Beautiful public park off the beaten path and away from tourists.

3,000 market stands in five former Zeppelin hangars.

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

The reconstruction of this prominent building fulfilled a long-written command.

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

This enigmatic artifact remained buried in a churchyard for years.

The oldest housing complex in Riga is a mini timeline of architectural trends.

A black cat protests the City Guild in Riga's Old Town.

Medical museum that houses most notably the taxidermied remains of Vladimir Demikhov's famous two-headed dog experiment.

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

A former Latvian headquarters of the brutal KGB secret police is now open as a grim reminder of their atrocities.

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

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

This ducal residence was once home to a future Russian empress and a French king in exile.

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

Mysterious heaps of stones dot these otherworldly woods.

Spend the night in 1920s Latvia in this historic recreation and movie set.

Just another terrifying garden filled with hundreds of endlessly smiling doll people.

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

These crumbling Latvian forts make for some haunting seaside ruins.

Guests become prisoners on a visit to Latvian prison.

The mile-long pier stretches from a ruined fortress out into the Baltic.

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

The widest waterfall in Europe is a natural wonder and one of the only places where fish are caught in the air.