Most of the day was spent driving from Vilnius to Riga, Latvia, with a few intermediate stops.
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| Our route from Vilnius to Riga |
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| Some Lithuanian road signs in Vilnius |
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| Modern architecture in Vilnius |
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| Housing on the outskirts of Vilnius |
About halfway through the trip we stopped at a service plaza, where we encountered a Hessburger, which is a hamburger chain based in Finland.
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| Lithuanian countryside |
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| More countryside |
We stopped for lunch in a Lithuanian town called Šiauliai.
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| Some housing in Šiauliai |
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| More Lithuanian housing |
We eventually arrived at an enclosed mall where we had 1 1/2 hours to eat and shop.
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| The mall |
I had lunch at a Hessburger in the mall. Pretty unexciting. After that, I went into a supermarket to see what Lithuanians eat at home.
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| Part of the beer selection |
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| In the supermarket |
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| The detergent selection |
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| The produce selection |
The remainder of the mall was kind of depressing--mostly furniture stores, relatively dark and empty.
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| In the mall |
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| More from the mall |
After we left the mall, we drove about 15 minutes to the
Hill of Crosses. This is a location where pilgrims began bringing crosses in the 1800's and there are now more than 200,000 crosses there. There is a souvenir shop there where you can buy crosses to leave. Below are some views
After leaving the Hill of Crosses, we crossed into Latvia. Since Lithuania and Latvia are both in the European Union, we didn't even have to stop.
Once in Latvia, our first stop was
Rundale Palace, which was built in the 18th century by the Duke of Courland. It fell into disrepair under the Soviets, but was restored in the 1990's. The inside is very opulent--I'll let the pictures do the talking.
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| A ceiling shot |
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| The main bedroom |
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| Gardens out back |
From the palace, we headed to Riga, arriving at about 5:00.
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| Latvian countryside |
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| Riga Radio and TV tower |
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| Riga main market, formerly a Zeppelin hanger |
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| Central Riga |
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| Map of central Riga |
We arrived at our hotel (another Radisson Blu), and I scored a room on the 18th floor with a nice view.
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| My room was small, but nice, with a great view |
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| View from my room |
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| Another view from my room, towards the residential section of town |
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| The big tower in the middle is a building donated by Stalin in the 1950's |
There was a large ring park between my hotel and the old town. Between the hotel and the park was a large Orthodox cathedral with gold domes.
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| View of my room towards the Old Town--cathedral in right foreground |
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| Closer view of the cathedral |
Wednesday, July 14: Sigulda and Latvian Ethnological Open Air Museum
Despite the fact that we haven't "officially" seen Riga on the tour, we spent the day visiting some outlying sights.
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| Nothing says "Royal Class" like a moose |
Our first excursion was to
Gauja National Park and the town of
Sigulda, about 40 miles east of Riga. On our way out of Riga, we passed by a lot of large wooden buildings.
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| Wooden building in Riga |
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| And another one |
Sigulda is a resort town with a lot of nice houses.
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| Housing in Sigulda |
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| More housing in Sigulda |
Our first stop in Sigulda was Sigulda Castle, which was built in 1878. The castle sits in front of
Sigulda Medieval Castle, which dates from 1207.
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| Sigulda Castle |
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| Another view of Sigulda Castle |
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| The medieval castle, which is behind the (relatively) modern castle |
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| Tower of the medieval castle |
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| Medieval castle wall |
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| Courtyard of the medieval castle |
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| View of Turaida Castle, which we would visit later |
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| Gardens at Sigulda Castle |
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| A World War II bunker near Sigulda Castle |
We then visited
Gutmanis Cave, which is the widest and highest cave in the Baltics, but more famously known for people having carved their names in the rock near the entrance since the 17th century.
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| Entrance to Gutmanis Cave |
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| Some of the carvings |
Next we headed to the
Turaida Museum Reserve, which is sort of a historical park, and is home to Turaida Castle.
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| Turaida Church, built in 1750 |
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| Inside the church |
Near the church was a sculpture garden with some interesting works.
We then proceeded to
Turaida Castle. The castle was started in 1214 and pretty much completed by the 17th century. It then fell into disrepair and was restored in the 20th century.
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| Entering Turaida Castle |
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| Inside the castle |
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| In the castle dungeon (the people aren't real) |
The historical park also contained a number of restored buildings, including s blacksmith shop, a bath house, and, of course an internet library.
We then headed to
Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum, on the outskirts of Riga.
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| First we had to pass by an upscale mall |
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| Another big wooden building |
The ethnographic museums contained numerous (mostly rural) buildings that had been moved to this site over the years.
