Riga (Rīga) is capital city of Latvia, with population close to one million, it’s almost half of Latvian people living in one city.

History of Riga

It’s an old town, story goes that a small tow was established in 1201 (wow, that’s 800 years ago!) right next to small river named Riga. That river is gone long before you’ve come here to read this site, but the names is still with us ;)
During those nice and quiet middle ages many countries have ruled the Riga, germans were here, swedes were here, russians came here, local guys had some high times too, and the result is unique architecture and mix of nationalities and cultures of our town today.

Riga today

You should see it! It changes every year to its best, fresh buildings, new restaurants and pubs, new suburbs with euro-class apartments. Many events during summer time, and some good concerts round the year.
The center of city is clean and nice, but as you move outside the center, you see more dirty streets, more ugly buildings from soviet times, more drunken people, in other words - the further from center, the bigger the adventure!

Green parks of Riga

Riga has lots of green zones, one of the beauties of our tow. But be careful - not everywhere you can lie down on the grass and relax your feet after long walk - it’s prohibited to walk the grass in most of the central parks. There should be some warning sighs about that, but if it’s missing, ask the policeman who walk here and there is it OK that you kick off your shoes, take out your bottle of wine and enjoy the evening. Oh, damn, to drink in public places it’s also forbidden. So all that’s left is get drunk in your hotel room or some pub and then go for a nap into park. But remember, first make sure you are allowed to ;)

Tip: see Riga on Google Maps!

Related links:

- back to startlatvia.com
- Latvia at Wikipedia.org

Technorati Profile

Our site from now is on Technorati too!

If you happen to be on the bicycle road Riga - Jurmala at night, make sure you stop somewhere at the point where planes are heading to nearby RIX (Riga Airport). The airport is about one or two kilometers from that bike path, so it’s pretty impressive to see roaring jets just over your head so close-up! There’s even a sign of propeller on the asphalt drawn, it’s somewhere after trains station “Imanta” on the way to Jurmala. Stop there and wait for a while, you will like it ;)

And here’s a small video from my yesterdays trip:

(If you can’t see it, follow this YouTube link - www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVelSoOUwhg)

Visit more:

• Watch all videos from Latvia,
• Browse other Latvian websites,
• Homepage of Latvia information.

I’m happy to announce that a site for Latvia Guide has been set up and is now up and running!
Regular updates about events, tips, guides and other useful info on Latvia are going to be the topics discussed here. You can take part in discussions by commenting here!

Best wishes to people visiting Latvia,
Helmut
(online editor of StartLatvia.com and iLatvia forums)