Riga

Of the cities I've visited so far, Riga is the most highly vegetated--trees, parks, gardens, etc. It creates a nice ambience. The center of town is the Freedom Monument, built in the 1930s during Latvia's first period of freedom, before the Soviet period. There are a couple pictures hete of the old town. Then a statue, a gift from Germany, 4 critters symbolizing the emergence of the people through the wall, or freedom from Soviet domination. The some 18th/19th century warehouses along the Daugava River that are being redone mostly as art spaces. And the Latvian Academy of Sciences, aka here as Stalin's birthday cake. The architecture is Stalinist.Read more