Relax in Riga

I visited Riga, the capital of Latvia, for a weekend in the summer.
It is a historial city with a lot of beautiful buildings and the largest city of the Baltic states.

Some call Riga the world capital of Art Nouveau and its historical city center is a UNESCO world heritage site.


Top ten things to do in Riga

1. Take a walk in the old town and admire the beautiful buildings.Take a picture of the Maingaivju (Blackheads) house and the house of Three Brothers, some medieval residential houses. Pass by Smilšu Street 2 and see the goddess figure. It is considered to be the most
   beautiful Art Nouveau sculpture of a woman in Riga.
2. Buy amber and traditional russian wooden dolls on the market in the old town
3. Visit the Latvian Museum Occupations and get some insight to the history
4. Visit the Riga Cathedral
5. Take a walk around the Riga Castle built in 1497 and check out the home of the President.
6. Have pancakes / crépes in the old town
7. Get a fab view of Riga from the tower in the St. Peters church or from the TV-tower.
8. See the Victory monument (a Soviet monument)
9. If you like Wagner visit the Wagner Concert Hall where he used to have concerts when he lived in Riga.
10. Visit the central market, a large food market to see the local food

If you are in to shopping, visit Stockmann, a department store in central Riga
And if you like opera, there is an opera house - The Latvia National Opera- with great prices and operas.
If you are a spa-lover take go to one of the Spas in Riga, maybe the ESPA Spa. Or take the short trip to Jurmala. A spa retreat by the sea. The hotel Jurmala spa looks nice.

Where to stay?

• Clarion Collection Hotel Valdemars
• Radisson Blu Daugava Hotel Riga
• Reval Hotel Ridzene
• Grand Palace Hotel
• De Rome Hotel

Where to eat?

• Fine dining at the Vincents
• Medieval dinner at Rozengrāls
• Finest meat at the Restaurant C.U.T.
• Fine dining at the Grand Palace Hotel restaurant

Colourful Cape Town

I went to Cape Town in South Africa for a weekend. My conclusion is that you can see a lot in Cape Town over a weekend. But it will be a busy weekend. Cape Town is such a beautiful place with a lot to see and do.

Extraordinary and unexpected view
I had a really nice breakfast at the SAS Radisson in the Waterfront. Suddenly the waiter came by and said - Look at the waves and pointed at the sea.

I looked and nodded. The view of the sea is nice. But then I thought, why are so many people gathering by the window with their cameras?

Then I realized, I heard wrong, he didnt say waves, he said whales... so I grabbed my camera and joined the crowd to get some pictures of the awesome view... whales in the sea, just outside the hotel.

1. Visit the Cape of good hope. It is totally stunning to see the two seas meet, and definitely worth the trip. It is about an hour from Cape Town. Take a picture of yourself in front of the famous sign. It is said that it is the most southern-western part you can visit of Africa.Bring your camera but watch out for the baboons on the way there. Their favourite hobby is to steel food from tourists...

2. I just loved to watch the pretty penguins on the beach. They are so sweet. Go to Simonstown to see the penguins on the way back from the Cape of Good hope. 

3. Back in Cape Town go for some wine tastings in the wine yards. Spier is very close to Cape Town and offers a range of wines.
   You can rent a car or take a tourist trip with a tourist company to the wine district. Short overview on: http://www.wineanorak.com/saregions.htm
   My favourite is Franschhoek. There are so many super nice hotels and restaurants here!!
   Vrede en Lust, Graham Beck, La Motte and Rupert & Rothschild, do I need to say more? Last time we visited Theleme wine yard. Lovely wine and after that we had a luxury lunch at the Delaire Graff Estate. Their suite hotel is gorgoeous with private pools.
4. Take a boat trip to Robben Island for a tour where Nelson Mandela was a prisoner and get to know more about the South African history. Robben Island was originally part of the mainland, the peak of an ancient mountain. Today it is an island and a World Heritage Site and museum
5. You should also take a tour to the township to get some more knowledge of the life that too many South Africans live today. Townships were created as living areas for non-whites under the old political system of Apartheid. But you cannot go there on your own. Book a guided tour through your hotel. And do not go there during nighttime.
6. If you need extra exercise take a hike up the Table Moutain and enjoy the fab view over Cape Town and the ocean. You can also go by the cableway. http://tablemountain.net/
   The trip with the cableway takes about five-minutes, but if you take a hike the 3 km could take between 1-3 hours.
7. The Aquarium could be nice for kids on a rainy day. http://www.aquarium.co.za/
8. If you need some light exercise go for shopping in the Waterfront area.
   The large shopping area by the sea is called Victoria and Alfred Waterfront and it is situated between Robben Island and Table Mountain.
   
