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Riga, the capital, sits on the Daugava River near the Baltic, with a medieval old town of cobbled squares and church spires, the House of the Blackheads, and a district of Art Nouveau buildings with masks and sculpted figures on their façades. The Central Market fills a row of old Zeppelin hangars.

Sigulda, in the Gauja National Park, has medieval castle ruins, sandstone caves, a cable car over the river valley and a bobsleigh track. Jūrmala, west of Riga, is a long beach resort of wooden villas among pines, and Rundāle Palace, south of the capital, is an eighteenth-century baroque palace with formal gardens.

Dark rye bread, smoked fish, grey peas with bacon and sklandrausis, a carrot and potato pie, are traditional dishes, and Midsummer, on 23 and 24 June, is celebrated with cheese, beer, wreaths of flowers and bonfires. Song festivals bring thousands of choirs together. Long light summer evenings are at their best on the coast, and winters are cold and snowy.