Līga Bērziņa

I live in the quiet centre of Riga, in a building from 1908 with a stone face above the door that I say good morning to. A third of central Riga is Art Nouveau, more than in any other city, and my walk starts on Alberta iela with Mikhail Eisenstein's façades, all masks, peacocks and screaming women, then moves to the calmer national romantic buildings nearby that most people miss. I also run a food walk at the Central Market, which lives in five old German zeppelin hangars. We taste smoked fish, rye bread, sauerkraut, sea buckthorn, local cheeses with caraway and, if you dare, the grey peas with bacon. My third walk covers the old town and the Maskavas forštate, the Moscow suburb, with the old Jewish quarter and the Academy of Sciences tower. I studied architecture and I speak Russian and German. I am happy to go slowly. These days I guide Riga live on video: I walk the streets with my phone and answer your questions as we go.