Mary called and said she was going to Riga. Would I like to join her? With pleasure, I immediately said, just say when. End of August so we could escape a week of intense heat. Perfect. I looked forward to a week in excellent company. There is just one thing I do not understand about Mary. Her lack of vanity. She doesn't seem to care very much how she looks as long as she is neat and clean. Of course she has the advantage of being pretty so makeup is not a necessity. But as the bloom of youth disappears, we need some help and a little colour on the face lights it up. I inflicted a lipstick on her. Even she had to admit that the result was good. I want one of my lipsticks buried with me and my eye pencil too. I couldn't possibly survive eternity without these two essentials. I know she doesn't give these matters a second thought. After each meal I swished out my lipstick and renewed it. Too polite to pass a remark I know it left her a little bewildered. She says it's a generation thing. Well perhaps.

Accommodation was comfortable but with three flights of stairs to climb. Still we are constantly being told how climbing stairs is good for us. So we did it keeping this in mind. But that flat had many advantages, too. We each had our own bedroom and bathroom and there was wifi, television, and an iron (I cannot live without one), lots of light and enough room for 12 people so we did not bump into each other.  It was in an Art Nouveau block of flats. Just a handful of them. Renovated these huge flats could be turned into gold once tourism really picks up.

Art Nouveau architecture in Riga makes up roughly one third of all buildings in the centre of the town. It is an Art Nouveau mecca and the Latvian capital is the city with the highest concentration of Art Nouveau architecture anywhere in the world. I used to think it was Vienna but it isn't.

Our flat was on a main boulevard and within walking distance of what Mary had planned for us to see.  Perfect.

It was quiet throughout the day and night. No throbbing discotheque sometimes sounding like a washing machine churning away, with the final spin not until gone midnight. Don't laugh. It has happened before. What a nightmare. To take off for some peace only to find that the noise in the street is worse than what you have to endure at home.

Latvia has a complicated history and a painful one, too. Due to the russification of the USSR, Russians who currently make up 25 percent of Latvia's population now outnumber Latvians in Riga. Their presence is a continuing bone of contention. Thousands of Latvians  were sent to Siberia during and after World War II never to be heard of again. And there was a huge, engineered influx of Russian speakers from the USSR. According to the Berlitz Riga pocket guide, "The Soviets deliberately attempted to dilute the native population to quell resistance, and thousands of new jobs were solely offered to immigrants from other republics within the Soviet Union."

 Use of the Latvian language was discouraged in public life and Latvians essentially became second class citizens.

Fortunately they are willing to put their past behind them and joined the EU in 2004.

I must mention the Nazi invasion in 1940 and in the three years of German occupation Latvian Jewery was all but destroyed. We visited the Jewish Museum and paid our respects to the dead. Man's inhumanity to man is beyond belief.

One of the things which impressed us was the price and quality of the restaurants. A generous helping of fresh cod with vegetables, beautifully presented, costs no more than Euros 10. The place is teeming with restaurants, bars, cafés and nightclubs. The ambience in the restos is generally very pleasant with flourishing flower pots and heaters if you are eating outside. There is style and effort everywhere including the service. Yes, no soulless cafés or restaurants where the absence of ambience is at once noticeable.  We went to Marsaxlokk recently. A sea of formica tables on the waterfront. Nothing to distinguish one eaterie from another. And certainly not a flower pot in sight.

With both of us being keen foodies Mary had planned a visit to the Central Market.  Four of the five pavilions that once served as zeppelin hangers during World War I are now brimming with food of every kind.

We bought Salmon caviar for our breakfast and for our friends. It is delicious and not salty like the small pots of pink roe you can buy here. I enjoyed sprats too. A pity that flying Ryanair means you are limited as to what you can carry back. A year's supply would have suited me fine.

We managed last minute tickets to the Ballet, Bolero, and at Euros 18 each we feasted our eyes and ears on a top class performance with music by Mussorgsky and Ravel.

Mussorgsky's Pictures at an exhibition were a range of dance shorts by a selection of choreographers, with each piece unique. Very imaginative.

Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe came next, elegant and surreal, expressing mystery as it delves into the innermost thoughts of lovers.  Frustration, bewilderment and longing are expressed through fluid, graceful movements. Very beautiful.

Perhaps it was Ravel's Bolero which stole the show. The choreographer chose a fiery red for the costumes of his dancers - passion in an industrial wilderness. This was very powerful visually and with Ravel's music there was certainly no chance of anyone in the huge audience going to sleep.

I have never seen so many male ballet dancers in one evening before. Certainly a performance to remember.

More music at the Riga Cathedral, the largest place of worship in the Baltics, with walls two metres thick.  It also has one of the biggest organs in Europe and was such a marvel in its day that Franz Liszt composed a piece of music in its honour. The female organist played Bach's Prelude in E-flat Major followed by two pieces by composers who were new to me: Charles-Marie Widor and Louis Vierne. This is where Wikepedia and You Tube come in handy. Both composers are French and Louis Vierne who had the disadvantage of cataracts since he was very young and was 'legally blind' started off as assistant to Widor. We loved both their compositions and I have been playing them on You Tube every since.

Riga is an oasis of green with many parks - clean, relaxed and well landscaped. I know, I know they have plenty of both water and space. And a small population. No refugees. But one also notices a certain pride. Hardly a paper on the floor anywhere. They are a quiet people and after noisy Malta the stillness was much appreciated.

Forget about wearing heels, Louboutin or otherwise.  Heels are a perilous platform and to be avoided as so many streets are cobbled.

In the dress stakes it was largely anoraks.  We were very lucky with the weather as it was pleasantly sunny with temperatures hovering around 23C.  A light duvet was needed at night and there were plenty of those in the flat.

Yes, we were both smitten by Riga and I would certainly recommend a holiday there before it takes off as another Prague. I hope to go again to take another look round. We saw plenty, thanks to Mary's planning but here is plenty we haven't seen.

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Put red book cover here please.  

I had not been sent the cover of Obscenity & The Arts which I wrote about last week, so here it is.     

http://pariahpress.com/product/obscenityandthearts