Riga's Art Nouveau Museum

Riga has a great art nouveau museum, situated in one of the architect's houses, on one of its more formidable art nouveau streets. Its chief draw, apart from providing a wealth of information concerning the movement in Riga, is its furnishings, all of which are from the period. They are not specific to the house, however, but gathered from various places. In the Russian occupation, art nouveau would have been considered the height of decadence (definitely!) and certainly not prized. I'll just let the pix speak for themselves. The museum has a great website, too, replete with said information, its own narrative tour of the house, and also includes several different walking tours of the city's art nouveau districts. And the 30 minute or so video on Riga art nouveau, shown in the basement, is a must-see. Pretty much everything in English, too.

The museum is on the lowest two floors of this building, on Alberta
iela (street); it was designed by Konstantins Peksens, one of the
leading architects

The dress-up room

Love these juxtapostions

The building's very impressive central staircase

Riga's Central Market

Reputedly Europe's largest city market--a claim I wouldn't dispute--it can be seen from outer space. (See illustration.) It was in our path as we walked almost daily to the center of the old city, so we got to know it reasonably well. In addition to the myriad outdoor pavilions, covered and uncovered, and numerous shops and stands in smaller ancillary buildings, the central feature of Riga's Central Market is its four WWI Zeppelin hangars, dismantled and moved here. There's one each for meat, seafood, fruits and veggies, and clothing/housewares/etc. The closest comparison that comes to mind, at least in terms of size, is Istanbul's Grand Bazaar.

The four Zeppelin hangars are in the center of the photo

Thus

Fishing store district

Latvians are fairly obsessive about berries; here we saw some of
the best and cheapest ever; and ate our share of the cherries

Software

Inside the meat hangar

What Jack Spratt's wife could eat

Grilled, compressed chicken; de-boned?

Fashion district

Vegematic guy

Upstairs in some of the buildings

Very international

Amber jewelry everywhere

Now in the seafood hangar; much of it smoked...

Or dried; or both

Fascinating place

On To Riga

After Ghent, Flixbus got us back to Paris and the CDG Marriott,and then next morning, Lufthansa got us first to Frankfurt and then to Riga, the capital of Latvia, and a major art nouveau destination. We were a week or so in Riga, doing some very slow tourism and architectural appreciation. Below are some initial scenes from the old city.

Our hotel, the Hanza, 52 euros/night including a hot breakfast

Nearby church; all near the Academy of Sciences,
Central Market, perhaps a 15 minute walk to the center 
of the old town

Interesting sculpture all over

Much new architecture across the river; sticking to the old town, we never
got to it; the river is the Daugava; the so-called Vikings used it to connect
with the Dnieper (with a few portages), then the Black Sea, then
Constantinople, and then the Mediterranean

Now in the old town, the Blackhead guild houses; destroyed in
WWII but reconstructed in the 90s

Us, there

Street scene

Another town of spires

An deco right downtown

A pizza machine right outside the Rimi supermarket; 3 minutes from
flour and water to a finished pizza; 6 euros

We had to try it...but I botched the video; oh well;
Vicki said it was better than the "pizzas" at guest-houses
in Nepal

The Russian occupation era Academy of Sciences;

socialist realism; a block from our hotel

The Freedom Monument, erected in the 20s during Latvia's
brief period of independence...then the Germans came,
then the Russians...

Nearby street scene

Love-lock bridge

A channel of the Daugava runs in a beautiful city park in the
middle of the old town

Widespread sentiment; the Russian occupation was not popular
here--where was it popular?!--Russia is Latvia's neighbor to the east,
and probably is in Putin's plans as soon as he's finished with the
Ukraine; especially if Trump is elected

Riga is on the Gulf of Riga, an off-shoot of the Baltic; and it rains
a lot; here, a double rainbow seen from the window of our hotel
room

A struggle for us: nearly all of the old town is paved with these
large cobblestones; tricky footing at every step

Wall displaying all of Latvia's towns; or possibly all
its beers or vodkas

Ye olde powder magazine, a rarity since most of them
got blown up after tobacco arrived from the New World