Excursion to seaside resort town Jurmala
Jurmala, a resort town possessing 150-year-old resort traditions, occupies approximately one-tenth part of the coastal line. Jurmala is the place for a city dweller tired of life to reacquire the feeling of being the Nature`s child. Here fresh sea wind will fill people`s lungs and make them dizzy with the smell of pines, the eyes will rest in the blue of the sea, the feet will sink in the soft golden sand…Now, after the 50-year-long isolation again various generations from various countries may enjoy the special gentle charm, curative waters and mud baths of Jurmala… Jurmala with its romantic wooden houses in art nouveau (Jugendstil), its spacious beaches, forests, and calmly flowing Lielupe river is especially attractive in the modern world of standards, for it has not lost its singularity.
Excursion to open Air Ethnographical Museum
Located at a distance of 14 km from the center of Riga on the banks of the picturesque Lake Jugla. The museum was started in 1924 and now it is one of the oldest open air museums in Europe. Old houses, household articles of peasants, fishermen and craftsmen have been brought there from all regions of Latvia. There is even an inn, a mill and several churches. In the exhibition hall you can find exhibitions of applied art. The museum has 107 buildings on its territory all in all (about 100 ha).
Tour to Rundale Palace
Rundale Palace, the most magnificent masterpiece of baroque architecture in the Baltic States, lies at a distance of 70 km from Riga. It was built in the first part of the 18th century by the Italian architect F. B. Rastrelli, the baroque genius from Italy who created many of St. Petersburg`s finest buildings including the Winter Palace. The professionally renovated palace interiors are decorated with authentic 18th cent. furniture, paintings and china. The most impressive are the Golden Hall, the White Hall, and the bedroom of the Duke of Courland Johan Ernst Biron. The palace boasts a beautiful French-style park.
Visit to Secret Soviet Bunker and animal Park in Ligatne
Forest animals found on the Līgatne nature trails are brought from different places in Latvia. These are young animals that were either wounded when found or domesticated and which cannot survive without human care and are unable to find food themselves.
Within the territory of the rehabilitation centre `Līgatne`, a well-equipped Soviet bunker is located 9 metres underground which was declassified only in 2003. It was constructed in the 1980s for the needs of the political and power elite - for governing the state in the case of a nuclear war. The bunker was intended as the secret hiding place for the first secretaries of the Soviet Communist Party - comrades Voss and Pugo. It was one of the strategically important sites in Soviet Latvia in case of a nuclear war. The bunker is a strong autonomous economic structure with all the necessities and the most modern equipment of the time. The original underground equipment has been preserved up to the present in its entirety. A canteen with a typical menu from the Soviet era is open to visitors.
Excursion to Siguida and Turaida
Sigulda, often called the Latvian Switzerland, is located about 50 km from Riga in the Gauja River valley. Sigulda is situated in the Gauja National Park and is known as the most popular tourist and leisure destination as well as a famous winter sports resort in Latvia because of its bob-sleigh track and the down-hill skiing routes. Experience a genuine whiff of the Middle Ages, a time of romantic legends, castles and heroic figures, visiting the ruins of the 13th cent. Crusader Castle and the 19th cent. Kropotkin‟s Palace in the outskirts of Sigulda. By coach you will travel down into the river valley, enjoy the landscape and the walk to the sandstone grottoes on the ancient river bank.
Riga City by foot (3 hours)
During the walking part of the tour you will enjoy the beauty of the ancient hanseatic city, while strolling through the cobble-stone, picturesque streets of the Old Town. In Old Riga you will see the Dome Cathedral, the Church of St. Peter, the old Guild Houses, the Swedish Gate, the architectural ensemble Three Brothers, St. Jacob‟s Church, the Parliament House, Old Riga Castle, and view the many wonderfully restored buildings, now housing cozy restaurants, cafes, bars and souvenir shops.
Tour to central Market by foot ( 2 hours )
Riga Central Market is situated in the heart of Riga, a few hundred meters from Old Town on the banks of the River Daugava, next to Riga International Bus Terminal and Central Railway Station. It is not only one of the largest marketplaces in Eastern Europe in area, but also one of the most visited, as 80,000-100,000 people shop there per day on the average. Architecturally-imposing food pavilions, built in the 1920s, are Riga Central Market‟s calling card. Originally used as military airship hangars, they were later transformed into market venues. Riga Central Market is unique not only with its pavilions but also with its old warehouses or the so-called spikeri (from German Sp icher), which have now been turned into a hip arts&entertainment quarter.
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