June 2023. Gateshead to Durham. We’d exhausted the in-laws in Beamish and Newcastle so had a leisurely cultural day to start June before the 2 hour trip home. Obviously Newcastle-Gateshead had the Bigg Market and the Tuxedo Royale before the millennium saw the Baltic bring culture to Tyneside, but it’s the old flour mills (and… Continue reading A CULTURAL AND CRAFTY INTERLUDE IN THE NORTH-EAST
Tag: BALTIC
RIGA’S MAGIC MARKETS
May 2023. Riga has astonishing architecture, gorgeous parks, quality beer and food, and one of the best art deco streets in Europe. But the reason you MUST go is an indoor market, housed in five (5) old Zeppelin hangers. The ones where they recorded “Physical Graffiti”, I guess. We’d spent seven hours in Riga in… Continue reading RIGA’S MAGIC MARKETS
“Are you here for the ice hockey ?”
May 2023. Central Riga looked a little quiet on our first night, as had Tallinn, but around 6 o’clock the streets started to get a bit lively. In the stunning Molberts saldējums ice cream shop, the young lady asked if we were here for the World Ice Hockey championships starting in Riga that week. “What’s… Continue reading “Are you here for the ice hockey ?”
CORNER BAR, RIGA
May 2023. An aimless amble on our first night in Riga, but then Riga is designed for that. Quite quiet early evening, any cruise ship traffic having long departed for Lithuania. On the corner of the crest emblazened building above Mrs RM spotted a pub. She’s good like that. “Is that one on your silly… Continue reading CORNER BAR, RIGA
TWO MORE BEERS. TOO MANY FISH HEADS.
May 2023. If you visit one place in central Riga, make it Two More Beers. RateBeer doesn’t think so, putting it in the lower half of their Riga bars, but then like Untappd that site seems more interested in the number of exclusive bottles than quality. As so often, the Norwegian reviewer gets it spot… Continue reading TWO MORE BEERS. TOO MANY FISH HEADS.
BALTIC MURK
May 2023. Day 3 of the Baltic Explorer, and a 4:20 hr trip straight south from Tallinn to Riga through an endless forest of newly planted birch and hazel. About £20 each on a Lux coach that didn’t quite mean “luxury” but at least had intermittent WiFi and leg room. Mrs RM had wanted to… Continue reading BALTIC MURK
NEWCASTLE – BRIDGES, BALTIC, BOX SOCIAL
Tuesday was my fifth successive trip to Newcastle in sub-zero temperatures, which says something about the cruelty of the Premier League fixture calendar. But you can never tire of the Tyne, or this month’s exhibition by Heather Phillipson in BALTIC, but can you get bored of Tyneside micros ?, I wonder. My usual confused stroll… Continue reading NEWCASTLE – BRIDGES, BALTIC, BOX SOCIAL
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