Entertainment

Preface

       Latvia, by European standards, is sparsely populated, and has many solitary branches on the coast of the Baltic Sea. The landscape of Latvia, which are situated further away from the sea, are varied.
       Riga, with 1 milion inhabitants, can be considered the metropolis of the Baltic region. The well preserved Old Town is worth attention. Amidst the narrow streets, warehouses from the Midle Ages, dwelling houses and numerous churces, you need just a little bit of imagination to start feeling that you have travelled back to past centuries. The numerous houses, built in Art Nouveau style, are also magnificent, their facades with ornaments and masks are unforgettable.
       On the countryside the estate complex was the centre of administrative and social life, and the buildings and castles of estate managers imparted to the Latvian landscape a certain Baroque or Classicist touch, the peasant farmtead brought elements of unique wood construction in this overall scene.
       Latvia today is country that resumes its way uphill both in cultural, economic and in any other terms .

Culture

       The roots of the most ancient culture, influenced by neither Western nor Northen Europe, can be found in the folklore. There are nearly 1,5 million Latvian folk songs ( ‘ dainas” ) which are considered to be important source of Latvian national philosopical and liteary tradition. These songs, usually four lines long. Many of these songs reflect everyday life of Latvians and echo ancient mytological and cultural phenomena. Some of them have also outspoken political or social character, which is often ironic or sarcastic.
       The tradition of singing folk songs is still alive and the knowledge of folk songs and the ability to sing them is a part of general education in Latvia.
       A phenomenon representative of the specific culture of Latvia is the General Song and Dance Festival. This aggregate of various arrangements assembling the national choirs and dance groups from all the regions of Latvia, in order to present their skills during several days and express their regional pecularities and compete amoung themselves in so called „ song wars” . Every four of five years, a grand song festival takes place on the open-air stage „ Me’zaparks”. The festival usually lasts for a week and the number of amateur singers and dancers is more than 20,000. During the final concert, there are about 20,000 singers in the grand choir. It leaves a magnificent impression.

Nature

       We can definitely assert that everyone who has visited Latvia will never forget it - not ancient Riga, which has stood on the banks of the River        Daugava for 800 years; not the white, sandy beaches; not the green forests; not the many rivers and lakes, hardly touched by civilization. Latvia is a beautiful, green land with clean air, water, and soil.
       Latvia's natural landscape beauty emerges from subtlety rather than extremes. It is the right place for tourists if you
              • enjoy bird songs, flowery meadows, and wild animals in their natural habitat and even to catch sight of a pair of white storks in their nest right next to your house or, while fishing, to watch water fowl and dragonflies dancing;
              • enjoy hunting, picking mushrooms or berries, or simply walking in the woods.
       Sandstone cliffs on the banks of the river, the lakes in the Eastern part of Latvia and the mountainous Northen part of Latvia have not yet grown into centres of tourism.
       Fortunately, plant and animal species that are protected and rare in Europe are still commonly found in Latvia. Thus, we can still hear a frogs’ choir on summer nights, spot a hedgehog in our garden, hear the call of the corncrake, old chimney, or broken tree - all of these attest to the good quality of the environment in Latvia.