Good, I can understand that Latvia maybe does not light the enthusiass of the greater publicum. :-) In fact, it is not so easy to find valid guidebooks, and so I did go on with my older one by Rough guides. But it is true that every municipality has a nice tourism office with good materials systematically enumerating all possible attractions (if there is a church of any kind, you can be sure it will be listed), sometimes even too many, and there are signs for everything. Latvian standards for signposting and fruition setthe bar high. They really love every sight, including the points of Struve's geodetical arch. With sites on the tentative list they actually go as far as to present them systematically as "included in the Latvian National UNESCO World Heritage List", which leaves one wondering how much this is done in bad faith and how much for sheer enthusiasm, with only that "national" the quibble keeping this statement "true".
As a small, idle experiment I wanted to confront the opinion of my oldish (2011) guidebook about the current (T)WHS in a period which was less aware than now about them:
- Riga's art nouveau: of course "not to be missed"
- Kuldiga: "if you can visit only one smaller Latvian town, then Kuldiga", with Venta's waterfalls "one of the natural wonders of Latvia"
- Struve: not mentioned, and Jekabpils does not even feature!
- Grobina (T): not mentioned at all (though there are insights on Curonians)
- Rundale (T): one of the Baltic "top sights", "an architectonical jewel of Latvia", lengthy description (I always have the impression the guidebook writers love palaces)
- Daugava meanders (T): nothing at all! Though there is much space for Daugavpils, whence the exploration can begin.
So, 2+1 out of 3+3 (matter for the wobbly connection I proposed "Outside of guidebooks" :-) ). The pattern gives me somehow the impression that the writers were travelling with public transports. I am surprised about the Daugava meanders since it is very much publicised.
I drove much more than I thought initially, but Latvia is not so small (twice the size of Belgium!) and the (T)WHS are from one to the other side of the country (Grobina <-> Daugava meanders). It is also the right place to practise for rallies on dirt roads. I will now try a Nan-like overview of the sites:
- ****Riga: very good. Obvious visit for a traveller, I like it but it cannot captivate me totally. I really agree that it is the Jugendstil making it unique.
- ****Kuldiga: very good. I agree with my guidebook in that it is the one small town to visit to see Latvia outside of the capital to get a romantic feeling of the countryside (while Daugavpils is absolutely not romantic, even if totally worth visiting... and maybe not even Latvian in a sense). The other small towns I have traversed do not have an ounce of its charme.
- ***Struve: weirdly interesting, but it is split in two. The point at Sestu-kalns is a small walk in the wood in a hilly region, so it can have its own merits. But the one in Jekabpils instead can be the excuse to visit this fascinating place: the Struve point somehow "really ties the town together". Recommended.
- Grobina (T): shy thumb up. I like pile dwellings. This takes it to some further extreme. But: the hillfort (pilskalns) in the town is a concrete element. For the rest, the history is incredibly fascinating, even if most has to be discovered. I hope they will be able to elaborate it better and maybe to make it again a common proposal with other Viking sites. A visit of Grobina can be very pleasant.
- Rundale (T): thumb down. It is worth a visit and very well kept. It is for sure unique in the Latvian landscape. But for the rest, I don't see much more in it.
- Daugava meanders (T): thumb up! Great landscape with cultural significance. Beautiful and relevant. Natural systems like these can be needed on the list.
Finally, just a note about costs. It seems to me that Latvia has totally gone nuts, especially with respect to its life standards. Food costs as in Germany I would say, some kebabshops in small towns more than in Italy, many tickets of museums are above 6€ (and Rundale has gone from 11€ in 2021, according to our reviews, to 17€!), souvenirs are clearly all charged up, a football shirt of a team playing for relegation is at 50, I payed a taxi from the airport to the center (no other options at 2am) more than 40€... and you see the difference in supermarkets or purchasing things at tourist offices, where they probably cannot skim off the prices. I quote verbatim an employee at the tourist office in Riga:"We now have freedom! Democracy! The right to legally cheat your neighbour!" Wonderful! One reason less to go to Latvia if everything becomes totally deregulated!!!
And these were my ramblings about Latvija (with absolutely no strange diacritics to not get errors)! | 
