Riga Photo Colada

[Vecais Sakarnis]

As you know, Pina Colada is a popular Caribbean cocktail. This thread will be my photo cocktail of Riga. I decided to put on hold my daily conceptual thread about Riga, I will return to it when I will be sick for strict order and management again. Now I will try something opposite - will post pics in chaotic order, trying to mix up the most different places/photos. You will never know what comes up next - relax and enjoy Riga in all it's diversity!

1. Three art lovers in Old Town



2. A lonely man on the vastness of Ķīšezers lake



3. Another lonely man waiting for his catch in Daugava river...



4. Lantern on Mūrnieku street - a small paradise in otherwise quite neglected area



5. Our "Golden bridge" (Southern bridge) - usually we say it with bitter, because of the costly construction of the bridge and some 40 mio EUR drain to corrupt person's pockets. But in this pic it really looks like it was made of gold



6. Okay, it's actually orange



7. Armenian minority church in Maskavas district



8. Lady with camera wandering around Riga Old Town and waiting for sun to appear. Yeah, I think every photographer knows what it means - to long for at least a couple of sunbeams in a cloudy day, when you want to take a good shot of something.



9. Industrial brutality - Riga commercial port. In B&W it looks like a pic from Soviet times.



10. The same in colours



11. Urban kitten



12. The most interesting and creative advertisement I have seen in Riga!



13. A bit unusual appartment buildings in Maskavas district - like them.



14. Riga city life



15. Brīvības street. The historical building in the centre associates with sad memories for Latvians - it housed local KGB headoffices in Soviet times.


16. This exhibition hall sign I found on the underground floor of one shopping passage in Riga Old Town.



17. Just a building on Valdemāra street



18. ...and it's neighbour



19. Are there parallel universes existing??

[tonyssa]

Nice city!

[IllyaDe]

amazing shots

[christos-greece]

Awesome photos from Riga

[Johnny Blade]

Great photographs of Riga!

[Vecais Sakarnis]

Made a little lottery on my pc, by searching my picture archive by numbers which before I rolled on dice - 2,5,8. From given pics chose some of those which as far as I remember I haven't showed in any of my threads.

20. Statue in Riga Old Town courtyard - a priviliged one, with roof over it's head.



21. Modern building of Riga port authority which despite of location in the very centre, is quite unknown even for locals.



22. Old Town building entrance which looks like designed by someone who was "high" at the moment



23. Early spring comes with first sunny days, wood-notes and... first motorcyclists in the city streets.



24. A small cosy building on Lāčplēša street.



25. Far away, on the city suburbs, a Soviet time industrial building has been turned into quite decent looking modern offices centre. By the way, rebuilding of Soviet time industrial facilities/warehouses to modern offices has been very popular trend in Riga in last years. Along with the huuge historical centre floor space, it is the main explanation of why Riga hasn't built many new office buildings and highrises.



26. Rooftops of Maskavas forštate.

[Liwwadden]

Great shots. Keep 'em coming!

[bleetz]

Thanks for the photos.

Riga is a stunning city. I absolutely love its inter-war architecture that can be rivalled by very few cities in Europe. Riga would undoubtedly be one of the greatest metropolises in Europe by now just like it was back in inter-war, if it wasn't for our Soviet friends.

[rstu921]

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[Vecais Sakarnis]

27. Krasta street expressway which leads from the centre to city's southern suburbs. This is a place some 5 km from centre, rather extensively built-up area with many different kind of shopping malls, fast food restaurants on road sides. On the right side you see "Lido" eating & entertainment complex which is a really nice place.



28. Decadence in Āgenskalns district



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30. The same Old town patio with luxurious scuplture.



31. Sunset over railway between Krasta and Dārzciems districts in southern Riga.



32. This entrance in Silent centre seems so magical - beautiful, but at the same time lonely and sad.



33. This is a little PR trick. One could think the bar stands here since 1752. The bar itself is very new - it was opened in 2007. Since 1752 - it regards to Riga Black balsam - then the drink was first time mentioned in written sources.



