travel the world with me- riga and helsinki
hey loves! Welcome to my new series, travel the world with Gabz :) It has always been my dream to travel the world. I’ve had this desire to get away and explore new cultures, architecture and languages. I finally had the chance to start my adventures this summer so allow me to tell you all about it!
As a former figure skater on Team USA at the junior level I have had a few opportunities of traveling to different countries for competitions which sparked this light inside of me to see more of the world. After those competitions, all I wanted was to travel. I yearned to get out and experience more cultures. Unfortunately, my skating career was unable to provide that for me and when the pandemic hit I made the decision to go to college so I was slightly tied down for the 3 years of university. Well, as some of you may know I graduated this past June, and of course, once I had official freedom I immediately booked a flight over to Europe. This trip had a bit of a different purpose than solely going to Europe to gallivant because I was going to visit my long-distance boyfriend! With that being said let’s move forwards with my adventures!
Riga, Latvia: I never in a million years would have expected the beauty of this town, I absolutely loved Riga! Riga is a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its stunning 19th century wooden architecture. There is a plethera of beautiful churches and small back streets that reveal architectural beauty. I spent most of my time in Old Town but also had the chance to explore a small beach town about an hour away named Saulkrasti where I got to collect sand from the Baltic Sea. (Little backstory: My family has been collecting sand from all locations we visit with a beach for as along as I can remember) The baked goods game here is top notch *chefs kiss* I cannot even begin to tell you how many chocolate croissants I consumed as well as those goregous pastries shown below which made my mouth water upon seeing them. The Latvians also love their rye bread, saukerkraut, kebabs and cold borscht which is basically like beet kefir cold soup (I loved it but its definitely an aquired taste). Overall, Riga and just Latvia in general is a hidden gem. So unbelievably underrated and I highly recommend adding this beautiful location to your travel bucketlist!
Helsinki, Finland: Our time in Helsinki was quite rainy so our explorations were limited but from what we were able to see, the city was very different from Riga. The Nordic design was of course gorgeous and the city was quite large. It’s located in the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea so the town’s activities are based around the proximity to the water. One thing to note about this city is they love their nightlife, we arrived early in the morning and there wasn’t a single soul on the streets (It literally felt like the apocalypse). The city wakes up around noon and then the streets are flooded with people wandering the markets and enjoying what the city has to offer. The Fin certainly love their coffee and you can find coffee shops, specifically Roberts Coffee, on almost every corner. A unique dish that they’re known for serving is Reindeer so of course my boyfriend had to try it and it was delicious. The last of their go-to foods is salmon soup which was pretty good too but only if you’re a fan of garlic and onions lol. After our adventures in Helsinki, we visited the small town of Vantaankoski located in the forest with beautiful greenery and rivers. We had a blast exploring this little unknown gem. Overall, Helsinki was not what I expected but I would definitely go back to experience it again without the rain along with more of Finland!