   Where to shop...Some of my fav shops are:
   Cape Unions Mart Travel and Safari - Outdoor clothing for you safari trip
   CNA - papers and stuff
   Crabtree & Evelyn - cosmetic
   Edgars - clothes
   Exclusive books
   Woolworths, Truworths, Nine Weest - clothes and bags
   Out of Africa - fab souvenirs
   
   Where to eat
9. Breakfast is nice at Mugg and Bean
   Lunch at Ocean Basket, I just love their fresh fish or at Steers or Wang Thai.
   Have a nice dinner at Cape Town Fish Market and Sushi Bar. The large selection of sushi is going around in the restaurant on a conveyer belt or you can have some fab fresh fish for your main meal. The best place for grill and wine is the Belthazar. Amazing food! They also have the biggest wine bar in the world according to themselves. But save the dessert and go to the Haagen-Dazs for an icecream, yummy...
   
   Where to stay
10. Stay in with a great view of the sea in luxury at the Table bay hotel. Or in the cheaper but not cheap SAS Waterfront Cape Town. Or even cheaper at the Commodore hotel. The exclusive Delair Graff Estate is also an amazing for a night on the wine yard estate.

Best of Bratislava

Bratislava is the capital of the Slovak Republic. It is a small and beautiful town by the Danube river.

Top 10 things to do in Bratislava
1. Stroll through the old town with its small shops, cosy resturants and cafes. Check out the art that local artists exhibit by the St. Michael's Gate.



2. Take a walk to the Bratislava Castle. Don´t miss the small souvenir shop with nice memories from the Slovak Republic.

3. Visit the St Martins cathedral where the Hungarian Emperors were crowned .

4. If you like opera or if you want to find out if you like opera, go for an opera evening in the old and historical opera house. Check out the not to modern furniture in the bar...

5. Take are tour at the National Gallery.

6. There is a lovely Christmas marketl in the Old Town during December. Buy cheap handmade sweet Christmas angels for all your friends. But it is freezing cold, so bring warm clothes.

7. Walk by the Danube river or take a cruise by boat on the Danube river to Vienna.
There are slow cruises or high speed ferry that takes about 1,5 hours to Vienna, the capital of Austria. From Vienna you can continue to Budapest, the capital of Hungary.

8. Take photos of the statues. There are a few statues in Bratislava old town that are quite unexpeced and unusal.

9. Enjoy the atmosphere and have a coffee and cake at the Kaffe Mayer. This café reminds me of the old coffee houses in Vienna.

10. If you are hungry and not afraid of heights go UFO. There is a restaurant with a fabulous view. It is called UFO and is located in the sky...on an observation deck on top of the Novy Most Bridge.

Where to stay
I have stayed at the Radisson SAS Carlton several times. A very fine hotel with a marvellous exterior, in the middle of the city centre. At one time I noticed that there were so many extremely tall men in the elevator and they spoke Swedish. When I reached the reception area I saw the sign: Conference room: Swedish hockey team
Oupps.
It was the Swedish National Hockey team....

Shopping centre
If you would like some serious shopping, go to the Avion shopping centre.

Where to eat?

• We had an excellent dinner at the Cuban restaurang Malecon. It is located by the Danube river. Try their great strawberry moijitos.
• Another evening we enjoyed mediterranean food at the fab Kogo restaurant.
• Or try the slovak food in Slovenska restauracia
• More restaurants on (but I havent tried all) http://www.bratislavaguide.info/bratislava-dining.html