34. Functionalism from interwar period is another addition to Riga Old Town's architectural diversity.



35. My good old shot "snake" which won in SSC Urban photo contest



36. Spring colours in Vērmaņdārzs park, besides Latvia University building.



37. Simpler building in Silent centre district



38. 2 trams meeting one another in Miera street



39. The black building



40. Building on Brīvības street.



41.Old Town's triangles



42. Barona street's eminence

[Vecais Sakarnis]

43. Urban idyll - highrises, cranes, bridge pillar and airplane.



44. "Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth. Neo: What truth? Spoon boy: There is no spoon. Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself."



45. Mīlgrāvis canal at Vecmīlgrāvis district (10 km to north from centre) is a ship paradise - the largest ship repair&building factory on the coasts of Baltic sea is located there (at least they say so).



46. One more pic from this amazing place (we will definitely return there again).



47. At Stalin times, architecture in Soviet Union wasn't reduced to simple blocks yet. It had some claims to royalty. These are the lanterns at VEF Culture Palace, built in 50ies.



48. Childrens playing football in Maskavas park (Moscow park) in Maskavas forštate suburb aka "Maskačka". By the way, while this is "Moscow park" in Riga, there is a "Riga park" in Moscow too - opened this year.



49. One more shot from Maskavas district, some 1 km away. It seems, basketball is not so beloved among the locals



50. Take a deep breath of this beauty, before we leave to some industrial places



51. Far away, in the southern outskirts of the city, there is located Šķirotava - a huuge industrial/warehouse district. I found the area absolutely amazing. The most active industries there are wood-processing. This facility, located technically outside Riga city borders, is also something related to woodworking.



52. "Flammable! Don't smoke!"



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54. Logistic parks and warehouses fights hardly with industrial objects to rule the place - and it seems they wins.



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56. Stairways to heaven...



57. It looks like somewhere in deep countryside, doesn't it?



58. Back to the turmoil of Riga centre...



59. Interesting "monster" building on Birznieka-Upīša street.



60. And a very different one not far away - wooden manor house on Visvalža street (you can find a beautiful description of it in Gatis' home page: www.ambermarks.com)



61. Grīziņkalns is a part of centre, where many people still have wood heating. This year, not all could afford to buy a firewood for the winter - it was reported on TV news. This man can call himself lucky - already in August he carried firewood into his basement.



62. A piece of city centre from above.



63. Traffic tunnel below Riga's railway bed. Such places are robber's paradise in every city, I think.



64. In this picture you can see that even Akmens bridge - shortest, oldest and seemingly "most stable" of Riga bridges - looks crooked in tele-zoom. So, no worries about Southern bridge.



65. "Tele 2" fake meteorite was just a trifle. Look what "Osram" have done - they've made the sun to look like an electric bulb!



66. Evening at the river

[Vecais Sakarnis]

67. Starting with the most actual picture - 11th November is triumph day in Latvia history - in 1919, Latvians defeated Bermont's army (German and Russian united forces) in Riga and saved independence of Latvia (country was proclaimed just year ago). Every 11th November there is a tradition to come and leave candles at Riga castle wall. When I went around there, it has just started - these are just first people and candles, later the wall was full with candles and the square full with people.



68. Āgenskalns' architectural mosaique



69. Office building at Salu bridge



70. Sip a cup of coffee while observing Riga city life through window - many cafes in centre offers you such desirable option.



71. Kvass drinking in hot summer days is still quite popular in Riga, although in most cases it tastes watery. There are several kvass selling points in Central market when it's hot outside, and they do well - buyers comes almost non-stop.



72.



73. April morning sky over Southern highway construction field...



74. Quite a spooky place in Distant centre (one could shoot some horror movie there in full moon nights) - a cemetery with historical monuments, which are neglected now and marked with Satanic symbols.



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77. Return to Riga Central Market - this is bread pavillion.



