Today dawned dry and bright. Breakfast, included in the room rate, was served in the basement - rather a strange selection but obviously typical Latvian fare and enough for us to eat.
This is our hotel, really centrally situated for once and all the staff is lovely.
The horseshoe is cemented in the middle step.
Turning right out of the hotel we are just a few 100m from the Daugava River and across the water is the town's library which is a rather impressive building - it's also known as the Castle of Light.
Monument to the 1905 Russian Revolution.
As with many European cities there is a tram system as well as trolley buses and ordinary buses and transport is very cheap.
Riga’s central market is housed in 5 old Zeppelin hangars and is Europe’s largest market and bazaar. Allegedly there are 3,000+ trade stands and the buildings are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The fresh produce was beautifully displayed and the variety was enormous.
This identified as Garfish
Pickles are very popular (as we found out at breakfast) and here are garlic bulbs amongst other pickles.
The rest of the hangars weren't nearly as interesting, quite a lot of tat for sale and a lot of empty space so I don't think the 3,000 stalls count still applies. Outside this gull was hanging around for scraps and it was huge, I tried to get a shot with Ian's leg for scale as it was almost up to his knees, but it kept edging away (the bird, not Ian's leg).
Then it did a few balletic stretches.
This rather typical Soviet scene is actually the back of a swanky department store.
Only a short walk away was this building which houses the Latvian Academy of Sciences and is a wonderful example of brutalist architecture.
For a small fee you could take the lift to the top floors and walk around the outside for a good 360° view of the city.
The nearby central market in the former Zeppelin hangars.
I wonder if anyone still lives in the last 2 remaining houses on this piece of wasteland.
Across the river.
Towards the Old Town and cathedral.
Looking practically straight over the edge gives a good view of the Annunciation of Our Most Holy Lady Church, a Russian Orthodox Church.
The gold globe of presumably another Orthodox Church glinting in the sunshine - we'll try and find this later.
Back at ground level there we some more stalls outside the central market and they appeared to sell the most bizarre selection of clothing imaginable.
We then went into the Stockmann Department Store to see if there was any more modern clothing worth buying - there wasn't, but the perfumery had rather nice displays.
And these facial masks were selling well.
The Opera House.
Opposite the opera house is a lovely little park with a small canal running through. The statue here of George Armitstead and his wife (he was the 4th Mayor of Riga) was unveiled by QEII in 2006.
Nope, still no idea.
Erected in 1935 the Freedom Monument honours soldiers killed during the 1918 Latvian War of Independence and is considered an important symbol of the freedom, independence, and sovereignty of Latvia.
On now to the gold dome we saw earlier - the Cathedral of the Nativity, the largest Orthodox Church in the Baltics.
Outside it was this dead tree, covered in brightly painted bird boxes which I presume are illuminated at night given all the wiring around.
This rather fine building houses the Museum of Art.
Riga is famous for having the highest concentration of Art Nouveau architecture in the world, 800 or so mostly multi-storey apartment buildings which are mainly in the Quiet Quarter where we're heading for now. Enroute we walked through another district of wine merchants and wine bars - this one made me smile; it's a bit hard to read in the photo but it says "wine is the answer, what was the question?"
Just around the corner was Alberta Street and the buildings are quite amazing although difficult to photograph without converging verticals or them looking like they're falling over.
One corner building housed the Museum of Art Nouveau and I'd read that before the ticket office you passed the most amazing staircase and so we went in for a quick peek.
I quickly ran up the 5 flights to see what the view from the top was like but it wasn't nearly as impressive as the walls were plain.
As well as Art Nouveau Architecture, Riga is also famed for its 4,000 or so wooden buildings which date back several hundred years.
