Not a lot to write about today. I hate it when you wake up in your hotel room or ship cabin and realise that you are going home today. 🙁
We got up at 8.00am and got ready to go down for breakfast. The coach was not coming to collect us to take us to the airport until 1.15pm, so at least we had the morning at our leisure. Looking out of the window, we were pleased to see that it was no longer raining, although the weather still looked dank and cold.
Down in the hotel’s dining room, it was pretty crowded as we were later than usual. We had to share our table with another couple who were visiting Latvia from Germany. As we made our way to the juice counter, we were pleased to see the bottle of prosecco was on offer again this morning, so we mixed it with our orange juice and started the day with a refreshing Buck’s Fizz. 🙂
We then returned to #509 and packed up our single suitcase and our rucksacks, then had a look around the room to make sure we hadn’t forgotten anything. Then we took the glass lift down to the foyer for the final time, and asked reception if they could look after our bags for us until it was time to do; they readily agreed and showed us to the large storeroom where the luggage was kept.
Off we went into the now-familiar streets. We still had one more thing left to do… try some of the famous grey peas, onion and bacon, a very popular dish in Latvia at this time of year. We remembered seeing a stall in the Central Market selling it the other day, so we headed there.
Riga Central Market really is a shoppers’ paradise, particularly for food. There were countless stalls of fresh and cured meats, fish and seafood, fruits and vegetables and grains, pulses, rice, pasta and everything else you could think of. Over it all was the tempting and distinctive scent of fresh herbs and spices.
We spent some time browsing around the clothing, shoes and bags stalls, and the handcrafted souvenirs. I always bring my aunt a fridge magnet back when we return from holiday, so when we spotted a shop with the usual array of holiday ‘tat’ we went inside to buy one.
As I turned from the display of fridge magnets, I encountered a tall man in a hand-knitted woolly hat and a cosy Christmas jumper. But what really caught my eye was that both the jumper and the hat had a large Sunderland AFC crest knitted into them. “Look!” I said to Trevor, who was wearing his Sunderland AFC coat. The tall man spotted the badge on Trevor’s coat at the same time, and the two Sunderland supporters shook hands, while the man explained he was from the Netherlands, and occasionally took the Amsterdam flight over to England (it only takes an hour to Newcastle) to watch Sunderland play at the Stadium of Light! Fancy meeting another Sunderland supporter in Latvia, who was a Dutchman! 🙂
By now, it was around 11.45pm so we decided to go to the large food court and have an early lunch. Trevor decided just to have a hot cheese baguette while I wanted my grey peas and bacon, so I waited for the guy to cook them while Trevor went off for his sandwich. The bowl of grey peas and bacon was larger than I had imagined and I wondered whether I could eat them all, but there is a superstition in Latvia that you have to finish your dish of peas and bacon in order to have good luck throughout the coming year.
I did manage to finish the dish, washed down with a cold beer. It was pretty tasty and substantial, but not something I would rave over. But at least I’d tried it! 🙂
By now, it was time for us to return to the Avalon Hotel, collect our luggage and wait for the coach to come. It was half an hour late, so it was just as well we had plenty of time before our flight at 15:50 hours.
We all boarded the coach and it set off for the half-hour journey to the international airport. When we arrived, it didn’t take long to get through as we had already checked in online and had our boarding passes on our phones. All we needed to do was the bag drop, then go through security and make our way to the departure gate.
Our AirBaltic aircraft was on time, and soon we were airborne and on our way back to Gatwick Airport.
Another interesting and worthwhile trip was over, but we only had six weeks to wait until the next one! 🙂