Riga, Latvia

A Brief History
Riga, like it’s northern cousin Tallinn, is a fairly old city. It dates back to the 12th century and if I recollect correctly, was founded (in a significant way) by a group of merchants at the behest of the Archdiocese of the region. The actual city area has been a living area for centuries before that time, however. While Latvia was not conquered by the Danes at any point, the Teutonic Order and the Principality of Novgorod (Novgorod is actually Russia’s oldest city) both controlled and fought over it’s land. Alexander Nevsky’s defeat of the Order at the Battle of Lake Peipus in 1242 happened in Latvia and halted Teutonic expansion to the north for a full century; it also had a Russian militia defeat heavily armored and well trained Western knights, which is impressive to say the least. Later the Swedes and Polish(as part of the Polish-Lithuanian state) would both fight over the land until the Russians finally annexed it at the same time it took Estonia in the 18th century. Latvia, like Estonia and Lithuania, declared independence from Russia in 1918 during the revolution. In the same trend, they lost it again after WWII and the German then Soviet occupations. In 1991, they regained their independence from the USSR.
Riga is a fairly large city, with a population of over 700,000 people(which comprises near 30% the country’s total population). The Old Town itself is much larger than in Tallinn; it contains more businesses and residences then the latter does, however. In such, it follows the more Western European trend of having an old town that still functions as a fairly regular part of the city, though admittedly with more touristy things than normal.

The Architecture and City Feel
Interestingly enough, Riga is one of the best examples in the world of extensive German Art Nouveau architecture. Nearly the entirety of the old town and significant swathes of the city outside of what is considered “old town” are in the style as well. UNESCO considers it unparalleled anywhere else in the world. Riga seems to have suffered significantly less damage in WWII than Tallinn did, though the neglect to this style of building during the Soviet era(and their architectural style) are both quite present.
Overall, the city has a much more Western, especially German, slant to it then Tallinn did. Considering the history of the city and it’s interaction with the Teutonic Order(which is Germanic), this isn’t very surprising. The lack of significant Russian influence was more so, though.

Culture
Now not only was I only in Riga for two days but the weather during them was dreadful. Whilst it didn’t outright rain, it was overcast, windy, and chilly for the entire time barring the first night there. The first night I didn’t see much of the city, as I didn’t arrive until six in the evening from Tallinn. I did discover, however, that happy hour starts at one in the morning on a Friday night; this seems a bit ludicrous to me, but I’m not their demographic as well.
All I can truly say about the city is that it had a distinct Western and Catholic influence. It was beautifully blended with the Slavic influence from the East and their own unique Baltic culture. The Churches and more official buildings were often in a Germanic style, not Russian or Swedish. They are quite accepting of the Russians though, or at least most have accepted they must have at least some Basic Russian skills to be able to function easily in society (a large segment of the population is Russian) though the youth seems less keen on learning Russian, preferring only Lithuanian or English for foreigners.

Food & Cuisine
I didn’t go out to eat at all in Riga, surprisingly enough. The reason was partly trying to save a bit of money but more so because Riga hosts the largest open-air market in all of the Baltics. It’s absolutely massive(Eastern Market kind of massive, for you Detroiters) and features just about anything you’d want within their cuisine. There were massive open produce areas, plentiful cheese markets, butchers, and pickled items plentiful (freshly made sauerkraut is always delightful). So naturally, I vouched for getting fresh produce and making Dill Lentil soup amongst other things.
The Hare Krishnas have a restaurant in the city though; you can always go to them to eat ☺. The woman who ran the hostel seemed fairly aware of veganism as well, so I’m sure one can find some pretty good eating establishments in the city.