The Art Nouveau/Art Deco Architecture of Riga, Latvia
There was an electric outage in the hotel but our room, fortunately, had electricity through breakfast before it went kaput. Darn...I knew I should have recharged everything last night! The Hotel Irina had a very nice breakfast buffet with tomatoes, cucumbers, fish, cheese and bread, meatballs, hard and soft boiled eggs, different luncheon meats, juices, cakes, cereals. That filled up the empty spots.
ex-Marine has been commenting for days over how light Dorothy and Alan travel. Only two backpacks and no luggage. See how little they are traveling with? Why can't we go with only two backpacks. WELL, the airlines lost their luggage and that's why they only have two backpacks! We were definitely out of the group loop. Their bags finally surfaced in Riga yesterday but they have to go to the airport and get them through customs. Isn't traveling fun?
Electric outage or not, today was gorgeous and sunny. Perfect to follow the recommended walk and map given to us by the Riga Tourist Office and head over to the Art Nouveau district that began along the Esplanade, past the Riga Opera House...View image, and led through Kronvalda Park. The Art Nouveau movement began in 1899 and reached its peak in the early 20th century...View image. It also split into two main directions. Decorative and romantic, and nationalistic Art Nouveau. More than one-third of the buildings were built in these styles....View image.
The main street in the Art Nouveau district is Elizabetes. Cross over and wander up and down Alberta and Strelnieku Streets that also feature incredible examples of this style and were primarily designed and built by Latvian architects. Without the brochure, neither of us would have known Gothic...View image... from Renaissance to neo-Classical. But we did know that we'd never seen such unbelievable architecture before. Each building seemed to be more over-the-top than the next and to think...they were used as tenement buildings.
There are over 800 Art Nouveau buildings...View image... in Riga and this walk was even more fun thanks to a school class that was identifying sections, faces and statues on the facades on a "treasure hunt." Running back and forth, screaming loudly to each other in Latvian whenever they found one.
From here, the long way back to Hotel Irina for more batteries before continuing to discover more of the city. Double AA batteries don't last long when you walk around Riga. Just too picturesque...
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