Art Noveau Riga

Riga is famous for its beautiful old city with buildings dating back to the 15th century. However, during the 19th and early 20th century Riga was a booming and rapidly expanding city and all the fashionably architecture of the time found a home here. In particular, Latvians took to Art Noveau with great enthusiasm while at the same time incorporating Latvian motifs and styles.

There are not just a few buildings in the Art Noveau style but dozens of them in the suburbs just north of the old town. Many are being restored, but many many more are in desperate need of restoration.

Messing around in boats

In those touristy cities with water, the usual sightseeing boat trip is by a glass roofed boat crammed with people. In Riga they have opted for the opposite. Here the trip is on tiny old wooden river boats that take no more than 20 people at a squeeze. As this is the end of the tourist season, there were just 10 people on the boat, The Darling (built in 1907).  The hour long trip followed the old city moat and then out on to the wide Daugava River.

A night at the ballet.

I have never been one for high culture and it is a very, very long time since I have been to a ballet. So when my Latvian friend Valdis suggested we go to the ballet, I was distinctly disinterested. I had never heard of this ballet Bajadere or the composer and besides it was 6pm and the ballet started at 7pm. On the other hand the tickets were just 7 Euro if you booked on line so what the hell, lets go. Frantically we booked the tickets, had the hotel print them out and then raced like mad men to the opera house with no time to change into any clothes resembling 'ballet wear'.

Built in 1863 the Opera House is home to the Latvian Ballet Company, the Opera Company and the National Orchestra and all three have good reputations (Richard Wagner was musical director at one point). The three organisations run a series of concerts simultaneously so that you can go to something different every night and being relatively cheap, the series attracts high culture fans from all over Europe, Germany in particular.

The building is beautiful and being relatively small, all the seats are close to the stage. The ballet in question was Die Bajadere composed by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kalmana and first performed in 1921. The story was puerile and silly in the extreme and while I know the story line is not supposed to matter, a vaguely adult story line would help.

Performed in three parts over three hours, it wasn't too bad with a huge cast maintaining interest. In one act alone there were 30 ballerinas in white tutus on stage at the same time. Each part was just 45 minutes long so just when I was beginning to wriggle in my seat and to weary of pointy toed dancing, there was a break of 15 minutes when you could scull a couple of glasses of wine before the next act.

While I can wait a long time before I see another ballet I was glad I went.  The following day I happened to be speaking to a Scottish woman who had also been to the ballet and knew what she was talking about  - according to her the performance was excellent.

Once upon a time....

Once upon a time there lived a beautiful princess (what princess isn't beautiful apart from Princess Fiona in Shrek and even she has a choice) who was locked away by her father on top of a glass mountain. So slippery was the glass that it prevented anyone getting near the princess. One prince on his horse made it part way up but slid back down, with the same happening to a second prince. Finally a poor, but handsome prince on a magic horse made it to the top and married the princess.

The newly opened National Library of Latvia is inspired by this fairytale. The whole building is the glass mountain with the princess represented by the crown shaped building on the top while the three princes are the triangular shaped outcrops on the long side of the building.

Now nicked names the Castle of Light, the inside of the building is hollow and from the bottom of the atrium the view is of six stories of books.

Let them eat cake

Latvians understand the basic principle of beating sugar with butter and have fabulous cakes  - not sickly sweet but hugely rich and calorific. Perfect. Here I am chomping through the Latvian version of strudel with not a skerrick of healthy apple to be seen.  

Some may wish....

No, not a New Zealand First plot to get rid of John Key, but the name of a restaurant in Riga.

Everyone should have one....

Every Soviet occupied country seems to have a version of this building and Riga is no exception.  Usually labeled as a 'gift from the people of Soviet Russia', they all follow the same design, though oddly the architects of this one were all Latvians (no doubt doing as they were expected). Unlike the Moscow University or the Palace of Culture in Warsaw, the Academy of Sciences in Riga is more modest in size and actually not unattractive. The smaller scale highlights the handsome coloured stone and the stylish decorations are more noticeable.

Of course there is a great view from the top, though on the day I was there it was quite cold and I had it to myself.















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New and old books

Love this sign outside a small bookshop in Riga, Latvia (I have only just read Catcher In the Rye).

Windmills in Spain

                                                  Don Quixote missed this one.

                                                                But he got this one.

Castles in Spain

Sitting high on a hill above Palma is the small 13th century Bellver Castle, one of the very few surviving round castles. While being round makes it unique and the view over the bay is worth the uphill walk, the most outstanding feature is the solitary tower that stands along side the castle. If you ever wondered what Rupunzel's tower looked like wonder no more - it is. The tower rises from the dry moat that surrounds the castle with just a few windows beginning half way up. The only access (apart from Rupunzel's hair) is via a narrow bridge from the roof of the castle. Until the advent of cannon, this must have been impregnable.

Gaudi gets around

Gaudi is so closely associated with Barcelona that it is a surprise when his work turns up else where. Early in the 20th century the church authorities let him lose on the 13th century Palma cathedral, where amongst other things he created this central altar piece.

Like pulling teeth

This dental clinic is located in a fine old Art Noveau building in central Palma. I am assuming the toothless and very upset sea monster was part of the building long before the dentist moved in.

Is the dentist a distant and dodgy relative of our PM??

Trees

In the heart of Palma is a stunning old olive tree. The sign by the tree was distinctly unhelpful only stating that the tree was very old which anyone could see by looking.

In New Zealand, silver poplar trees are considered a menace and a weed, but here in Spain they actually make a really beautiful street tree. Obviously they trim the tree and some how keep it from suckering, but the silver leaves and white bark is exceptionally attractive.

 And while on the subject of trees this stainless steel olive tree is an outstanding street sculpture

Treno De Soller

One of the highlights of Mallorca is the train to Soller, a small town near the coast north of Palma. The line cuts through rugged mountains and was built in 1912 to bring citrus fruit from Soller to the port. The fame of the train is such that there was a movie set on the train and more recently a musical. No longer carrying freight, the train, carriages and stations have been meticulously preserved and maintained and now the trip now attracts thousands of tourists.

Soller itself is a pretty town with an ancient church and lovely old square and if that is not enough old wooden trams link the town to the port about 10kms away which has a number of small pleasant beaches.

Soller port tram.