Baltic Adventures: Riga

Riga is a particularly interesting city. It was devastated during World War II, and as a result, when it came under Soviet occupation, a huge amount of the city needed to rebuilt. Soviet influence is very visible when you walk around the city, especially once you get away from the old section. It's a little odd and unsettling, but at the same time very interesting to walk around streets that have barely changed since Latvia finally gained independence. Talk about a step back in time.

Rifleman Square. The statue was erected during the Soviet occupation. The black box in the background is now the occupation museum, but was originally a school, also from the Soviet era. Notice the disticnt lack of windows. Miserable.

St. Peter's church. It's Lutheran- a fact which is most easily recognized by the fact that it's topped with a rooster.

There's a very interesting rule regarding about St. Peter's church. It is clearly noticable as the tallest building in Old Riga, mostly because there is a law in place forbidding the construction of anything taller in that are of the city. This was particularly helpful for my navigation since my hostel was about 100 meters from it.

The Freedom Monument. The stars the woman on the top is holding represent the three regions of Latvia.

The Russian Orthodox church.

It contained one of the funniest signs I've seen in a long time.

A burnt-out shell of a building in the moer run-down and Soviet area of the city.

And a political/economic statement.

Just a cat statue on a roof.

There's a funny story about this cat. Apparently, back in the days when Latvia was a Hansaiatic state, there was a wealthy man from the Latvian countryside who very much wanted to be accepted into the merchants' guild. Not being from a city like the rest of the members, he was viewed as a bit of a country bumpkin and denied membership. Not surprisingly, he wasn't very happy about this, so he bought the building across the street from one of the guild halls, and put this cat statue on the roof, with the cat's exposed rump facing the guildhall. This was considered so rude and upsetting that the members of the guild relented and accepted him, on the condition that he turn the cat around. He did, and everyone lived happily ever after.
 

The main square in Old Riga.

A reconstruction of one of the buildings visiting merchants would stay in when visiting Riga. The original was destroyed during WWII.

Apparently, Riga was the birthplace of the Christmas tree. This is a statue celebrating that fact. I don't really see the resemblance.

and, last but not least, the Bremen Town Musicians. They say that if you make a wish and then manage to rub the noses of all four animals, it will come true. It's great to walk past and see people jumping for the rooster. It's higher than it looks.