Esam ieradušies: We Have Arrived.

On our journey to discover our family's ancestral homes, we are visiting the country's capitals, as well as some large cities such as Krakow, Poland. Our first stop is Riga, the capital of Latvia and the largest city in the Baltics. Our hotel, in the center of Old Town, is a historic building dating to the 18th century. The original wooden building was home to Bishop Albert in the 13th century. After it was destroyed in a fire in the 17th century, the current brick structure was built on the site. Renovations take advantage of the brick, and the rooms are spacious. Although the hotel has modern amenities, the furniture looks like it comes from the 18th century. 

Our room in the Hotel Justus 

The spiral staircase

Fun murals throughout the hotel

A walk around Old Town Riga revealed enough bars to go to a different one every day for a month as well as numerous restaurants, with some offering traditional Latvian food, like the one we chose. Dinner included traditional potato pancakes which tasted exactly like latkes when fried correctly. The Latvian meatballs, made from pork, were enormous. Latvia is known for their beers and ciders so we had to taste one of each. The rye bread pudding was probably an acquired taste.

Traditional Latvian meatballs, potato pancakes, chokeberry cider (aroniju)

In 1989, when Latvia was still under Soviet control, people in the country joined hands with citizens from Lithuania and Estonia, a human chain that served as a "powerful message to the world and a symbol of solidarity among the Baltic States." Remarkably, within six month of this transformative protest, on March 11 (my birthday), 1990, Latvia declared its independence, becoming the first of the Soviet Republics to do so.

Riga Opera House

Tomorrow is the first day that we explore our Jewish heritage in Latvia. Although my great grandmother, Rose Deutch Dembowitz, did not come from Riga, but from Dvink (Daugavpils), a three-hour drive from the capital, we hope to learn more about the life of Jews in Latvia. We habe a five-hour tour that includes two synagogues, the Jewish Ghetto Museum, and various sites of mass murder during the Holocaust. We are grateful that our family emigrated before World War I.