We had a late start to our day because we were advised by the campground that the rush hour for Riga went well into the 10 am hour. But by about 10:30 we decided to head into town to catch a “free” tour of Riga. The taxi ride during the tail end of rush hour was less than €5 so we probably should have left a little earlier.
The free tour started at the house of the black cats. The house was across from the main trade guild hall in Riga, and was owned by a wealthy Latvian. He applied to join the guild but was rejected because at that time the guilds did not allow non-Germans to join. The elite in Riga was German for over 400 years, and the Latvians were excluded from most organizations. As a protest to being excluded from the guild despite having the means and the skill to join he attached two black cats to the gable of his home with their butts pointed at the guild hall across the street. This caused a lot of controversy and the matter ended up in court, the settlement was that the Latvian was allowed to join the guild and he pointed the heads of the cat at the guild hall.
We enjoyed the tour, but what was most striking to us was how concerned the tour guide was about the current geopolitical situation. The story of the tour was effectively that the Latvian people who are native to the area have been under foreign rule for all but 50 of the last 700 years. The first were the Germans who conquered the area in 1300’s and ruled until the 1600’s when they lost out to the Swedes for about 100 years. In the 1700’s the Russians conquered Latvia and held it until the end of WW1. During this period the native Latvians were secondary players in their own land. For the period between the wars Latvia was ruled by Latvians for the first time. That period came to an end during WWII when Latvia was again ruled by the Russians for a short time, the Germans for a short time, and then the Russians for the next 50 years.
During WWII the population of Latvia was decimated. When the Soviet Union gained control in 1939, they exiled or executed the leadership of the independent Latvian state, when the Germans conquered Latvia in 1941 they eliminated the substantial Jewish population of Latvia, and finally when the Soviets were posed to reconquer Latvia at the end of WWII a substantial part of the population fled to Sweden to avoid being ruled by the Soviets. As a result Latvia was largely depopulated and a large number of ethnic Russians moved in to keep the economy moving after the war.
When the Soviet Union broke up in 1990 Latvia regained its independence but with a population of ethnic Russians that is about 25%. To make the transition peaceful the Latvians agreed to allow the Russians to keep independent schools, so today the two populations are not well integrated and it is unclear where the ethnic Russians stand on Latvian independence versus integration with Russia.
Our guide was convinced that the only thing that will keep Latvia independent from Russia is a strong NATO and EU. They admit they are not strong enough to stop the Russians on their own so they are watching what is happening in the Ukraine with a great deal of trepidation as they fear they are next.
After the tour Ton wanted to visit the Art Nouveau part of Riga. Between the wars Riga was prosperous and underwent a building boom. That time coincided with the Art Nouveau style of architecture. One street survived the turmoil of WWII intact and has one of the best collection of Art Nouveau buildings in Europe. We went up and down the street looking at the intricate facades of these buildings with their faces and animals carved into them.
Our last stop for the day was the Central Market. The Central Market was established in the 1930’s by converting two Zeppelin hangers that the Germans built during WWI when they had captured Riga from the Russians. (I forgot about that time Riga changed hands.)
It is one of the largest central markets in Europe with five distinct halls. We wandered thru for a good while and emerged with oranges, lemons, and a local specialty of smoked sardines in oil.
As we travel around we are always discovering local variations on things we take for granted. In Latvia and Lithuania we noticed that the store opening hour signs do not have the days of the week on them but instead the roman numerals I-VII. It turns out this is because of a quirk in the languages. In both languages the name for Monday is “First day of the Week”, Tuesday “Second day of the Week” etc. So the Roman numerals are shorthand for that linguistic quirk.
