Day 8: Last day in Riga

We were leaving Riga, Latvia in the early afternoon to continue our journey through the Baltic States. The next country we are visiting is Estonia. M and I decided to be out and about early to see more of this beautiful city of Riga. We started in the Old Town feasting our eyes on yet more of the amazing architecture.

This is known as the Cat building. On the roof of the building are two black cat sculptures. Apparently the owner of this property, a wealthy merchant,  wanted to join Riga's Great Guild but was refused entry. To get his own back on the Guild he had these two cats' backsides sculpted to face the Guild to show what he thought of the Guild.

The Guild was furious and took the merchant to court to have the cats' backsides turned away. After a long court case, an agreement was reached, that the merchant would have the cats facing in the opposite direction and the Guild agreed that the merchant could join their organisation.

This mustard coloured cat building has a number of other extravagant features like the flowers above the guttering.

and the Art Nouveau wrought iron work surrounding the drain pipes.

In fact everywhere we looked we saw more examples of Art Nouveau and  intricate sculptures.

We left the Old Town and went to see Riga's Central Markets. Built in the 1920s these large buildings were originally used as hangars for German army Zeppelins. The buildings were later transformed into market venues. There are four of these large hangars side by side.

This aerial view (Wikipedia) gives you a better idea of the size.

Each hangar is devoted to different kinds of food. There was a vast array of enticing fresh fish, meat, fruit and vegetables as well as so many different types of bread and cakes. We couldn't resist sampling a few of the cakes which were delicious.

After gorging on cakes we then went for a walk by the River Daugava. On the opposite bank to us was the Castle of Light - the new National Library which opened in 2014.

Also on the banks of the river is Riga Castle. It was first founded in 1330 but has gone through numerous wars and rulers; destruction and rebuilding. Today it is the residence of the President of Latvia.



We returned to the hotel to pick up our luggage as the rest of the day was spent getting to Saaremaa, an Estonian island in the Baltic. It is the largest of Estonia's islands and we were staying at a farmstead which has been converted into a B and B. Our meals were cooked for us by the owners of the farmstead so we were looking forward to some home cooked traditional food.

One thing you notice as you travel through the Baltic States is how flat the countries are and the islands are no exception.

More of the island in my next post.