The Last of Riga

This is one of the Three Brothers. They're the oldest stone houses in Riga. They were built in the 13th Century. Notice the small windows. When they were built, taxes were determined by the size of your windows.

Isn't this the coolest high chair? It was at a restaurant located in a cellar in Riga. It was our last night there. If you turn the chair on its back it becomes a rocker, turn it on it's front and it's a little bench and desk. Love it!

Architecture in Riga

This is just outside the old city.

A little alley inside the old town.

There are a lot of cafes and restaurants all over the city. Every street is cobblestone.

We think this is a medival warehouse. It's located near the water and there were a few of them right next to each other. The platform at the top holds a pulley to pull good up into the large doors in the building.

Even More Art Nouveau

These buildings were about a block away from the previous pictures.

These profiles are quite famous in Riga. There are pictures of them all over Riga.

Here's a bit of scale. Gio was looking all over, too!

More Art Nouveau

Isn't this one crazy?! I love all the details. There were many women's faces on the facade and they all had different expressions.

This is the facade of the Stockholm School of Business.

This was the home of 2 artists, a husband and wife.

Riga Art Nouveau Architecture Tour

Riga has the most Art Nouveau architecture of any city in the world. There are over 750 buildings in Riga. The city is continuously renovating more and more of them. The movement began with a magazine in Munich called Jugenstil. The style was a mixture of organics and romanticism. In Riga, the architects combined they're own national romanticism, including additions of foods harvested in the country and figures representing the countries ideals.

The architect of this building is Mikhail Eisenstein. He designed many of the best examples of Art Nouveau in Riga. He is also the father of Sergei Eisenstein, the famous Russian director of Battleship Potemkin.

This one is a favorite!

Each building is so unique. All of these pictures were taken on the same block.

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.