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Behind the big, dark-red Latvian Riflemen statue, in a controversial bunker - at one point slated to be razed for its ugliness - is the Latvijas okupācijas muzejs, or Occupation Museum. It gives an impressive account of the Soviet and Nazi occupations of Latvia between 1940 and 1991. It is both informative and disturbing.
Latviesu Strēlnieku laukums 1
Old Rīga
www.occupationmuseum.lv tel info 721 2715
| free |
There are 518 elk antlers to be seen in the Museum of Horns & Antlers - the collection from one man's lifetime of work as a forest warden in the national park (none are hunting trophies). Outside, antlers hang from the street signs. Vaide is on the Livonian coast, nestled among a wilderness of sea, sand and breathtakingly beautiful beaches and pine forests.
(N Kurzeme, W Latvia)
tel info 3244217
| full | Lat 0.50 |
Aglona Basilica is Latvia's most important pilgrimage site and the leading Roman Catholic shrine in the nation. The church was built in 1699, but it's since been engulfed by an enormous courtyard that was created for Pope John Paul II's visit in 1993.
One of the basilica's 10 altars guards a miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary, said to have saved Aglona from the plague in 1708.
Every year on Ascension Day (15 August) pilgrims gather here. A candlelight procession the night before precedes the religious celebration.
(Latgale, SE Latvia)
bus several daily between Daugavpils and Krāslava, Aglona and Ludza
walking 800m S of Aglona
Unwary travellers lured into Rīga's winding cobbled streets are transfixed by swirling Art Nouveau architecture and warm bars with candles flickering in the windows. Just as you can't take the Old Town's beauty any longer, you look up to a bewitching skyline of castle turrets and church steeples.
Rīga manages to couple its toy-town cuteness with a glitzy nightlife and thriving restaurant scene. Funky and vibrant, it's a major metropolis with a big-city atmosphere hard to find elsewhere in the region. The city is booming, with a queue of backers pouring money into its infrastructure.
The Old Town may be a Unesco World Heritage Site, but this fairytale city is building so fast that Unesco has warned Rīga it may withdraw its status.
Despite the threat to its historical integrity, much of old Rīga's streetscape is intact.
Wander down its narrow streets gaping at 17th-century architecture and take in the views from atop the spire at St Peter's Church.
Watch the changing of the guard at the Freedom Monument and visit the bustling Central Market before spending the evening bar-hopping around the Old Town.
With lavish beauty and a restless fusion of old and new, Rīga has created a charm as potent as the Rīga Black Balsams liquor it's known for.
This enchanted town stands on the southern edge of a picturesque, steep-sided, wooded section of the Gauja Valley and is spanned by a string of medieval castles and legend-laden caves. Known locally as the 'Switzerland of Latvia', Sigulda is a minor health resort and a winter sports centre - with an Olympic bobsled run snaking down into the valley.
Little remains of old Sigulda Castle, but 19th-century Sigulda Manor, former residence of the Knights of the Sword, is now a sanatorium.
Just 53km (33mi) east of Rīga, Sigulda is also the primary gateway to beautiful Gauja National Park, located northeast of town.
Founded in 1973, Latvia's first national park protects a diverse range of flora and fauna, and offers a multitude of forest and river hiking as well as biking trails and fabulous canoeing opportunities.
