If you are in

Riga

and you have an hour of free time, I recommend you to enjoy views of the city from a river. They are really beautiful.

You can come on board in a port. However, the best offer is waiting for you in the City canal. There are several pleasure boats moored at a small pier near Bastion Hill. One of them is more than 100 years old and operates on diesel fuel. There are also 3 exact modern copies with electric motors. The walk takes about an hour and passes through the City canal (I will tell you about it in the end) and mainly through the River Daugava (or as it is also called - the Western Dvina).

Here's a captain's seat.

There's a departure schedule, and despite the fact that there were only 4 people on board, we departed. It's interesting to know that a bus station is built on stilts.

Here's famous

Riga Central Market

with its huge pavilions. Initially these buildings were hangars for storage of airships and they were located 185 km from Riga, in the town of Vaiņode. In 1922, it was decided to move the hangars to Riga to use them as the market. In 1930, the largest indoor market in Europe has opened its doors. It is worth mentioning that a huge part of the former hangars is under the ground and it serves as warehouses and technical rooms.

We are entering the River Daugava.

The sun is going down.

The Old Town emerges from behind a bridge.

Maskavas forštate is situated behind this "skyscraper". At that moment, it was not the most prosperous district of the city.

The

Riga Radio and TV Tower

was built in 1986. It has a height of 365.8 meters. This is the third tallest building in Europe, after Ostankino Tower and the Kiev TV Tower.

Here's St. Peter's Church with a beautiful wooden dome.

This is the Riga Town Hall.

This construction is amazing.

This is the Town Hall.

Here's Riga Central Market.

It's very beautiful.

Here's Riga Cathedral, the Old Town.

Here's the Castle of the Livonian order.

Riga Cathedral looks so nice.

This is the Riga library.

Here are bridges and the TV Tower.

I really like St. Peter's Church.

Here you can see skyscrapers of the "Soviet period" and a more modern shopping center nearby.

The Old Town is left behind.

Here you can see a cable bridge and modern skyscrapers. It is good that these buildings are built on the other side and that they did not spoil the center.

Here's a port of Riga.

The bridge and skyscrapers are left behind.

This is a cargo port.

We are entering the City Canal. We are met by a yacht club.

There are many yachts, and that's clear - the sea is nearby.

We are sailing through the canal. It's time to share its history with you. The canal was formed in 1857 when it was decided to remove the protective ramparts around the Old Town. As a result, the canal with entrances to the River Daugava was formed by a partial connection of fortress and citadel moats. The canal's length is more than 3 kilometers, the average depth is about 2-3 meters.

It is noteworthy that in addition to beautiful parks and bridges, the canal passes under a shopping center, railway lines (in a tunnel) and under several large traffic arteries.

However, the main beauty, of course, is the way through amazing parks.

This boat tour was really interesting.