Previous stop: Vilnius!
Okay Riga was probably my favourite city so there are extra many pictures in this post. You’ll see why lol
First of all this highway overpass is ridiculous and graceful.
The view from the front window of our hotel; there was a lobby on each floor and I think this was the second floor. This was the one time I had a roommate, and we had to change rooms a couple times, the first time because they only put us in a room with one bed, and the second time was because our room was right on the street and it was noisy. Also if the neighbourhood looks a little sketchy, well… I didn’t go out in it, so I can’t confirm or deny, only say that Riga probably still has some picking up of itself to do. Although there are certainly historic buildings about that would probably be lost in the picking-up, as they’re not cool enough to be cared about, which is unfortunate I guess I don’t think I’m qualified to pass judgement on that. All I know is that it looks sketch whether or not it actually is sketch.
The cobbles were quite something though, there were like three different patterns going on all at the same time.
I thought the contrast on the roof across from my hotel room was interesting.
Driving past old warehouses on our way downtown the next day.
Big bridge over the Daugava River.
The National Library. I’m told the locals hated it until it was complete, and now they’re warming up to it. Sounds familiar.
Modern bridge over the Daugava.
The walking part of the tour hasn’t begun and I’m already taking pictures of buildings. XD
OKAY SO Riga is apparently the Art Nouveau capital of the world, because when Art Nouveau was popular (fin de siecle), Riga suddenly got rich and hired a whole bunch of architects to build new buildings everywhere. A German architect designed the first one, but some depressive weirdo apparently made the ones everyone wants to take pictures of. The whole old downtown is basically an open-air museum now.
Neo-classical Art Nouveau.
Eclectic Art Nouveau, feat. boobs
This designer liked animal motifs in his works; a lot of his buildings feel like eye-spy games.
He also liked weird stuff like sculptures of screaming women. (right next to some neo-classical elements apparently, which feels like an even stranger juxtaposition to me but I’m not a genius architect)
The one building we went into (which was itself an actual Art Nouveau museum, although we didn’t stay to look at anything beyond this staircase)
This style isn’t strictly Art Nouveau I don’t think, but another style that came into vogue around the same time: National Romanticism, a sort of 19th century-modern-faux-medieval look designed to look much older than it really was.
The buildings that follow are from Alberta iela (Albert Street) and are the ones most often photographed. I like this one because it’s blue.
Very typical style, with the keyhole windows and such.
That in the middle looks like one big window with one big room behind it, but it’s not. There are three separate apartments inside.
More faces!
Love the balconies, and how they’re all different.
Supposedly this building represents the four elements. The red part is fire, and the groups of three blue squares are water. It seems a bit arbitrary to me.
It’s the guys’ turn to be screaming on this building.
Animal building! Cats and a bear! This was turning off Alberta iela to another street.
DRAGONS nuff sed
Seems a bit Asian-inspired, this detail.
It’s all so busy.
The MOST famous building, because what’s up with those extruded heads??
Just why?? Nice peacock though.
How many animals can you spot!?
Another lovely keyhole window, with balcony.
Even the light fixtures are in the style.
I think this is the French embassy.
Riga is also known for its original wooden buildings. A lot of them are a bit lopsided, because wooden buildings don’t normally last for hundreds of years without settling a bit. Or a lot. This was one of the nicer ones we saw.
I did not get any good pictures of the Russian Orthodox Nativity of Christ Cathedral as we were bused to our next destination, but it was so shiny you should definitely click on the link to see it on Wikipedia. (also recommended to do a Google image search for it) During Soviet times, it was turned into a planetarium, which is definitely not the worst fate for a church that isn’t allowed to be a church. (kind of beats being a museum of atheism, probably.)
Bet you can spot Art Nouveau style a mile away now. (Google tells me this is the Italian embassy)
We departed the bus again at the National Opera and Ballet theatre.
Walked down the canal a ways to get to the Freedom Monument, dedicated to those who died in the Latvian War of Independence right after WWI.
The canal is very peaceful.
I have no idea what this sculpture is or why it’s there. Looks temporary to me.
The last remaining tower of the original walled town walls, now known as the Powder Tower for having stored gunpowder once.
There used to be a little river here, but it was built over, so it was honoured with wavy lines in the pavement.
Those houses have no back side to the roof as they used to lean against the town wall. The tower on the left is not leaning irl, my camera just has weird curvature or something.
BEES
I saw several cats in Riga! This was the only one I managed to get a picture of. In another street, one of them flowed out of a broken drainpipe right in front of me and I didn’t see where it went.
Also a cat, but not a real one – legend has it this cat’s butt used to be facing the building across the street because the owners didn’t like each other, but this building’s owner was later made to change it.
Fancy Art Nouveau pseudo-medievalism is a jam I could get used to.
The Riga Cathedral had several sculptures about it, including this random armadillo.
Riga has been in many movies; apparently it’s a stand-in for other, more expensive places to film. Kind of like Vancouver!
Apparently Sherlock Holmes has had Baker St. exteriors filmed in Riga, so there’s a face-thing here for fans even though this scene has nothing to do with Baker St.
Riga Cathedral! There was an organ concert that lunch hour that I had to miss due to various factors, but I made sure to visit it later.
€5 well spent later, I’m inside.
YASSSSS
They were tuning it, so I even got to hear it! Not hear any pieces played, but supposedly this cathedral has a 7-second reverb, and I caught the end of one of the pedal stops, and it was all rumblyyyyy
This baptismal font is from the 12th century.
Click for larger!
The courtyard of the Cathedral. There was a bunch of random historical junk being stored under the arcade surrounding it.
A unicorn by the cathedral. Is a little chub.
The Anglican church we were performing in wasn’t nearly as grand, but I rather like these funky modern windows.
The organ was small but serviceable. There was an organ lesson going on immediately before our rehearsal, so I heard a bit of it.
I always have a derp face in pictures, it’s starting to get on my nerves. Can I trade it in for a new face?
This performance we shared with a local choir that sang traditional songs in traditional clothing, and afterwards they gave me (and our director) a bouquet of flowers! Very kind of them.
Then I wandered the city some more with my camera, browsing souvenirs as well. This is the House of the Black Heads, apparently a… Renaissance bachelor’s club for unmarried merchants?
I liked the souvenirs in Riga/Tallinn a lot more than Poland/Vilnius, as there was a bit less focus on amber and tacky things and more on hand-crafted stuff. There were a lot of stalls and shops with woven products, carved wood products, ceramic products… Eventually I bought my mom a little ceramic dish shaped like a flower in red and silver.
A pretty sculpture seen while heading to dinner. I think I was out of battery on my camera again, so cell pictures.
I fell in with several choir people, who insisted very kindly on buying me dinner, so we went to a place called the Key of Riga, apparently named after an old Latvian movie, and all the food titles were references or lines in the movie! They were playing the movie at one end of the patio, and they had live music dressed up as medieval minstrels, but we couldn’t hear them due to another restaurant patio having live rock music : P It looked like my kind of movie though, I should look it up. It looked like Latvian Errol Flynn or something.
I did not have the bull’s testicles but I was strongly tempted just so I could tell people.
These potato pancakes topped with smoked salmon were called Daugava Boatman, apparently. I had to take one back to the hotel as it was a lot of food! Delicious, though, one of the best meals all trip.
Probably my favourite picture of the whole trip.
Next stop: Tallinn!