Have enjoyed walking around the art nouveau district of Riga with beautiful architecture, prevalent in the early 20th century. Also went up the tower of St Peters Cathedral for magnificent views over the city of Riga, showing the contrast in medieval, art nouveau style buildings, alongside the very plain, dark buildings that were dominant during the Soviet occupation of Latvia. Latvia has a sad history of repression during periods of Soviet and German occupatio...

Arrived in Riga, the capital city of Latvia, a small eastern european country, located between Lithuania and Estonia. A very different city to Stockholm, that is struggling with poor economic times, high unemployment and long standing political and social conflict between the Latvian and Russian nationals. Received a warm welcome from Martin (Rod's son) and Anita (his girlfriend) and her family with a traditional sunday BBQ, Latvian style, and a game of petanqu...