Riga

A port city of close to a million inhabitants, Riga is the most visibly prosperous of the Baltic capitals, and its superb architecture reflects the fact that for centuries it has been an important and strategic city. Its medieval core is a wonderful place to explore on foot, but there are two other areas that definitely shouldn’t be missed. 

In and around Elizabetes Street, Riga has the greatest concentration of art nouveau buildings in Europe, and these marvelous old houses (built in both the sinuous, floral French style and the more geometric Germanic Jugendstil) are breathtaking for their elegance and architectural wit. The other must-see is the city’s main market, which occupies a complex of four huge concrete-and-steel barrel-vaulted hangars, originally built in the 1920s to house Zeppelin airships. Each pavilion specializes in a different kind of food  -- smoked fish, dairy and so forth -- and the visitor has the impression of being surrounded by the world’s largest delicatessen.