Last year over Christmas, I was in Israel having the time of my life, worry-free. This year looks…
Times visited: 2
Cities visited: Riga
Towns and villages visited: Sigulda and Turaida
UNESCO sites visited: 1/3
Latvia was the first of the Baltic countries I visited, and also the first destination for what would become my mum’s and my annual mother-daughter trip tradition.
We spent a weekend in Riga, Latvia’s charming capital, in the middle of January in 2015 – an unusual time to visit, but it turned out to be a magical choice. One of the days we ventured into central Latvia, to a hilly region known as Latvian Switzerland. While Latvia doesn’t have true mountains – the highest point is just 311,5 meters above sea level – this area was delightfully rugged and blanketed in fresh snow. The view from Turaida Castle, overlooking a snow-covered Gauja National Park, was truly breathtaking and remains one of my most vivid memories from that trip.
Nearly five years later, in December 2019, I returned to Latvia, though just briefly. On my way home from Israel, I had a seven-hour stopover in Riga. Since my mum and I had already done plenty of sightseeing back in 2015, I chose to spend my short visit wandering through the city’s three cozy Christmas markets instead. I hadn’t celebrated Christmas that year, so soaking up the festive spirit in cozy Riga felt like a little gift in itself.