Turaida Castle

Turaida Castle is a cheap train ride away to Sigulda and a short (and small) bus ride to Turaida Museum Reserve. The castle was started in 1214 and went through various changes until it's decline in the 17th century. It wasn't rebuilt after it had become private property and a major fire in 1776 destroyed a lot of it. It became a protected object in 1924 and they've rebuilt some of the structures as they turned it into a museum. It now has some interesting exhibits in many of the buildings. The main tower is well worth the climb to get a view of the surrounding land like the picture above.

Celebrating Līgo and Jāņi at Dzegužkalns Park

We had a wonderful night celebrating a traditional Līgo and Jāņi at Dzegužkalns Park. This picture is as dark as it gets about half an hour after midnight. That glow on the horizon is the twilight of a sun that doesn't go to bed since we don't achieve full night this time of year. What do you do to celebrate the shortest night in a place like Latvia? You sing, dance, eat, and light stuff on fire. If you see one thing in this post then look for the video of the flaming wheel heading towards the bonfire below.

Victory Memorial and More Riga Parks

Riga is great for green spaces and parks. We have the most amazing park by Vecrīga (Old Riga or Old Town) along the canal circling Riga where the city walls used to be. There's lots of other city parks dotting around the map to check out so this is about a few of those near the Victory Memorial.