Latvia
Latvia may be sandwiched between Estonia and Lithuania, but its capital, Riga, is the biggest and most vibrant city in the Baltics. Great day-trip destinations surrounding Riga include the coastal resort Jurmala, the Sigulda castles …

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IIHF World Championships: Norway v Latvia

RIGA, LATVIA - MAY 16: Martins Cipulis #47 of Latvia falls to the ice atop Tommy Jakobsen #7 of Norway during the third period of the IIHF World Championship qualifying game between Latvia and Norway at Riga Arena on May 16, 2006 in Riga, Latvia. Latvia won the game 4-2. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Latvia Eurovision 2007

Latvia Eurovision 2007

EuroVision 08 - Turkey Portugal Latvia Sweden (4)

Author: SuperBeurkManTags: eurovision turkey portugal latvia sweden (4) Posted: 24 May 2008Rating: 0.0Votes: 0

Is Latvia at Risk of Overheating?

New European Union member Latvia is causing concern that its red hot economy could be on the verge of a crash landing. Zsolt Papp, Head of EMEA Research at ABN Amro, has analysis on the situation with CNBC’s Geoff Cutmore.

Around the World

Militants attack offshore oil field in Nigeria; sand sculpture contest in Latvia

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"Wolves Of The Sea"Author: nostalxiaTags: Pirates Of The Sea Wolves latvia letonia eurovision preselection 2008 Posted: 01 May 2008Rating: 5.0Votes: 1

2008 Latvia - Camillas & Vice Almana (SF 2)

"Mr. Weatherman"Author: nostalxiaTags: Camillas Vice Almana Mr. Weatherman latvia letonia eurovision preselection 2008 Posted: 01 May 2008Rating: 5.0Votes: 1

Latvia: Pirates of the Sea

Author: songfestivalweblogNLTags: Eurovision Latvia Pirates of the Sea Posted: 23 May 2008Rating: 0.0Votes: 0

Touring Latvia

The Baltic country of Latvia is a fascinating place with a long and colorful history. During the Middle Ages, the country weathered foreign incursions from Poland and Sweden, and in the Great Northern War (1700-1721), succumbed to Russian rule. Latvia declared its independence in 1918, but this was not to last. It was occupied by the USSR at the end of the Second World War. Many of its citizens fled the country to escape the Red Army. Others were not able to escape, and nearly a quarter of a million Latvians were killed or deported. Latvia regained its freedom in 1991. The country has been rebuilding itself, and its economic strength is slowly returning. Today, Riga is the top destination for visitors. The beautifully restored buildings of Old Riga stand in testament to its colorful past. This historic core of the city is surrounded by an extensive metro area. With close to a million people, Riga boasts a metropolitan feel which is unique to the Baltics. The towns of Turaida and Bauska feature impressive medieval castles which are being restored to their original glory. Tucked away in the unassuming village of Rundale is a magnificent 18th Century Baroque palace which is a must-see for all visitors.

EuroVision 08 - Turkey Portugal Latvia Sweden (4)

Author: SuperBeurkManTags: eurovision turkey portugal latvia sweden (4) Posted: 24 May 2008Rating: 0.0Votes: 0

Is Latvia at Risk of Overheating?

New European Union member Latvia is causing concern that its red hot economy could be on the verge of a crash landing. Zsolt Papp, Head of EMEA Research at ABN Amro, has analysis on the situation with CNBC’s Geoff Cutmore.

disco Pepsi Forum, Riga - pubs, Riga, Latvia

805-LV213950: disco Pepsi Forum, Riga - pubs, Riga, Latvia

Summer Workshop in Latvia 2008 with Contra-Mestre Chicote

Summer Workshop in Latvia 2008

Bush in Europe - Cred-A-Battle

George W. Bush says that Iraq is experiencing sectarian violence but Matt Lauer says it’s a civil war. A battle of credibility is held by Jon Stewart against these two men.

