DAYS 25-26 Riga Latvia

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Today was a half travel day starting with a four hours bus journey across the Latvian border to Riga, the capital, and a two night stay at the Hotel Tia.

Latvia is a tiny country in size & population while Riga is an amalgam of eastern and northern European influences from 800 years of turbulent occupation, the latest being the Soviets, which ended in 1991.

After check-in we wandered around the Old Town with its grand cobblestoned boulevards lined with Art Nouveau facades among a skyline of Gothic spires. The main sights included the Riga Doma Cathedral, St Peter's Basilica, House of Blackheads, the Swedish Gate, Riga Castle, The Great Guild & Small Guild and the Cat House. A very full day with a group dinner at a folk music restaurant in wine cellar basement.

Next day we intended to wander around the lesser known sites but started off slowly due to drizzle. After wandering a new area for Art Nouveau restorations, outside the old town, we visited the vast Central Market Halls, which are themselves heritage listed, for their reuse of old German Zeppelin hangars. The nearby gothic looking science museum building does not have a museum that we could find but seems to be an apartment tower with a view. Lastly we visited The Museum of Occupation that gave a grim insight into the hardships suffered by Latvians during its occupation by the Germans and later by the Soviets.

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Photos

Powder Tower
14 th Century. One of medieval Riga's fortification wall towers. Later used to store gunpowder.

Riga Cathedral
13 th Century

The Swedish Gate
Part of the Old Town walls that went around Riga during the medieval times.

St Peter's Basilica.
13 th century origins now replaced by 15 th & 17 th century periods of building.

Ornate corner building facade
Note Atlas on top.