| Sightseeing is made easy in Riga, by the fact that most of the sights are handily located within a compact area on the left bank of the Daugava River. The Old Town overflows with things to see but one of the real pleasures is just wandering around the cobbled streets, taking an architectural journey through the centuries, in a city where Gothic, Renaissance and Art Nouveau abound, often competing for attention on the same street. Recognised sights include the voluminous religious twins of St Peter’s Church and Dome Cathedral, both worth exploring in detail. Riga also boasts numerous museums, with the Latvian War Museum, the Occupation Museum and Mentzendorff House among many others deserving of attention. Neatly dividing the Old Town and New Town is Bastejkalns Park, with its lazy canal, cafés and walkways. In the middle of the park is the Freedom Monument, one of Riga’s and indeed Latvia’s most poignant sites, a symbol of both the nation’s fight for nationhood and the four decades of resistance to Communist rule. |