Flower abloom at the Nacionālais Botāniskais Dārzs (National Botanic Garden) I’m going to switch things up a little bit with my “photo post” and only focus on two things in Rīga: the Art Nouveau district and Nacionālais Botāniskais Dārzs (National Botanic Garden), located a short train ride away…
A view of Maskavas Forštate (Moscow Suburb) from atop the Latvijas Zinātņu akadēmija (Latvian Academy of Science) During my travels, I’ve learned that the bulk of what makes most Eastern European capitals so interesting is what lies beyond the manicured and tourist-friendly Old Towns, and Rīga is no…
I’m willing to bet that if I handed out surveys to one thousand random people in Times Square, asking them to name five European cities with hot art scenes, Rīga would show up very infrequently, if at all. That’s a shame because the Latvian capital has a lot…
Inside the former KGB Headquarters in Rīga There’s no way around it: by and large, the past 100 years of Latvian history have not been happy ones. Like her Baltic neighbors, Latvia took advantage of the Russian Revolution in 1917 to declare its own independence in 1918. Kārlis…
Latvijas Etnogrāfiskais Brīvdabas Muzejs (Ethnographic Open-Air Museum of Latvia) Man Plans and God Laughs Sometimes we think we have it all figured out. A trip is carefully researched and planned. No hour will be wasted and every sight will be seen. And then, like the old Yiddish proverb,…
Welcome to my first post on the more-than-meets-the-eye capital of Latvia. Here’s to exploring a new country and a new capital!