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| Roadside inn, constructed in 1841 |
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| Interior of a Lutheran church from 1704 |
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| Peasant house from 1848 |
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| Inside the peasant house |
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| Inside the peasant house |
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| Farmhouse from 1780 |
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| Inside the farmhouse |
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| Kitchen and storeroom of the farmhouse |
From the Ethnographic Museum, we returned to the hotel.
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| Riga city tram |
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| Graffiti was much worse in the Baltics than in Belarus or Moldova |
After returning to the hotel, I wandered over to Old Town for dinner
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| What's going on in Riga |
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| Orthodox church near my hotel |
As I mentioned there was a ring park between my hotel and the Old Town, with a river running through the park
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| In the park |
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| Padlocks on bridge rails has become very popular in Europe |
There is a large
Freedom Monument in the park, which actually honors the war of Latvian Independence (1918-1920), but when the Soviet Union annexed Latvia in 1940, they didn't tear it down (as they did with most similar monuments)
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| Freedom Monument |
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| In case you were wondering where all the Hare Krishnas went |
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| In the Old Town |
I walked through most of Old Town to the
House of the Blackheads, which despite its name, is not a dermatology practice. The Blackheads were a guild of unmarried workers. The original House was built in the 14th century, but it was destroyed in World War II. This version was rebuilt in the 1990's. Unfortunately, it wasn't open.
Near the House of the Blackheads is St. Peter's Church, which dates from the 15th century
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| St. Peter's Church, in the back |
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| Memorial statue in front of the Museum of Occupation |
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| A closer view of St. Peters Church |
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| Buildings in the Old Town |
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| More of the Old Town--building probably dates from 15th or 16th century |
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| More Old Town architecture |
I wound up having dinner outdoors at the
Moonshine restaurant, principally because they had a good Rockabilly band playing. Latvian ribs are not as good as American ribs, but then again, what is?
I walked around Old Town after dinner and then returned to the hotel.
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| House of the Blackheads |
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| Freedom Monument--my hotel is just to the left of it |
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| National Museum of Art |
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| Night time view from my room |
Thursday, July 15: Riga Old Town and Jurmala Beach Resort
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| View from my hotel room |
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| And another one |
Our first stop this morning was a few blocks from the hotel, to see a bunch of
Art Nouveau buildings--Riga has the highest concentration of Art Nouveau buildings in the world.
From there, we went to Old Town, which I had seen the previous evening, but not as part of the tour.
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| Riga Towns Hall, across the square from the Blackheads House |
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| Some musicians in the Town Hall Square |
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| More Latvian music |
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| Somewhere in Old Town |
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| The Great Guild |
Across the street from the Great Guild is the
Black Cat House, which was built by a man who had a grudge against the guild. So when he built the house, he ordered that a black cat be installed on the roof facing the guild house.
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| Black Cat House |
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| Roof of another building across from the Great Guild |
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| The former stock exchange (Bourse), now an art museum |
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| Square in front of St. James Cathedral |
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| One of "The Three Brothers", buildings dating from the 15th century |
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| Two of "The Three Brothers" |
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| My attempt at a panorama of "The Three Brothers" |
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| Latvian Parliament |
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| Anti-abortion protester at the Parliament |
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| One of the city gates, from 1698 |
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| Closeup of the city gate |
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| Remaining part of the city wall |
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| Tower in the old city wall |
We then headed through the park, back to the hotel.
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| Changing of the guard at the Freedom Monument |
At the hotel, we got on the bus and headed for
Jurmala, a resort town on the Baltic Sea. The town was popular with Communist officials (think Khruschev and Brezhnev) during Soviet times. Lots of fancy houses (and some run-down houses as well).
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| Housing in Jurmala |
We were dropped of on the main street, a pedestrian mall, to walk around and have lunch.
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| Pedestrian street in Jurmala |
Some of the houses needed a little maintenance.
I checked out the town history museum, which showed beach life in the 19th century and in Soviet days.
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| Soviet beach life |
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| 19th century beach life |
The beach was a couple of blocks from the center of town. There were only a couple of hotels on this part of the beach. It was about 70 degrees and very overcast, so there wasn't much action on the beach.
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| Passive recreation to the right, active recreation to the left |
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| One of the beach hotels |
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| Along the beach |
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| Another beach hotel |
I then made my way back to the pedestrian street.
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| Souvenir stands on the pedestrian mall |
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| Peruvian musicians are everywhere |
Eventually we boarded the bus and headed back to Riga.
After getting back to the hotel, I took a last wander around Old Town.
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| St. James Cathedral |
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| Inside St. James Cathedral |
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| Square in front of St. James Cathedral--the Bourse (art museum) on the left |
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| Another part of the square in front of St. James Cathedral |
Dinner was at a restaurant in Old Town. I passed on the homemade lard.
Next:
Days 11-12--Tallinn, Estonia
