Riga, Latvia

Once upon a time, long, long ago there was a country call Livonia.  It bordered Germany, Russia and the Baltic Sea and was a place everyone wanted to control including Sweden and Poland. Eventually, after many wars, the land was divided into three states - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.  They were a part of the USSR until it fell apart and now they are their own independent republics, part of the European Union.  This is the very condensed version of their history!

Riga is the largest city in Latvia and the only state of the three that does not have direct access to the Baltic.  We traveled down a very long shipping lane that we later learned was the Gulf of Riga. From the ship we could see spires and skyscrapers, glass and stone modern buildings next to old brick churches and castles, and modern cable bridges and rock bridges across the River Daugava.  It looks to be a very cosmopolitan city. 

Old Town Riga still has a few of its original wood buildings but most were destroyed by fires or bombing.  In the late 1800's to early 1900's Art Nouveau was very popular in Europe and so it is in Latvia.  We saw building after building described as having the Art Nouveau architecture, some were Eclectic  Decorative, some National Romanticism and a few were Functional or Perpendicular style. All are very pretty. One feature of the Art Nouveau style is people or animals decorating the facade such asdogs, cats, lion heads and a young man perched on a roof top.

Riga still has some structures standing from its midevel era. The city wall with the Powder Tower is now a museum and the Swedish Gate was built between two towers.  The streets are mostly cobble stones.  It is said that peasants who wanted to sell their wares in the city had to pay a 'tax' of two rocks each day they were in the city.  That is what was used to pave its streets. The churches have very tall steeples topped with a rooster weather vane if its Lutheran and a cross if its Catholic. The Dome Cathederal or Riga Cathederal shows examples of Germanic, Roman, gothic, Baroque, Art Nouveau and classicism styles and boast a pipe organ with 6700 pipes.

After our tour we strolled through the old town then had a local beer. Once back on the ship we set sail aboaut 7 PM and we had a nice dinner with folks from the US.