2008 Latvia - Ivetta (SF 2)

"Observations"Author: nostalxiaTags: Ivetta Observations latvia letonia eurovision preselection 2008 Posted: 01 May 2008Rating: 5.0Votes: 1

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Author: Nicola Williams
Paperback:  448 pages
Company: Lonely Planet  (2006-06-01)
ISBN: 1741042879
List Price: $25.99
Amazon Price: $16.89
Used Price: $14.99

The Rough Guide to The Baltic States (Rough Guide Travel Guides)
Introduction

The Baltic States - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - are far from being the grey, Soviet-scarred republics that many people imagine them to be. For a start, they’re graced by three of the most enthralling national capitals in Eastern Europe, each highly individual in character and boasting an extraordinary wealth of historic buildings, as well as an expanding and energetic nightlife and cultural scene. Outside the cities lie great swathes of unspoiled countryside, with deep, dark pine forests punctuated by stands of silver birch, calm blue lakes, and a wealth of bogs and wetlands, all bordered by literally hundreds of kilometres of silvery beach. Peppering the landscape are villages that look like something out of the paintings of Marc Chagall, their dainty churches and wonky timber houses leaning over narrow, rutted streets. As you’d expect from a region periodically battered by outside invaders, there are dramatic historical remains aplenty, from the grizzled ruins of the fortresses thrown up by land-hungry Teutonic Knights in the thirteenth century, to the crumbling military installations bequeathed by Soviet occupiers some 700 years later.

Although the half century spent under Soviet rule has left Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians with a great deal in common, they’re each fiercely proud of their separate status, and tend to regard the “Baltic States” label as a matter of geographical convenience rather than a real indicator of shared culture.

The Latvians and Lithuanians do at least have similar origins, having emerged from the Indo-European tribes who settled the area some two thousand years before Christ, and they still speak closely related languages. The Estonians, on the other hand, have lived here at least three millennia longer and speak a Finno-Ugric tongue that has more in common with Finnish than with the languages of their next-door neighbours. In historical and religious terms, it’s the Lithuanians that are a nation apart - having carved out a huge, independent empire in medieval times, they then converted to the Catholic faith in order to cement an alliance with Poland. In contrast, the Latvians and Estonians were conquered by Teutonic Knights in the thirteenth century and subjected to a German-speaking feudal culture that had become solidly Protestant by the mid-1500s. From the eighteenth-century onwards, the destinies of the three Baltic peoples began to converge, with most Latvians and Estonians being swallowed up by the Tsarist Empire during the reign of Peter the Great and the Lithuanians following several decades later. Despite their common predicament, no great tradition of Baltic cooperation emerged, and when the three Baltic States became independent democracies in 1918-1920 - only to lose their independence to the USSR and Nazi Germany two decades later - they did so as isolated units rather than as allies.

The one occasion on which the Baltic nations truly came together was in the 1988-1991 period, when a shared sense of injustice at what the Soviet Union had done to them produced an outpouring of inter-Baltic solidarity. At no time was this more evident than when an estimated two million people joined hands to form a human chain stretching from Tallinn to Vilnius on 23 August, 1989, the fiftieth anniversary of the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop pact - the cynical Soviet-Nazi carve-up that had brought the curtain down on inter-war Baltic independence. Baltic fellow feeling became less pronounced in the post-Soviet period when each country began to focus on its own problems, and it’s now the differences - rather than the similarities - between the Baltic peoples that most locals seem eager to impress upon visitors.

How different they actually are remains open to question, with both locals and outsiders resorting to a convenient collection of clichés whenever the question of national identity comes under discussion: the Lithuanians are thought to be warm and spontaneous, the Estonians distant and difficult to know, while the Latvians belong somewhere in between. In truth there are plenty of ethnographic similarities linking the three nationalities. A century ago the majority of Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians lived on isolated farmsteads or small villages, and a love for the countryside, coupled with a contemplative, almost mystical feeling for nature, still runs in the blood. Shared historical experiences - especially the years of Soviet occupation and the sudden re-imposition of capitalism that followed it - have produced people with broadly similar outlooks and, wherever you are in the Baltic States, you’ll come across older people marked by fatalism and lack of initiative and younger generations characterized by ambition, impatience and adaptability to change.

