Leung Family Travels

Inside Turaida Castle

Inside the tower at Turaida, looking up at the chandelier. Gio loved it!

One of the tiny windows for lookout in the Turaida tower.

The view of the castle ruins from the top of the tower.

On the way to Turaida (in Sigulda)

Cable car (gondola) ride over the river to the Turaida side. We walked here from the Old Sigulda castle. Gio was fascinated by the cable ride. He loved looking everywhere.

From the cable car drop off we walked to the next castle, up at Turaida. At first it was a pretty walk, as you can see. After this, we had to walk beside a busy road. Not fun. We weren't too happy about that.

But, we got to see this huge tower and even go up to the top! One side of this tower is 5 meters thick! They really wanted to make sure they were well protected.

This is inside the castle complex. This castle dates from the 15th century.

Old Sigulda Castle.

Just East of Riga is a whole area called Sigulda where they have a lot of old castle ruins.

This one is the oldest. It was built in the 13th Century by the Bretheren of the Sword.

There's a stage nearby where they put on shows. What a great background!

This is the new Sigulda castle, built in the late 19th century. Gio is taking a break to pick flowers in front of it.

More Rundale Palace

All of us outside the palace. Even though it's summer, it's quite chilly up in Riga. I don't think it ever gets really warm up here.

This is the bathroom for the Duchess. She had the ceiling lowered and her servants have rooms above. We love how elaborately decorated it is.

Inside Rundale Palace

Inside Rundale Palace Gio finally got the opportunity to run around a little bit. He'd been in his stroller or his carrier for so long. The Grand Ballroom gave him a chance to stretch his legs and practice walking. He's getting closer!
After all that exercise, Gio got pretty tired.

The palace was inspired by Versailles. It was built by a Duke who was in favor with Catherine the Great. He loved Versaille and had this built almost the same, only smaller. It's just as grand, but cozier. The grounds were also similarly laid out, only much smaller.

Central Market, Riga

One of the huge market blimp hangars in Riga. The city bought 5 old blimp hangars to house the market. Each one specializes in a different food. One for meat, another for bread/pastries, another for dairy and cheeses, and another for fish. The fifth was under repair.