the only result of the pronouncement was to keep spectators away, although as the morning progressed the crowd grew as news of the unofficial parade spread. Traffic in front of the Freedom Monument remained steady as participants left flowers and took pictures.

We headed to Mežaparks for the final concert, where a total of 12,500 would participate in a three hour showcase of Latvian song. Spectators numbered around 66,600, and the atmosphere was electric. No trace of the morning’s tensions remained, although the repertoire was supposedly cut short to keep the concert at a reasonable length. I was once more relegated to the periphery with Vilis in the stroller, much as I had been with Mikus two years ago at the final concert of the XXV Latvian National Song Festival. However even with the additional distance from the stage I was still in the thick of things, with performers rushing by to and from the stage, and enveloped by the sound of 12,000 voices singing as one.

The song festival is over, the children having returned to their hometowns to prepare for school to restart in the fall. We’re back in the US, busy with end of summer tasks and after-vacation chores. Yet, the last notes still echo – in the songs the boys are singing while at play in the yard, in our memories of our weeks in Latvia, in our hearts full of wonder and pride at the heritage we have been bestowed. May the reverberations never cease.

PLEIF 2015 and meeting the new President of Latvia

The second World Latvian Economics & Innovations Forum took place in Rīga during our trip to Latvia (as you might remember the 1^st PLEIF, Pasaules latviešu ekonomikas un inovāciju forums was part of the reason for our trip overseas two years ago). I was disappointed to not be able to participate, but the demands of the three boys only a few days after our arrival superseded my involvement in the forum. We were able to find capable supervision for the boys both evenings and so I was able to attend the receptions, but I’m already looking forward to the 3^rd PLEIF, which will no doubt be just as engaging and forward-looking as the 2^nd. 

From twitter chatter and personal feedback it seems as the forum was a rousing success, with an impressive line-up of speakers including Artis Pabriks (Member of the European Parliament), Andris Piebalgs (Advisor to the President of Latvia), Kārlis Šmits (World Bank Senior Economist in China), Uldis Sīpols (Vice President of Sonoco) and Karina Pētersone (Director of the Latvian Institute) among others. The conference kicked off Day 1 in Gaismas Pils, the National Library of Latvia with an address from Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia Laimdota Straujuma, followed by Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs. Discussion on economic development, the current investment climate followed, with two separate roundtables occurring in the afternoon, giving participants a choice of themes such as entering the Latvian market or tech startups & venture capitalist opportunities.

Roberts with American Latvian Youth Association president Indra Purmale, ALJA VP Kārlis Memenis and Starcom MediaVest Group VP Pēteris Freimanis

The Welcome Reception that evening took place in Restaurant HOT’E, in the Swedbank Saules Akmens building across the Daugava river. Participants were given a chance to network while admiring sunset views of Vecrīga, the river, the Vanšu bridge and the Rīga sign which is located on the narrow peninsula of land sticking out from next to Radisson Blu Daugava.

Day 2 of PLEIF started with an address by Raimonds Vējonis, President of the Republic of Latvia. One of the people responsible for the realization of the forum is Jānis Kukainis, Chairman of the World Federation of Free Latvians, who spoke briefly followed by Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Parliamentary State Secretary for EU Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Two sessions ensued, “Latvia’s New Opportunities: Rethinking Strategies for Export Diversification and Attracting Foreign Investment” and “Strengthening Innovation and Entrepreneurial Culture in Latvia: Global perspectives.”  My brother-in-law, Attorney at Law Matīss Kukainis was a speaker in one of the afternoon options “Are we ready for CETA and TTIP? – Trade tools for doing business with North America” with a parallel program on success in China occurring simultaneously for those with business interests looking East. The final session of the day was “Branding Latvia, Latvian companies and getting the message out.”

That evening was the official reception hosted by the President of the Republic of Latvia, Mr. Raimonds Vējonis. (An invitation only event, I have to thank Ilze Garoza of PBLA for the effort in getting my last-minute security clearance and invitation for this historic evening!) Elected President of Latvia on June 3^rd, 2015, he most recently was Minister of Defence. As a member of the Green Party Vējonis was also Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development as well as Minister of the Environment, in his inaugural speech promising to increase national security while protecting the environment. The reception was held in the historic Melngalvju nams, the temporary residence of the President while the Castle is being renovated after a fire that took place in 2013, shortly before the first PLEIF.

To read more about the goals of PLEIF and programs, please visit the 2015 World Latvian Economics and Innovations Forum webpage and my PLEIF 2013 post “The twelve days of Latvija: Day 6, PLEIF and meeting the President.” 

Three places to eat in Rīga

The rest of the world is quickly catching on that Latvia might be Europe’s best kept secret. With articles such as this one making the internet rounds, it is clear that Rīga has a unique architectural, cultural and historical scene. However what was immediately obvious to me after a few meals in the capital city was that the culinary scene here is also rich and diverse, and adventurous Latvian chefs are making a name for themselves not only in the Baltics, but in all of Europe.

