Latvia, a country located in northeastern Europe on the Baltic Sea, is famous for many different reasons. From beautiful landscapes to rich culture and history, Latvia has a lot to offer to tourists and residents alike. As well as sports and local folklore, as well as baking home-made bread and producing your own cold meats.
Climate
Latvia’s climate is temperate, transitional with maritime features on the Courland Peninsula and more continental in the east. The months when it is the warmest in Latvia are July, August, June. The coldest months are January, February and December. If you are planning a vacation during our Polish holidays, you may be interested in the fact that the highest recorded temperatures in July in Latvia are 22 degrees C, in August the thermometers indicate 21 degrees C. In September, the thermometers indicate about 16 degrees C. And the lowest temperature in January is 0°C.
Location
Location Latvia – The Republic of Latvia is a unitary state in Northern Europe, one of the Baltic countries, located for the most part in the Dvina basin. Latvia borders Estonia to the north, Russia and Belarus to the east, and Lithuania to the south.
Capital
Riga is a dynamic city that impresses visitors with its character and friendly atmosphere. The biggest attraction is the old town: bourgeois tenement houses, merchant guild buildings, remains of defensive walls and narrow cobbled streets. It is worth taking a look at Riga Gothic and Art Nouveau, visiting the Lutheran cathedral and seeing the famous organ.
Beaches
Jurmala Beach
Latvia, a country with stunning natural landscapes. One of its most notable features is its extensive coastline, which is home to numerous beautiful beaches:
– Jurmala, known for its cleanliness and fine sand, and its unique beach areas that are dedicated to different groups of people.
– Liepaja is another best beach, offering a unique experience of hunting for amber pebbles.
– Saulkrasti is known for its White Dune and its warm and sunny climate.
– Ventspils is a popular destination for tourists and locals alike, boasting clean white sand and a Blue Flag award for its pristine conditions.
– Vecaki Beach is an idyllic paradise for locals and tourists looking for peace and relaxation, with a separate section dedicated to sunbathing and nude swimming.
Forests
More than half of Latvia’s territory is covered with forest, so Latvia is a very green place. Locals love to pick mushrooms and berries, and in the middle of summer, young couples jump into the forest, looking for the mythical flowering fern. There is no such plant, but the search continues .
Local Songs
With over a million folk songs, Latvians love to sing. You can catch over 10,000 of them on stage at one time at song festivals, and opera stars such as Inese Galante, Elīna Garanča, Aleksandrs Antoņenko and Egils Siliņš delight audiences at home and abroad.
Sport
Latvia’s national sport is ice hockey, which punches well above its weight for a small country. Dozens of Latvians play in the NHL and KHL, and the national team’s fans are considered the loudest and most passionate.
Black Balsam
The best souvenir from Riga will be a bottle of Black Balsam. It is a herbal liqueur with 45% alcohol content. As the name suggests, the drink has a pure, black color. Interestingly, its recipe is not publicly known.
Balsam is a herbal liqueur with versatile uses. It is sweet in taste, suitable for various types of desserts, and has medicinal uses to support immunity. The ingredients include: linden blossom, birch buds, honey, arnica mountain, valerian root, peppermint, wormwood, calamus rhizome, blueberries, raspberries, oak bark, orange peel, ginger, nutmeg, black pepper, and even Peruvian balsam . This balm is carefully prepared. For 32 days it stays in oak barrels, which give it a wooden aroma, and then it is poured into clay bottles produced in the first ceramics factory in Riga.
