Well, we only spent a quick few days in Riga, as we were eager to get to Tallinn, and really I think, eager to stop dragging our backpacks all over Eastern Europe. But, Riga was a fine stop along the way.

It's been said that whoever controls Riga controls the Baltics, as its the commercial heart of the region, and its certainly a place that has changed hands a number of times recently. The very informative and very concise Museum of Occupation in Riga gave an indepth account into the Russian, then Soviet, then Nazi, then Soviet occupations of the country, as well as the suffering of the people under each regime. It was amazing to me that less than a month after the Soviet masterminded 'Night of Horrors' (June 14, 1941) when tens of thousands of Latvian citizens were arrested and shipped to unknown destinations in Siberia, the Nazis had completely forced the Soviets out of Latvia, and then proceeded to do the same thing to the Latvian population. Sadly, the history of the other Baltic states follows the same lines. Whats more, after the war, the Russians brought almost a million ethnic Russians into Latvia, dramatically altering the makeup of the country, which is sad, because the paganist culture of Lativans is something I found really interesting too.

Enough for the history, the present is interesting as well. The art nouveau movement, while started elsewhere, was taken to the upmost extreme on some streets around town (see pics). Very interesting stuff, looking up and seeing faces smiling, robots and owls staring at you, and the odd friendly dragon here and there. Definitely gives the new town a fun feel. The old town had some impressive churches as well, including St. Peter's, which took 35 years to be restored after WWII. It also has a reputation as a hard partying town, and while we didn't take part in any of that, we didn't see any of the famed British stag parties wondering the streets either, which was nice. So, that was Riga, definitely a nice spot to visit, but all of these old towns are starting to feel somewhat alike...