Latvia tourist sites

Otherwise in Latvia … well, the capital is really nice.  A pretty, old, centre, some interesting museums (my first full day there was ‘International Museum Day’, when museums are free to visit, so I rushed around as many as I could that day!), a few nice churches and cathedrals, and the largest central market in Europe, housed inside and around former German zeppelin hangars.  Included amongst the museums is the Human Anatomy Museum, which houses some 700 skulls as well as skeletons and preserved slices, segments and skinned bits from all over and through the human body (including those from children).  I couldn’t resist taking this picture … also have the female equivalent but I won’t share that one here.

The House of the Black Heads is apparently not a ‘museum’ (so they didn’t give free entry), but is one of the best-known places to visit in Riga.  Historically, its primary function was to promote entrepreneurship, as a gathering place for merchants and sailors.  Every organisation in those days had its patron, a saint who represented its work or offered protection, and this brotherhood chose Saint Maurice, the patron of young men and soldiers, and a popular saint in the Middle Ages.  Born in Egypt in the 3rd century, he is apparently considered to be the first black Christian.  He was a commander of the Theban legion, leading some 6,000 soldiers, and after refusing to break his religious beliefs he was beheaded by Emperor Maximilian.  His symbol is thus a black head on a red background.

I visited Kuldiga, billed as the prettiest village in Latvia, but also known for having the widest natural waterfall in the whole of Europe (at 249 metres), with the added attraction at this time of year of watching vimba fish leap up the waterfall as they head upstream to spawn.  Then I went to Sidulga – not nearly as relaxing as Kuldiga, as there were three good castles in the surrounding area, not to mention some caves with graffiti starting from the eighteenth century, and a cable car across the valley – an awful lot of walking to get between the sites, but well worth it!!  & as a special treat I got a good view of a grass snake as it slithered away from me on one of the trails.

& finally back to Riga for a couple more days.  Where I should have spent longer, but some of the guys in the hostel were getting more and more friendly ... it was a little odd ... and anyway, I knew I had two more countries to visit over the course of the next three weeks.  Thankfully those couple of days did allow me time to visit the art nouveau part of the town, where the architecture was very interesting,


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