78. Lithuanian and Latvian strawberries side by side. Interesting that there is written "local" at the Lithuanian strawberries, but not at Latvian ones.



79. At the parliament building



80. Alice in Wonderland



81. Another glass reflections (at the Central station)



82. Place in Old Town where Cinema Museum is located



83. Claustrophobia



84. Art Nouveau



85. Backside of Orthodox church



86. Brīvības street offers many great urban views - this is from place some 3 km from Old Town, looking back to central core



87. Some of Riga centre courtyards:



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93. Over entrance of cinema "Riga"



94. Some randomly chosen separate buildings in different places of Riga centre



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99. These guys play nice music



100. June - the month of graduates. After the ceremony, graduates takes a chance to be photographed at the entrance of University of Latvia central building and also to descend the main stairs, because there is a belief that you shouldn't do it if you're still studying in the university - because then you won't finish it. I can confirm, that this is not true - as I descended the stairs when still studied in 2nd year, and despite of it - graduated



101.



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103. The Urban bird

[void0]

This reminds me St.Petersburg

[Andre_idol]

Originally Posted by Vecais Sakarnis

That´s a beautiful photo!

Keep them coming!
They´re wonderful, such as your descriptions

[ABC LV]

Originally Posted by Vecais Sakarnis

78. Lithuanian and Latvian strawberries side by side. Interesting that there is written "local" at the Lithuanian strawberries, but not at Latvian ones.

Our strawberries are larger

Originally Posted by Vecais Sakarnis

4

62. A piece of city centre from above.

From what place did you took this photo? And what is that concrete block on the top of building which looks like a Riga art museum?

[Vecais Sakarnis]

Originally Posted by ABC LV

From what place did you took this photo? And what is that concrete block on the top of building which looks like a Riga art museum?

It is tele-zoom photo taken from Alberta hotel open-air terrace. That concrete block - it seems chimney to me.

[Vecais Sakarnis]

104. Railway bridge since it's lightened, has become one of the most (if not the most) attractive features of Riga at night!



105.



106. Ride with a small ship on Daugava has became quite popular in Riga. If frankly, not always it's very safe - there was a case this summer, when one of those ships impacted into Akmens bridge pier. Captain was just drunk Stewardesses get off the board before the ride started, passsengers didn't suspected anything and stayed. Luckily, noone suffered seriously.



107. Why banks always like to play with clocks? Maybe it's because "time is money"? Here one Hansabanka entrance in Riga centre...



108. And here Parex bank entrance some quarters farther. Both banks have experienced serious changes - Hansabanka now is called Swedbank, but Parex from private bank has became state bank (and almost submerged Latvia's economy).



109. Something of commieblockish brutality



110. This guy on the opposite side of Daugava river to centre counts Riga church towers... Not an easy task, really.



111. Did you know there is a piece of Berlin wall in Riga? At least most of Rigans don't know it although it's located in the very centre. Recently (in regard to 20th anniversary since deconstruction of Berlin wall) in one TV broadcast people were asked on the streets, and noone knew.



112. Omg, how I would like to visit all those small towers of Riga centre buildings and check the views from there! This one = unusual tower, located not on the corner of building but in the middle of it, it's on Tērbatas street.



113. Balconies in Silent centre



114. 2 skylines - clouds competes with city's suburban highrises.

[Seattlelife]

This makes me want to visit Riga. I loved all these photos, especially the wooden manor! This city seems very interesting at street level for an urban photographer.

[Vecais Sakarnis]

Originally Posted by Seattlelife

This makes me want to visit Riga. I loved all these photos, especially the wooden manor! This city seems very interesting at street level for an urban photographer.

Yeah, although Riga hasn't many huge skyscrapers and also has rather low building density outside centre, it has very strong and unique urban character, the feeling of the place. Riga is a city with soul... And those wooden manor houses are many more in Riga, see Gatis' page if you're interested! And I will try to show them in some of my on-going Riga threads as well.