C5 Seminar in Daugavpils, Latvia, 11th May 2023

On the fourth day of the ERASMUS+ TEJM project we did a tour of the capital of Latvia: Riga. We took a bus all together at the hotel and in the middle of the morning we stopped at a gas station for a snack and later also to have lunch. As soon as we arrived in Riga there was a professional guide (Andrea) who showed us some of the most important monuments in the city such as the House of the Black Heads and in front there was also an Occupation museum. Walking further ahead we saw a church that it had a very interesting history, so that place had already been bombed a lot of times it had been set on fire and many other tragic events; when it was renovated the architect went up on the top of the building and opened a bottle of champagne and then said that if the glass – falling down the tower – broke into a thousand pieces it would bring luckiness (so the tower shouldn’t be destroyed anymore). When he left the building it was because it would last a thousand years so he threw the glass, but carriage arrived in the same moment the glass fell, so it only broke into two pieces and then it lasted only 2 centuries; the last time it was remodeled the architect decided to try it the same thing and the glass broke into a thousand pieces and it is still complete today.
Continuing the tour… on a corner between two streets there was a gentleman playing beautiful music with his keyboard. Further down the street there was a huge statue that said “For the homeland and for freedom” built on occasion of the Independence of Latvia (that is separated from Soviet Union since 1991.
After walking a bit, we saw the Cat House (cats are the symbol of Riga), the Cathedral of Saint Jacob, the Church of Saint Peter and the radio and television tower, which suffered Soviet attacks in 1990 and still has traces of gunfire on the outer walls.
After the guided tour we had free time until 17.30 and then we all gathered in front of the bus. We caught it and finally came back to the hotel – after a very long trip.

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