September 14, 2006
Our stay in Riga, Latvia was short but Old Town is so photogenic, I found myself taking a lot of pictures. As with any European town the most impressive things to see are usually the churches.
We started our walking tour at the church right next to the hotel, the Dome Cathedral. The cathedral dates back to 1211 but it has been destroyed, rebuilt, and renovated so many other times that the architecture is a composite of different architectural styles including Gothic, baroque, western and pseudo-Gothic.
As we entered the cathedral, the organist was practicing for the night concerts. There are 6718 pipes with one of the pipes being 30 feet in length. What surprised me was how full the sound of the organ was. Even in such a massive, open space, the sound filled the cathedral from one end to the other.
St. Johns Church was next on the list of places to see. We did not go inside of the church, we saw it from the outside only. In case you are wondering about the aerial shots, I paid to take the lift up to the top of St. Peter’s tower which provided great views of the city.
St. Peter’s Church, one of the dominant landmarks of Riga. The tower can be seen almost from everywhere in the town. the rooster at the top is a huge weather vane used in the old days. One side was painted black, the other gold. If you worked at the port, you could tell if you needed to work that day or not based on what you saw, if it was black, the wind was blowing the wrong direction and no ships could come into the port, thus no work. The pictures at the bottom are of me in the top of the tower.
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