With three very fastidious eaters in tow we sampled a wide variety of restaurants, cafes and eateries in Rīga, with a few emerging as clear favorites. Coming in first is my preference, which is well known among ‘repatriates,’ the American Latvians who have chosen to return to Latvia and make their home here – Folkklubs ala pagrabs. With traditional Latvian fare, an extensive selection of local beer, live music and atmosphere kačum, this is the place for your evening meal in Vecrīga. With an inconspicuous entrance off of Peldu Street, one must descend a flight of stairs and pass through a long hallway decorated with traditional Latvian symbols into the basement where tables and the bar await. 

The traditional Latvian tavern is owned by two musicians, both chefs: one from Latvia and one from Australia. There is live music at least four nights a week, with one night reserved for traditional folk dance nights in which anyone can participate. When there’s not a band onstage the radio is tuned to Radio Oira, a folk radio station we could just about sing along to. A sunny afternoon we enjoyed one of the 14 local beers on tap along with a snack outside on the patio, enjoying the warm summer day and people watching only Vecrīga can offer. Just about everything I tried on their seasonal menu I would recommend to anyone asking, and was additionally pleased to learn the menu and produce are locally sourced.

A second favorite of mine was discovered accidentally after our Laima Chocolate tour; we were ravenous after a chocolate-only diet all morning in the Mieru ielas district! On our return trip to the US I wasn’t really surprised to find a write-up of Rocket Bean Roastery in the travel magazine in the seat-back pocket; this brand-new café certainly looks to have staying power with its Michelin-starred experienced chef Artūrs Taškāns, the trendy interior, a 10 euro 3-course lunch menu and a certain uniqueness factor in that it’s the first modern-day coffee roaster in Latvia. The coffee menu was unbelievable, and I would be lying if I said I knew what all the options meant; roasted, filtered, unfiltered, cold-pressed, espresso shot options and everything else! Where else can you find espresso for sale called Velna milti (the devil’s flour)?

We ordered the three course meal (which included coffee!) while enjoying the industrial interior and more people-watching (Rīga In Your Pocket writes “In keeping with the global trends of bearded Millennials, this industrial-style café on Riga's undisputed hipster Mecca, Miera iela, specialises in exceptional coffee, craft brews and a small menu of imaginative international cuisine.”) The place filled up with a lunch crowd and a steady stream of people ordering coffee to-go, which up until very recently was a completely foreign concept here in Rīga, but just as the amount of coffee shops in central Rīga has bourgeoned in the last two years is becoming more common. Once we had finished our meals at the farm tables made with driftwood and recycled beams we ducked into the coffee roasting operation in back, watching as the coffee meistars fired up the roaster for another batch of beans. The boys were delighted to see Costa Rica printed on the bags as source country, and upon further exploration we discovered beans from just about every country that grows and exports coffee. So, coincidence that Rocket Bean is right across the street from Laima Chocolate? I think not…

To round out my trio of Rīga eateries we have a staple of any visit to Latvia, LIDO. (The folks at the Roastery are probably cringing at the mention of Rocket Bean in the same article as LIDO, but despite the chain aspect this is a great experience for a tourist in Rīga - tautas tērps-clad waitresses and all). Roberts and the boys could probably have eaten at the Vērmanītis location every day without complaint, and I think this cafeteria-style eatery is a great introduction to traditional Latvian food without the stress. It’s a family-friendly option because you get to see exactly what you’re ordering with plenty of options for even the pickiest of eaters. And for those visiting Latvia with a minimum understanding of the language it’s nice not to have to struggle with menus as you can really just point to anything you want, plus the end result is rather friendly to the wallet. LIDO was started in 1987 and has grown to 9 restaurants in Rīga, with more in Talinn and new locations opening almost every year. There is an amusement park, a microbrewery, and historically even a woodworking and metalsmith to provide the finishings for the interiors of new restaurants. Vērmanītis opened its doors in 1999 across the street from Vērmanes park, which is also the reason for our frequent visits.

Upon entering each diner takes a tray. Among one side are the hot foods, served by chefs straight from sizzling skillets, and along the other is a salad bar, a fruit bar, a pancake bar, a dessert bar. Once you have made your selections you take your tray to a cashier who rings you up, and then you pass into the dining room, decorated in the style of a Latvian vecmāmiņas house. Don’t be fooled – this is fast food, and not the most healthy or gastronomic option in Rīga. However, it is dependable, fast and cheap; what you see is what you get.

On our last day in Rīga we were walking through Centrs with a good friend from Latvia, and he was pointing out all the places to eat – unfortunately a day too late for our dinner date sans children – describing each place as we passed. It was clear that there were dozens of great restaurants to try, with plenty of new spots as well as old favorites. In no way am I an expert on the local food scene; if you want some in-the-know advice on hot spots you might be interested to read Heather’s article “The15 Best Restaurants in Rīga.” However, during our time in the city these are the three spots that stood out and worked out for us – I hope you get to try them all and more on your next visit to Latvia!