This controversial monument was designed to lionize the Red Army, but also disheartened the Latvian people.

The former Field Marshall and Minister of War to the Russian Imperial Army.

This abandoned secret city is a crumbling wonderland of Soviet ruins.

Burlesque Hospital Themed Restaurant.

The only things left in this abandoned Latvian graveyard are a mysterious stone and a ghost story.

One of the best-preserved wooden manor houses in Latvia, decorated with painted interior walls.

The Jelgava Palace holds one of the few burial places of governor’s dynasties that is open to the public.

A unique museum dedicated to the famed Soviet director and other cinema greats.

This Latvian shot factory is still used twice a year to manufacture bullets the old-fashioned way.

Rent a barrel for a personal view of where the Baltic Sea meets the Gulf of Riga.

This seaside pine grove features an exclusive watchtower that presents amazing views.

How this choice of tombstone came to be is still a mystery.

This celebration of Latvia’s freedom and independence avoided demolition over half a century of Soviet occupation.

This abandoned beacon is moving closer and closer to the sea.

This former Nazi labor camp is now a poignant memorial, complete with giant Soviet-style monuments.

This wooden recreation of a 9th century lake village looks as though it was built yesterday (which it relatively was).

Surreal works of unreal stone and metal dot the landscape of this Latvian art park.

This remote sandstone cliff has one of the richest collections of Livonian petroglyph marks.

This ornate church has survived Nazi and Soviet occupation, including a short stint as a Soviet-era gymnasium and cinema.

This statue is dedicated to the animal cosmonauts that perished during space flight experiments.

A stone marker and sculpture in the city of Riga stake a claim for the very first community Christmas tree.

A vast and unlikely aviation museum kept alive for over 50 years due to one man's tenacity.

This charming Latvian lane doubled as Baker Street on the Soviet Union’s version of Sherlock Holmes.

A small museum contains one of the largest collections of ethnic and traditional headgear in the world.