Trip to Riga: Day 3 - Markets and Art Nouveau

(For the first day click here, for other trips here)

The last (full) day in Riga we went to Riga Central Market and then the small and odd Latgales market. After that it was time for the Art Nouveau district.

The Central Market were contracted in the 1920s with parts from German WWI Zeppelin Hangars and is populated inside and outdoors by farmers and merchants selling local produce like vegetables, fruits, meats, cheese, bread, flowers, and so on, but also clothes etc. We bought fresh cherries and strawberries for roughly 2 Euro/kilo and in general the prices was lower than in Sweden supermarkets by between 40-70%.

After that it was time for a 10m walk to the Latgales market, which evidently has a rumor as a place where stolen goods are sold, and even if it and its vendors looked a little rough maybe 80% of the place was mostly hardware of a sort I don't imagine being stolen. The most noteworthy was otherwise 1. The piling of stuff was quite impressive at places and 2. World War 2 Nazi and Communist memorabilia. SS matchboxes anyone? When I saw the artwork being put to use for propaganda, I again understand the power the german apparatus wielded.

After some lunch, it was time to check out the area around Augusta street, as this is the place to go if the artistic style called Art Nouveau is of interest. Actually you can spot buildings with this look all over central Riga which has the highest share of this in Europe. The style can in some ways be seen as a prequel to today's environmental movement in that it was about living closer to and taking inspiration from nature, and letting this permeate your whole way of life. Agreeably, then it was mostly about aesthetics, but it is still interesting to see the parallels. Then, on the other hand, I love it for its forms. To be honest, in this perspective, the Augusta street was a bit of a anticlimax, as there are just so many other nice architecture in the city, but the Art Nouveau Store on the other hand was great.

A bit odd for me with buses using tram-like electricity

Riga indoors circus

The Black Balsam liqueur from Riga