Stay in Riga June 21

In the morning, we take part in a city tour and learn a lot about the more than 800-year history of the Hanseatic city. The Town Hall Square with the famous House of the Blackheads, the House of the Brotherhood of Unmarried Merchants, is impressive. It has been faithfully restored with beautiful sculpture decorations. Not far from there is St. Peter's Church, the landmark of the city with the highest wooden tower in Europe. With funny anecdotes, the city guide points out the many liberators of Latvia and the resulting flexibility of the Latvians, and raises the question of whether the Chinese might be the next "liberators". They are already acquiring large properties in the country.

A beautiful part of the Old Town is also the area around the Swedish Gate with the former barracks buildings and the Powder Tower, the only surviving tower of the city wall.

Our hotel is located in the "Quiet Centre" of the city, where the architecture of Art Nouveau plays a major role. A particularly beautiful building by the architect Mikhail Eisenstein with a magnificent facade is just around the corner. Not far from there are also the Opera House or the Art Academy with splendid Art Nouveau facades.

One thing that amazed us was that trams stop at zebra crossings and let pedestrians pass.

Tomorrow we will continue, the final part of our tour: about 450 km to Klaipeda.