Youth, architectural beauty and music really stood out for us in Latvia.

Riga (the capital pop. 800,000) is a UNESCO World Heritage site due to its celebrated
streets of Art Nouveau facades mainly from 1900 to 1917 and many are apartment buildings still in use . The architecture now has its own museum: Rigas Jugendstila Centrs. A curious city feature is the hundreds of spires – not just on churches. Map reading by spire can be easier than reading street names.

Why tell you this when members of the public aren’t allowed in. Because this is probably the biggest showcase for tourism in the world. Each day, we will have 3 people there talking to different destinations and bringing you snippets of news that might give you ideas for holidays or travel

It may not come as much of a surprise to you to know that more of us are visiting Turkey. As one of the “best value” destinations for us this year, it has drawn visitors away from usual places such as Spain and other countries inside the euro zone. 11% more of us visited it that we did in 2008 and with Istanbul being 2010 European Capital of Culture next year, the numbers will probably continue to rise.