Riga, Latvia - August 6-9, 2015

Riga is a relatively small city with a population of nearly 650,000. It is the capital of Latvia and the largest city of the Baltic states. It was founded in 1201 and it's historical centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to 2014 stats, ethnicity consists of over 47% Latvian and 38% Russian along with a small % of Belarusians, Ukrainians and Poles.

It is a city with some very unique and beautiful architecture, a great "Old Town" area where a large majority of restaurants, bars and shops are and they have some really pretty parks to relax in.

 

I don't know what the significance is of the "screaming faces"

 

I wish I could see inside these buildings too.

This style is apparently called "Art Nouveau"

 

Church in Old Town

Beautiful doorway...and my handsome hubby

The Opera House

Another unique church

Drinking a 14.5% cooler in Old Town

Crazy rock carvings... I think this one was about 3500 Eruos.

There were SO many bachelor and bachelorette parties going on here... all wearing coordinating outfits

The Building of the Brotherhood of Blackheads is one of the most iconic buildings of Old Riga. It was founded as a military organization to defend the city from an enemy invasion, but became a predominately social organization after the end of the Great Northern War (1700-1721).

We had a fantastic time together exploring the town. We even saw two movies here because we haven't yet found an English movie theatre in Moscow...there apparently is one, but we haven't been. The first day we took off on the local train where you have to climb up into the train like in the 1900's when you'd see soldiers hanging off the train entrances. It took us to the beach town of Jūrmala which is about 25 km West of Riga. It is considered a resort town where the white-sand beach stretches 33 km!

The train coming in...

The library we saw from the train to the beach

The beach! It's really nice, but water was very cold.

Wow! That's quite the pose... cute turtle by the beach

Light lunch anyone??? haha

Even Craig couldn't eat it all!

Duppie do....I'll just walk across the tracks.... the only way to get to the other side

Freedom Monument honouring soldiers killed during Latvian war of Independence (1918-1920)

This is a HUGE market area with fruits, vegetables, clothing, you name it. We bought some great berries here.