The weather was wonderful, once the rain stopped at 9.29 on the first morning when we were due to set off at 9.30. The rain is something to hear, on metal roofs, and see, as it pours across special grooves in the pavement to make large puddles in the road.
Riga is a large metropolitan city but out in the country, things are different in the countryside. Even the major roads are in poor repair while many of the minor roads are dirt tracks.
We visited Liepaja which, under soviet rule, was a restricted city. It is today a city of three parts, the old city with many picturesque wooden buildings, the Tsarist industrial area and the former naval port. The naval port was developed in the 1880s with many fine red brick buildings which have survived better than the 1960s high rise flats. Today the only people living there are the poorest of the Russians who couldn't afford to leave when the rest of the Russians left. Its really the only place where you see little bullet-headed children begging.
The countryside was interesting too, on our coach trip from the capital to Liepaja, flat or rolling countryside with few towns but many extended farmsteads. Many of the fields were planted withy rape or corn but there were few animals to be seen, only a few tethered cows.
Riga, although quite a large city is easy enough to explore on foot or by public transport. No metro but lots of trolleybuses or trams. There is no traffic in the heart of the old city but beware of the awkward paved surfaces where it is easy to turn an ankle. The native Rigans wear what seem like the most inappropriate high heeled footwear which you would think would catch in the joins between the reinforced concrete paving.
Perhaps the most interesting site to me was the VEF complex which has originally belonged to the German company AEG which accounts for the two Peter Behrens buildings still to be found on the site. The huge brick assembly building with an integral water tower looks very similar to the one at the AEG headquarters in Berlin.
The picture above is the original factory building of VEF which still remains on Brivibas iela which now has much more traffic! One of the problems is how slowly traffic moves around the city especially here close to a railway bridge which serves as a pinch point for traffic.
Also close to Riga is the renowned Ethnographic Museum, established in 1924 with 121 vernacular buildings and their contents from all over the country which show various industrial buildings including wind and saw mills as well as typical wooden buildings.
