RIGA AND I...

By Nessy Shimwafeni - Riga

(/ˈRiːɡə/; Latvian: Rīga is the capital of Latvia and is home to 640,500.00 inhabitants (2019), which is a third of Latvia's population}. 

Damn, I am falling deeply in love with this City.

Remember your first kiss?

This is how I feel like...

I am first and foremost a writer and creator, and this is a space that allows me to dwell into my deepest inner creative side, to find the pieces missing to create a masterpiece (getting there). My wife, Leila, keeps on bringing the best out of me. Today we woke up to a beautiful hot day and decided to make the best out of it, and we will continue doing so until we die...

Being significantly larger than other cities of Latvia, Riga is the country's first city. 

It is also the largest city in the three Baltic states and is home to one-tenth of the three Baltic states' combined population. 

The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river, where it meets the Baltic Sea. Riga's territory covers 307.17 km2 (118.60 sq mi) and lies 1–10 m (3 ft 3 in–32 ft 10 in) above sea level, on a flat and sandy plain.

Riga was founded in 1201 and is a former Hanseatic League member.

Riga's historical centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture and 19th-century wooden architecture.

Riga was the European Capital of Culture in 2014, along with Umeå in Sweden.

Riga hosted the 2006 NATO Summit, the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, the 2006 IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, and the 2013 World Women's Curling Championship. 

It is home to the European Union's office of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC).

In 2019, Riga received over 1.8million visitors.

The city is served by Riga International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in the Baltic states. Riga is a member of Eurocities, the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC)[ and Union of Capitals of the European Union (UCEU).

Leila and I will keep exploring it since we both work from home and are not conditioned by regular work hours. The dream of all dreams for a creative person. I suggest you forget about traditional countries like France, Greece, Germany, and Italy. After the Corona Pandemic visit Latvia, Riga. You will love it.

The Art Nouveau architecture in Riga makes up roughly one-third of all the buildings in the centre of Riga, making Latvia's capital the city with the highest concentration of Art Nouveau architecture anywhere in the world.

Built during a period of rapid economic growth, most of Riga's Art Nouveau buildings date from between 1904 and 1914.

The style is most commonly represented in multi-storey apartment buildings. Stylistic influences derived not least from present-day Austria, Finland, and Germany. At the same time, the establishment of a faculty of architecture in Riga in 1869 was instrumental in providing a local cadre of architects. This included, but was not limited to, some of the first formally trained ethnic Latvian architects. As elsewhere, the Art Nouveau movement in Riga was driven by a desire to express greater individuality, local attachment, and a more rational kind of architecture than that which had dominated during the 19th century.

Stylistically, the Art Nouveau architecture of Riga can be further divided into four different stages: Eclectic, Perpendicular, National Romantic, and Neo-Classical. Catch a plane, and I will be here to welcome you to my second home.

I love it so much that we bought a home here!!!