Latvia Discovery, Culture, Nature and Social Memory: A 5-Day

1. DAY  ·  Arrival in Riga, the Civilizing City and Consumption Sociology

In the afternoon we arrive in Riga from Istanbul and transfer to our hotel in the Old Town center, then take a group walk through Bastejkalns (Bastion Hill) and the City Canal; this green space, created after the old city walls were demolished, offers an ideal starting point for reading 19th-century European urbanization and civilizing policies through urban space. Alternatively, we can visit Riga Central Market (Centrāltirgus), where enormous German Zeppelin hangars left over from World War I were converted into a public market, to observe local residents' daily consumption habits and the social base.

2. DAY  ·  The Historic Center, Power Dynamics and New Money

Between 10:00-16:00, guests who wish may join an extra tour: an Old Town walking tour followed by a visit to Sigulda & Turaida Castles in Gauja National Park, tracing the marks of aristocratic order and feudal hierarchy in medieval castles. For guests not joining this extra tour, the alternative route covers Alberta and Elizabetes Streets, home to the world's richest Art Nouveau architecture, and the House of the Blackheads -- revealing the power display of the early 20th century's new-money merchant and industrialist elite class through an architectural hierarchy built on aesthetics.

3. DAY  ·  Soviet Legacy, Class Contrasts and Spatial Transformation

Between 10:00-16:00, guests who wish may join an extra tour to Kemeri Bog and Jurmala Beach, observing the urban and sociological transformation of the Soviet bureaucracy and elite's former favorite seaside resort. For guests not joining this extra tour, the alternative route covers the Āgenskalns district (Pārdaugava) and the Spīķeri Creative Quarter, reading on-site the class contrast between traditional wooden worker houses on the river's west bank and the elite buildings in the center, and the processes of urban transformation and gentrification through the former Jewish Ghetto warehouse district now home to galleries.

4. DAY  ·  Cross-Border Social Memory, Civil Resistance and Authority

Between 09:30-17:00, guests who wish may join an extra tour on the southern route near the Lithuanian border to the Hill of Crosses and Jelgava, examining civil resistance, social faith, and standing against authority at a site with over 55,000 crosses. For guests not joining this extra tour, the alternative route covers the KGB Building (Stūra Māja) and the War Museum, experiencing on-site the social control mechanisms of authoritarian regimes and the country's independence struggle. In the evening at 19:00, the whole group gathers in the Old Town for our closing farewell dinner (guests who wish may add an optional Brewery visit and Riga Black Balsam Tasting).

5. DAY  ·  Farewell and Return

After breakfast at the hotel, we spend one last stretch of free time in the Old Town depending on our flight time, then transfer to the airport for our return flight to Istanbul.