Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Highlight of Riga: View from St. Peter's Church



Before I headed to Riga, I saw many gorgeous pictures looking out over the city. I knew that one of the first stops I would make while exploring the city was to visit St. Peter's Church and check out the view of the city from the St. Peter's Church lookout. As soon as Nick and I departed the Isabelle, it was off to the lookout point!

House of Blackheads & St. Peter's Church
St. Peter's Church is located near the House of Blackheads, one of the most popular sights to see while in Riga. However, as St. Peter's Church offers gorgeous views of the city, I quickly hustled Nick to check out these views!

St Peter's Church Riga
St. Peter's Church
St. Peter's church is really nestled in a small corner of the city. Upon first glance, the church is far from impressive. However, when you consider the fact that St. Peter's Church was first built from timber in 1209, and later rebuilt by brick and stone, the church becomes a lot more impressive. Unfortunately, through natural disasters such as lightning strikes and fires, combined with various wars, there are only a few of the original pillars remaining. Through many periods of history, St. Peter's Church has had additions, bell towers, and new facades of the church built on.

Notable setbacks for St. Peter's Church include the collapse of the tower in 1666, a citywide fire destroying the church interior in 1677, a lightning strike and subsequent fire in 1721, and artillery fire destroying the church in 1941. Thinking about all of these instances that have either severely or completely demolished the church, it is quite impressive that people persevered, never giving up and continuing to build and rebuild St. Peter's Church.

Now, let's get on to the views!

Riga city views
Northwest view of Riga
Northern view of Riga
To get to the viewpoint, you pay 8 euro per person to enter St. Peter's Church and are then shown to the elevator. After waiting a few moments, you will exit the elevator and (most likely!) instantly be slapped with the harsh bite of wind. After all, you are 72 meters (236 feet) off the ground. Between the cold and the wind, we did not spend too much time looking out over the city- just enough to snap some pictures, orient ourselves, and decide on the next location of our Riga tour. Recommendation to Riga tourists- definitely bring some warm clothing and gloves for picture taking!

commemorative plaque for Gustav Adolf
After departing the elevator, Nick and I wandered around St. Peter's Church for a little while. After all this time in Sweden, I am always on the hunt for Swedish elements around the world- surprisingly enough, right here in St. Peter's Church I found one! Riga was conquered by Gustav Adolf, the King of Sween, in 1621 during the Polish-Swedish war. On November 6, 1932, this plaque was placed in St. Peter's Church to commemorate 300 years since his death in battle. The plaque tells the story of King Gustav Adolf listening to the welcoming sermon delivered in St. Peter's Church in 1621. It was quite cool to see a little piece of 'home' while in Riga!

to do in Riga
view of Riga & St. Peter's Church
Overall, our trip to St. Peter's Church and the lookout was quite a success! The views of the city were good, although quite cold. I would be quite intrigued on another trip to Riga to visit the lookout from the Radisson Blu sky bar, and see how those views (similar view seen in above picture) compare to those of St. Peter's Church. Of course, sunny weather and green trees always helps pictures look better, compared to the dreary gray tones of February!

When you travel places, do you enjoy checking out cities from above? What is the best view you have ever experienced while traveling?

14 comments:

  1. What an amazing view! Riga looks like such a charming town! Honestly I've never heard of Riga until recently and I can totally see how it's getting so popular!

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    1. I definitely agree Christine! Riga had never really been on my radar until recently, and then I decided to pull the trigger. I'm definitely happy I did!

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  2. Those views are incredible! The history of the church sounds pretty amazing too.

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    1. Thanks Sara! The views were definitely great, and a unique way to see the city. I'm happy I went up to the top!

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  3. It looks so quaint, love your pictures!
    (Stopping over via travel Tuesday)

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  4. Such lovely photos.I do love seeing cities from above. When I was in NYC, we stayed at a hotel in Manhattan. We decided to go to the roof top bar. We had no clue the hotel was one of the tallest or that the normally off limits roof top garden bar was available to us because we were nice and asked the guy guarding the elevator (we were both former waiters/bartenders so that helped).

    It was super swanky for two people who had been sight seeing all day, but we didn't care. There was a private party about to begin so we had it all to ourselves for about 30 minutes. It was amazing and reasonably priced for NYC!

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    1. Ohhh, it sounds like you had such a great experience getting to head up to that rooftop bar! I've actually never been to NYC, but it is definitely high on my list.

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  5. How beautiful! I love finding a spot to get a view of the city when I am traveling.

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    1. Thanks Kiki! It was hard to get great pictures since it was so cold up top- my fingers froze after just a minute or two!

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  6. Lovely photos! Beautiful view!

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  7. I loved Riga! We didn't make it up the church to take in those views, though. I wish we had, they look incredible. We went in the summer so had some nice weather in which to enjoy the city and the beach, but overall I thought it was a fantastic place.

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    1. Ooh, I would have loved to be there in the summer when the weather is great and everything is green! On your next trip you'll have to check out the city from above :)

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