Riga is not only the capital of Latvia, but also largest city in all the Baltics, with a population of over 630k. The name Riga is likely from the word “ringi” meaning a bend in the river or from the word “riga” meaning rye.
We had booked a Free Walking Tour, we were a bit dismayed when we saw the number of people waiting, but thankfully they split us into 3 groups and we were with Richard, who gave us a quick summary of their history. It was similar history to that of Klaipeda. The city of Riga was founded in 1202 and for a long time was a member of the Hanseatic League, a maritime union of trading cities. It has one of the largest concentrations of Art Nouveau architecture in Europe. The Old Town was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 and has been substantially restored after the destruction in World War II.
We started at St Peters Church, a Lutheran Church from 1209, pretty much survived intact apart from the steeple, which after a number of reconstructions following fires, was finally rebuilt in steel and copper. Interesting fact is that most churches have cockerel windvanes on the top, so people knew if it was worth going to the market at the dockyard, wind in wrong direction meant ships couldn’t dock!
Stopped at what we thought was a Hard Rock Cafe, but was only the Rock Cafe housed in a stunningly Art Nouveau building, ornately carved on the exterior, once owned by a very rich resident.
Another Art Nouveau building is the only Synagogue in Riga and only one if 2 in Latvia, mainly because the local people convinced the Germans not to destroy it, as if they did, it could have caused damage to lots of other buildings. The Jewish population was decimated in WWII, from 100k to 2k today.
City Hall Square was next, with lots modern buildings and old (albeit rebuilt in the late 1990s). One rebuilt 14th century building was the House of the Blackhead Brotherhood, once the headquarters of an association of rich and unmarried merchants of German origin, The name comes from the brotherhood’s patron saint, St. Maurice, who is believed to be from Egypt, asked by the Romans to kill all the Pagans, refused and became a maytr.
We then took a walk down “Baker Street” used by the Russian Film Industry to film their versions of Sherlock Holmes!
Cathedral Square suffered much damage during World War II, but was later restored and the damaged buildings were reconstructed. However, a lot of buildings were destroyed subsequently as thosecin power throughtvtheyveere too German looking and hid the views if the cathedral. The cathedral is the largest medieval church among the Baltic countries, dating back to the 13th century. The cathedral is best known for its impressively sized organ with 6768 pipes.
Next were the Three Brothers, 3 medieval residential houses on Mazã Pils Street, who were named to compete with similar buildings in Tallinn called the Three Sisters.
Took a quick stop at the Parliament Building, locally called the chocolate bar. It was here the Baltic Wall protest took place.
Finished off near The Guild, (a club for rich members of society) and a building with cats on the roof. These originally faced backwards to the Guild, as the owner wasn’t allowed to join The Guild, but this changed as long as he agreed to turn the cats the right way round, which obviously he agreed to do.
Headed back to the ship after a quick beer, as we were due onboard at 2.30pm.