2 June 2017 / leggypeggy

Riga’s market one of the best

cheese, food, fruit, markets, meat, produce, Riga, seafood, travel, UNESCO, vegetables

Pre-made meals and convenience food

Cabbage and pickles

Two kinds of pickled garlic

Pickled goods

Pumpkins

Vegetables

Many of you love food as much as I do, and I’ve just noticed that I haven’t been very good about showing you the many markets we’ve visited on our travels.

In September 2015, I tempted you with two locations—the huge market in Barcelona, Spain, as well as the more intimate market in St Tropez in the south of France.

Both were fantastic, although much different in scale, and then we went to the Riga Central Market in Latvia. I’m still reeling from the sheer size of the market itself and the colossal array of products on offer.

Seriously, they’re selling foods of all kinds, including some I don’t recognise, as well as alcohol, shoes, clothes, pet products, kitchenware, garden seeds, music, toys and more.

But let me start with how and when we happened to go.

Seeds

Alcohol

Teas and more

Kitchenware

Pet store

Long before travelling to the Baltic States, Poor John and I had read about the market’s fame—it’s a UNESCO heritage site along with Old Riga—so we were keen to see it.

Soon after we arrived in Riga, we asked the people at hotel reception about visiting the market. It was mid-afternoon and they said, No, no, it’s too late in the day. The stallholders will have gone home. Go tomorrow between 8 and 9am.

So we held off and I took some of that waiting time to find out even more about the market itself.

Plans for the market began in 1922. It was to replace the crowded and extremely unsanitary Daugavmala Market that had operated on the banks of the Daugava River for about 300 years.

The new market opened in 1930—it took almost seven years to build. I found it fascinating that the main structures are five pavilions constructed by reusing old German Zeppelin hangars.

Riga Market

So with all this information (and more), we set out (on foot) the next morning about 8:15. We didn’t really appreciate the size until we approached. The market has more than 300 trade stalls, and covers 72,300 square metres or more than 7 hectares (or 778,000 square feet or almost 18 acres).

The first building we entered was devoted to seafood. Other buildings seemed to have core products for sale. There were even stalls set up outside, especially for produce. We wondered if rents were cheaper there?

I could have spent days in this market. In fact, if I lived anywhere near Riga, I would be shopping here everyday, maybe twice a day. I so desperately wanted to buy something I could cook, but that’s not easy when you are staying in hotels.

Caviar

Dried fish

Vegetables

So here are plenty of pics for you to enjoy. I’ve put captions on most, may have missed a few. Sorry if I did.

By the way, I’ve read that it’s possible to organise a tour of the markets, but I think most people can follow their instinct or their nose or their appetite. 🙂

P.S. Many of you know I have a cooking blog. So far on this trip, I’ve bought cookbooks from Finland, Latvia and Lithuania (still looking for one from Estonia). I’ll be cooking from these when I get home but, in the meantime, check out a bread recipe I made from Alaska. It’s appropriate because it’s been darn cold here for 20 out of 21 days