Day: September 12, 2024

Riga day 2

After breakfast this morning we explored Riga.

We have a tourist brochure we picked up at the hotel. It has a map and description, in English, of all the sites.

This picture was taken this morning in the park across from our hotel.
And this picture was taken in very nearly the same spot on April 1, 2018 when we were here before

We started our exploration at Riga Castle. It’s the residence of the president of Latvia.

Riga Castle

Then we walked across the Daugava River to the National library

Walking to the National library
The National Library as we were crossing the bridge
Inside the library
That’s me with the blue shirt taking a picture from the 11th floor
The book wall in the library

After we left the library we walked around a bit before stopping in Dome Square for a beer.

Below is the house of the Black Heads. According to the guide brochure the original house was built in 1334. It was destroyed during World War II and rebuilt in 1999. The Black Heads were an association of young unmarried merchants, goldsmiths, and ship captains.

House of the Black Heads
There is Duke at our table enjoying his beer in Dome Square

The church in the background above is Dome Church. As we people watched from our table we noticed lots of people going by carrying their musical instruments. After we finished our beer we walked over to the church and discovered that tonight was the last concert of the 2024 Sacred Music Festival and tonight was a concert with the Latvian National Choir and the Latvian National Orchestra. so we bought tickets and went. We had a partially obstructed view but the concert ( a mass by Antons Brukners) was amazing!

At the concert