Our ship the Silver Dawn docked at Riga this morning. I wish that there were smaller ships to go on for some of my sea cruises however there are few options for the itineraries I wish to follow.
Latvia’s capital and largest city Riga was founded
in 1201 and is set on the Daugava River near the Gulf of Riga. It grew as a major Hanseatic League trading
hub and today is known for its UNESCO listed historic centre especially its exceptional Art Nouveau architecture and medieval Old Town. Riga is affectionately known as the Baltic
Berlin.
Riga has one of the largest collections of Art Nouveau
buildings in the world with at least 800 buildings. This is due to Riga
experiencing a financial and demographic at the end of the 19th and beginning
of the 20th centuries when Art Nouveau was at the height of its popularity.
We visited the the Splendid Palace, an art nouveau theatre, to watch the "Dzintariņš",
a Latvian children's folk dance ensemble that participate in various festivals
both in Latvia and abroad. The ensemble
has about 250 members aged 2 to 18 years.
Flow (Straume) is the first Latvian film ever to win an
Academy Award taking the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. It is a dialogue free story about a cat
navigating a flooded, dreamlike world meeting other animals as they drift
through shifting landscapes. Naturally Latvians
are very proud of winning an Oscar and the statue of a cat outside Splendid
Palace commemorates this achievement.
The Latvian Riflemen Monument in Riga’s Old Town was built
in 1971 and commemorates the Latvian riflemen who fought in World War I and
later joined the Bolsheviks. This is a reminder
of Latvia’s complex Soviet past.
We ended our visit to Riga with a walk around the
historic old town.
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