"Ever heard Victoria's REAL secret? Too much support hurts." - R. Stevens, Diesel Sweeties, 03-17-08

***

Baltics trip
Day 7 - 22nd May - Riga, Latvia (Part 2)


City Walls


I don't know which cockenaden was responsible for this gaping hole in the walls. Presumably it wasn't there when the walls were last used as defences.


Swedish Gate


Troksnu, the narrowest street in Riga

As you can see, Riga was a more picturesque city than Vilnius, probably due to its history (slightly earlier founding, German influence, sea access, Hanseatic League, Christianity). Look out also for the Art Nouveau architecture which UNESCO apparently "considers to be unparalleled anywhere in the world".


More streets



St Jacob's Church. The guidebooks made its interior sound very nice.



And again

Unfortunately, the church was closed.


Commemmorating "The Barricades" - when pro-Soviet forces attacked Independence-supporters in January 1991

Opposite the church was:


Latvian Parliament. The trees, while providing shade, must be a nightmare for security forces.


Parliament balcony. I can just see someone going out for a smoke and getting sniped at.


The Three Brothers: 3 old medieval buildings


Individual Brothers


The church from further up the road (in front of the Brothers)

One of the Brothers housed the Latvian Architecture Museum. It was free but pathetic, with only one exhibition (on solving traffic problems in Riga). The courtyard was nice though.




Arch to nowhere.

There were a lot of German tourists in Riga, probably due not just to proximity to Germany but also to its history.


More (narrow) streets


Sāpju Dievmātes Romas katoļu baznīca ("Our Lady of Sorrows").
This looks like a nice church. Yet,


The previous pictures were taken by zooming in. These 2 were taken with 1x zoom. I caption them: "Damn capitalism".


Nave


The All-Seeing Eye


Altar. A forest seems to have grown inside this church.


Alcove - the tradition of Mystery Plays isn't quite dead yet!


Banners


Mural above altar

All or almost all churches in the Baltics had the stations of the cross. Somehow I hadn't noticed this in churches in the rest of Europe, so it might have been a Baltic thing (or that my powers are growing).


This concrete block is the so-called Riga Castle. It looks slightly better on Wikipedia, but is still distinctly un-castle-like (too many renovations over the years).


Presumably the town square (this square housed the Dome Cathedral)



Square. There was a photography exhibition (presumably to distract you from the construction work going on in the background)