One summer in college I was selected to attend an AFS (the organization I studied abroad with in high school) volunteer conference, which happened to be in Latvia that year.
For the conference we spent a few days in the Latvian countryside. Following the conference, a number of us spent one night in Latvia's capital city, Riga. I spent about 12 hours exploring the city before my flight back to the United States.
Detailed Itinerary/Sights
With only 12(ish) hours to spend in Riga, we only had time to see a few of the city's highlights.
We arrived in the city around lunch time. After finding a hostel with openings for the night, we grabbed a quick lunch at a pancake house nearby. We then set out to explore Riga's old town. We started by walking to the The Nativity of Christ Cathedral, a beautiful orthodox church not far from the old center. On the way we passed by the Freedom Monument, a memorial that honors the soldiers who died during the Latvian War of Independence. From there we headed to the Riga Central Market, a large market and bazaar.
After the market we headed the famous House of Blackbeards. After taking a few pictures, we spent a few hours wandering down random streets and enjoying the quaint, historic feel of the old center. While exploring, we also passed by the famous St. Peter's Church.
Around 7 we met up with some other people from the conference for some traditional Latvian food.
