Today we walked around town slowly, with me hobbling with one very bruised foot.
We had a look at St Joseph's church. It was a very dark - in fact, too dark to really see it properly. We then went onto Holy Trinity Cathedral. It was very light inside! It also houses a mechanical organ, which was the world's largest until 1968. The organist was practicing when we got there, so we sat for about half an hour to listen to the music. Unfortunately there is also restoration work going on in the cathedral, and a builder was constantly using a saw or drill, which made it hard to listen to the music properly. Goodness knows how the organist managed to practice under those circumstances.
After a spot of lunch, we walked past one of the oldest 17th century buildings. Russia's Tsar Peter I stayed there in 1697. It wasn't exactly a prepossessing looking building. Perhaps the Tsar was trying to be in cognito when he stayed there.
On our way to the market square, we visited St Anne's Basilica. This is the oldest church in Liepāja - first mentioned in documents in 1508. It has a very elaborate altar built by a wood carving master in 1697. Unfortunately no photos were allowed and we couldn't get close to it. The organ is the third largest in Latvia, after the organs in Holy Trinity Liepāja, and the Dom Cathedral in Riga.
We wandered through the markets, which sold lots of fresh produce and had the most fabulous flower market.
After this, we bought a few provisions and hobbled back to the hotel to rest and to escape the cold blustery weather which was significantly worse this afternoon than it was this morning.
