Photo courtesy of Purple Cloud

As soon as the bus pulls into Riga’s bus lot, haul yourself across the street to one of Europe’s largest markets.

The four converted hangars that comprise the Riga Centraltirgus (Riga Central Market) are an integral part of the city’s landscape. The cavernous chambers—filled with meats, fish, fresh and pickled fruit, candy, nuts, seeds, and dairy—are ripe for exploring. There’s also the usual amusing refuse found at overstimulating flea markets, such as Dinacell (!) batteries and toothpaste made of silver and flowers.

Everything’s priced nicely: a lunch assembled from the fresh cheeses, yellow apples, rye bread, and creamed honey came to a total of LVL1 (€1.42; $1.92) per person.

A few of our favorite discoveries:

Pickled golden apples. Keep an open mind when sampling a pickled apple and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the seltzer-like sizzle, a result of the brine’s acidic effect on the flesh of the fruit.

Biezpiens cheese. The condensed version chilled and covered in chocolate is unspeakably delicious.

Hand-knit stocking cap. The right vendor is the key to locating one-of-a-kind, non-ugly knit caps. Expect to pay about 1 Lat for a cap.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Photo by phototouring

Baltic cruiseferry giant Tallink-Silja is currently offering one-way overnight ferry rides from Stockholm to Riga for as little as SEK100 (€10.90; $14.80)!

Ferries depart from Stockholm’s Frihamnen terminal, which can easily be reached by bus. (Note that in the summer it will also be possible to take Viking Line from the more conveniently located Stadsgården terminal in northeast Södermalm.)

Approximately 18 hours—and lord knows how many banana cocktails—later, the mammoth cruiseferry pulls into Riga’s Juras Pasazieru Stacija (Sea Passenger Terminal), less than one km north of Riga’s old town. In addition to being entirely manageable by foot, Riga’s rosy cheapness will heal memories of those SEK50 hot chocolates purchased back in Stockholm.

Here’s another tip: from Riga, other Baltic capitals can be reached by bus for next to nothing. By “next to nothing” we mean to suggest €5 to Tallinn and to €6 to Vilnius.

Popularity: 8% [?]