Latvia - Riga (Part 2)

From the Freedom Monument, we walked through the park and crossed the road the see the Powder Tower in Riga. The Powder Tower is the only tower of the old fortification system that is still standing. Originally called the Sand Tower because it defended the city from the side of the Big Sand Road, it dates back to 1330. Rebulid numerous times, it gained its current name in the 17th century when they began to store gunpowder in the tower. Today it is part of the Military Museum. Next to the Powder Tower is an interesting building that is painted with different coat of arms in Latvia.

Powder tower, Riga

Opposite the restored portion of  Riga's old fortification wall is Jacob's Barrack (yellow building below) which used to be the longest building until recent times. The old Swedish gate (bottom right) is the only town gate that has been preserved in its original form.

Riga Old Fortification Wall

The Three Brothers are good examples buildings during medieval  Rīga. The eldest brother, house no. 17, is the white building and it was built in the late 15th century. It is the oldest stone dwelling structure in Riga. No 19 and 21 were built  in the 17th and 18th century respectively.Being built in different centuries, I think they are too old to be brothers, they are more like son, father and grandfather :)

The Three Brothers

In the heart of Old Riga is the largest square, Dome Square, where the Dome Cathedral is located. The Dome Cathedral has been destroyed and rebuilt many times, so presently it is a composite of different architectural styles. The cathedral's last reconstruction took place in 1776 where the tower was raised to the height of 90m. The famous organ of the Dome Cathedral was made in 1884 and it was the biggest organ in the world comprising 6,718 pipes. Unfortunately, we arrived when the cathedral was closed and hence didn't get to see the organ.

Riga Dome Cathedral

St Peter's church was first mentioned in 1209. Throughout the centuries, the church tower was burned down and rebuilt many times. It was first destroyed in 1666 and the last calamity it suffered was on St Peter's Day in 1941.

St John's church was built as a chapel for the Dominican monastery after 1234.

The House of Blackheads, built in 14th century belonged to the Guild of Unmarried Merchants. At the time it was the richest and most prestigious venue in the whole city. It was severely damaged during WWII, but was rebuilt again in 1999.

The House of Blackheads

The Central Market is one of the largest and oldest markets in Europe with five food pavilions located inside vast converted Zeppellin hangars. By the time our walking tour ended, we could not go to to the market as it was already closed.   And our local guide wasn't aware and was not responsible to take us to the market.  This is another problem with Parlo Tour, bad planning.! There seems to be a lot of miscommunication between the local guide and our tour operator. The local guide's scope of work is much narrower than what is prescribed in our itinerary. Hence, a couple of sites were left out and we didn't have time to enter many of the historical buildings, not only in Latvia but also in Lithuania and Estonia. And our dear tour leader was very defensive when a couple of us asked about the differences.

Our local guide Margita was kind enough to come half an hour earlier the next morning so that she can take us to the Central Market. But only to the fish and vegetable pavillion. That's the most we can get in 20 minutes. The market is very clean, no wet floors like the ones we have in Malaysia. Even the fish pavillion smelled fresh :) And there was plenty of my favourite fish - salmon! Fresh salmon, grilled salmon, smoked salmon, salted salmon...:) You name it, they have it!

Central Market, Riga

Central Market, Riga

After the quick visit to the Central Market, we traveled up north towards Turaida Castle. Work on the Turaida Stone Castle began in 1214 and it was mainly used by Riga's Archbishop as their residence outside of Riga. As a results of the many war over the centuries, parts of the castle wall was destroyed and had to be reconstructed.

Entrance toTuraida Castle

 View of Turaida Castle from the tower. As can be seen from this picture, Turaida Castle is surrounded by lush greenery.

Turaida Castle

The different shades of green coupled with the clear blue sky made Turaida look really really beautiful. The name "Turaida" which means "God's garden" is indeed a very appropriate name for this place. I may not know how God's garden look like but being surrounded by the beauty of God's creation in Turaida does make me feel like I'm in heaven!

Turaida

Tulips are aplenty in Turaida. But somehow these tulips has dark center, looks kind of like poppy. Could they be poppy?

Turaida

Turaida Castle is the last place in Latvia that we visited. On our way to Talinn in Estonia, we were supposed to go to Cesis to see the old Latvian town. But due to timing issues we had to take another route directly to Talinn. And guess what excuse our tour leader gave us for this change? She said the person who planned the itinerary did not look at the map. Palm in my face!!