The Baltic peoples today are also united by gnawing concerns about whether such relatively small countries can preserve their distinct identities in a rapidly globalizing world. The rush to join NATO and the EU has been broadly welcomed in all three countries, not least because membership of both organizations promises protection against any future resurgence of Russian power. However, locals remain keenly aware that they can only be bit-part players in any future Europe. Lithuania has a population of 3.8 million, Latvia 2.3 million, and Estonia only 1.4 million - hardly the stuff of economic or cultural superpowers. Combined with this is a looming fear of population decline in countries that share some of the lowest birth rates in the world. Such anxieties are particularly strong in Estonia and Latvia, where the indigenous populations are in many towns and cities outnumbered by other ethnic groups - particularly Russians - who were encouraged to move here during the Soviet period. Only 55 percent of Latvia’s inhabitants are ethnic Latvians, and the figure in Estonia, at 65 percent, isn’t much better. Eager to immerse themselves in the new Europe and yet profoundly concerned with the need to preserve their national uniqueness, the Baltic States find themselves at a challenging crossroads.

Author: Jonathan Bousfield
Paperback:  480 pages
Company: Rough Guides  (2004-05-17)
ISBN: 1858288401
List Price: $22.99
Amazon Price: $13.17
Used Price: $5.50

The Mascot: Unraveling the Mystery of My Jewish Father’s Nazi Boyhood
One man’s struggle with memory and prejudice on the way to recovering his past

Mark Kurzem was happily ensconced in his academic life at Oxford when his father, Alex, showed up on his doorstep with a terrible secret to tell. When a Nazi death squad raided his village at the outset of World War II, Jewish five-year-old Alex Kurzem escaped. After surviving the Russian winter by foraging for food and stealing clothes off dead soldiers, he was discovered by a Nazi-led Latvian police brigade that later became an SS unit. Not knowing he was Jewish, they made him their mascot, dressing the little “corporal” in uniform and toting him from massacre to massacre. Terrified, the resourceful Alex charmed the highest echelons of the Latvian Third Reich, eventually starring in a Nazi propaganda film. When the war ended he was sent to Australia with a family of Latvian refugees.

Fearful of being discovered—as either a Jew or a Nazi—Alex kept the secret of his childhood, even from his loving wife and children. But he grew increasingly tormented and became determined to uncover his Jewish roots and the story of his past. Shunned by a local Holocaust organization, he reached out to his son Mark for help in reclaiming his identity. A survival story, a grim fairy-tale, and a psychological drama, this remarkable memoir asks provocative questions about identity, complicity, and forgiveness.

Author: Mark Kurzem
Hardcover:  432 pages
Company: Viking Adult  (2007-11-01)
ISBN: 0670018260
List Price: $26.95
Amazon Price: $6.06
Used Price: $6.06

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Voting Question: what is the legal age to be participate in pornography in Latvia?
i heard that they had no law about that there

The Verve feat Jay-Z - Bittersweet Dirt Off Your Shoulder

I’d like you to represent my video with two great songs. Enjoy!Author: dirty_mikeTags: verve jay-z bittersweet simphony dir off your shoulder dirty mike riga latvia nobeef Posted: 31 May 2008Rating: 0.0Votes: 0

2008 Latvia - Camillas & Vice Almana (SF 2)

"Mr. Weatherman"Author: nostalxiaTags: Camillas Vice Almana Mr. Weatherman latvia letonia eurovision preselection 2008 Posted: 01 May 2008Rating: 5.0Votes: 1

Resolved Question: Complete text of song `Wolves of the sea`?
When I say complete, I mean how it really goes when they sing, every word they say in the correct order. And it is Latvia`s song on this Eurovision.

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State Duma lambastes Latvia’s anti-Russian stance - Interfax Information Agency
MOSCOW. July 2 (Interfax) - The Russian State Duma adopted a statement “On the actions of the Latvian authorities seeking to degrade the Russian-Lithuanian relations,” on Wednesday. “The State Duma is alarmed with the fact that the Lithuanian …

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Latvia travel videos – Destination Guide TV
Latvia travel videos - reviewing destinations all over Latvia including towns, areas and tourist attractions. View videos and share your own travel videos at Destination Guide TV.

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Thunderstorm coming
Before a thunderstorm on Vakarbulli beach in Riga.

Latvia Travel Information - Patricia LTD Tourist Office Riga Latvia
Information Links for traveling and visiting Latvia including accommodation, things to do, places to see and how to get to Latvia. - Patricia LTD - Private NON government tourist …

Boutique hotel Viesturs in Latvia, Riga (Latvia)
Latvia Hotels & Resorts - From $110/Night/Room Hotel VIESTURS is located in the heart of Riga, on a nice, quiet sidestreet, in a restored 17th century building.The intimate atmosphere is due to the size of the hotel, as it has only 13 …

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