Why Dainu Skapis matters (and why you should go) Riga is full of grand façades and river views, yet one of the country’s most meaningful cultural treasures sits quietly inside the National Library of Latvia—a handsome wooden cabinet called Dainu Skapis (literally, “the Song Cabinet”). It holds hundreds of thousands of tiny paper slips with Latvian folk songs (dainas) and […]
Why it belongs on your Latvia list If you want wild nature without long transfers, the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve (Ziemeļvidzemes biosfēras rezervāts) is an excellent choice. It protects a mosaic of coastline, dunes, bogs, rivers, forests and sandstone outcropswhile supporting communities that live and work there. Moreover, it is Latvia’s only UNESCO biosphere reserve, which means conservation and […]
Why the Struve Geodetic Arc belongs on your Latvia itinerary If you like your sightseeing with a dose of brainy backstory, the Struve Geodetic Arc is perfect. It’s not a single building; rather, it’s a chain of measured points running over 2,800 km from the Arctic to the Black Sea. Between 1816 and 1855, astronomer‑geodesist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve (with collaborators) used […]