作为欧洲最后一个加入基督教世界的国家之一，拉脱维亚人的内心仍是异教徒。他们在仲夏夜跃过篝火来膜拜大自然，许多姓氏都与鸟类、动物或树木有关。

One of the last corners of Europe to join Christendom, Latvians are still very much pagans at heart. They worship nature by jumping over bonfires at Midsummer Eve, and manyLatvian surnames are about birds, animals or trees.

拉脱维亚是值得“仰视”的民族。拉脱维亚女性身高世界第一，平均身高为170厘米，男性身高则位居第四。

Latvians are a people to look up to. Latvia has the world’s tallest women, with the average lady coming in at an impressive 170 cm. The men are no midgets either, holding fourth place worldwide. 

里加中央市场是欧洲最大的市场之一，以其展馆而闻名于世，这些展馆由一战后德军留下的巨型齐柏林飞艇机棚改造而成。

Riga’s Central Market is one of Europe’s biggest markets. It is famed for its pavilions housed in giant zeppelin hangars left behind by the German army after World War I.

拉脱维亚拥有大量海滩，海岸线绵延500多公里。不管您是想在阳光下玩耍，还是想在沙滩上纵情享受，都能找到自己的可去之处，最重要的是，所有沙滩都对公众开放。

With over 500 km of coast, Latvia has tons of beaches. There’s space for everyone, whether you want fun in the sun or miles of sand to yourself, and best of all its all open to the public. 

拉脱维亚一半以上的领土被森林覆盖，是一个绿色之国。当地人喜欢采摘蘑菇和浆果，仲夏时，年轻夫妇会躲进树林里寻找神秘的王紫萁。即使从未见过它的存在，但人们从未放弃搜寻。

Over half its territory covered by forest, so Latvia is a very green place. Locals love to pick mushrooms and berries, and at Midsummer young couples duck into the woods to look for the mythical flowering fern. No such plant exists, but the search goes on…

“监狱之夜”是港口城市利耶帕亚（Liepaja）的景点之一。卡罗斯塔区(Karosta district)让人流连忘返，在旧军事封锁区中提供住宿，配有苏联式囚犯待遇。

One of the attractions of the port city Liepaja is a night in jail. The haunting Karosta district offers accommodation in the old military lockup complete with Soviet-style treatment.

拉脱维亚总人口稀少，但首都里加人口数量却很庞大。超过三分之一的人口生活在里加。您可能不知道，夏日周末，人们都去乡下的小屋享受生活。 

Latvia has a huge capital relative to its tiny population, with over one third of the population living in Riga. But you wouldn’t know it on a summer weekend when everyone heads for their cottage in the countryside.

里加拥有800多座新艺术风格建筑，以及世界上最伟大的画廊。阿尔伯塔伊埃拉街（Alberta iela）几乎完全由新艺术天才米哈伊尔·艾森斯坦(Mikhail Eisenstein)设计，他的儿子—电影导演谢尔盖·艾森斯坦(Sergei Eisenstein)是“现代电影之父”。 

With over 800 Art Nouveau buildings, Riga has one of the world’s greatest galleries of this joyful style. Alberta iela is a street almost entirely created by Art Nouveau genius Mikhail Eisenstein, and his son film director Sergei Eisenstein was one of the founders of modern cinema.

拉脱维亚人热爱唱歌，拥有超过100万首民歌。 您可以在歌舞节的舞台上聆听超过10,000首民歌，还能见到享誉全球的歌剧明星，如伊丽莎加兰特（Inese Galante）、艾莉娜嘉兰莎（Elīna Garanča）、亚历山大安东尼科（Aleksandrs Antoņenko）和伊吉尔斯林斯（Egils Siliņš）等。 

With over 1 million folk songs, Latvians love to sing. You can catch over 10,000 of them on stage at once at the Song Festivals, and opera stars like Inese Galante, Elīna Garanča, Aleksandrs Antoņenko and Egils Siliņš delight audiences at home and abroad.

拉脱维亚是Wifi的天堂，互联网连接速度世界第四。里加有超过800个免费连接点。2012年，拉脱维亚也保持了有史以来最长通话时间的世界纪录，时长高达54小时4分。 

Latvia is Wifi paradise. It has the world’s fourth fastest internet connections, and with over 800 free connection points in Riga, you don’t even need to pay for it. Latvia also holds the world record for the longest ever phone conversation, a 54 hour 4 minute marathon in 2012.

坐落在库尔迪加（Kuldīga）的文塔瀑布（Ventas Rumba）是欧洲最宽的瀑布。春日里，您可以看到鱼儿跃过急流，朝着产卵地游去。

The Ventas Rumba in Kuldīga is the widest waterfall in Europe, and in spring you can see fish jumping up the rapids as they head for spawning sites.

冰球是拉脱维亚的国球，全民为之疯狂。国家冰球联盟（NHL）和大陆冰球联赛（KHL）中的许多球员都来自拉脱维亚；每逢比赛之时，拉脱维亚球迷们热情的欢呼声震彻全场。 

Latvia’s national sport is ice hockey, and it punches well above its weight for a small country. Dozens of Latvians play in the NHL and KHL, and the national team’s fans are regarded as the loudest and most passionate around.

仲夏时节，拉脱维亚日照时间长达20小时，当地人经常举办户外派对，或是在大自然的怀抱中放松自我。美丽的金色之光吸引了众多画家和摄影师们，纷纷慕名而来。

Latvia has almost 20 hours of daylight at midsummer, and locals make the most of it by partying outdoors and relaxing in nature. The lovely golden light typical of these latitudes has obsessed generations of painters and photographers. 

拉脱维亚是一个小国，但在过去一段时期，它曾拥有海外殖民地。17世纪，位于拉脱维亚西部的库尔兰公国（Duchy of Courland）曾是一个海洋强国，统治着非洲冈比亚（Gambia）的部分地区和加勒比海上的多巴哥岛（Tobago）。 

Latvia is a small country, but at one stage it had colonies abroad. In the 1600’s, the independent Duchy of Courland covering western Latvia was a powerful maritime nation and controlled part of Gambia in Africa and the Caribbean island of Tobago.

传奇画家马克罗斯科（Mark Rothko）出生于拉脱维亚东南部的陶格夫匹尔斯（Daugavpils），而后在美国成名。2014年，他的代表作《六号（紫罗兰色、绿色和红色）》以1.4亿欧元的价格售出，是有史以来最昂贵的画作之一。

Legendary painter Mark Rothko was born in Daugavpils, southeast Latvia, before finding fame in the US. Sold in 2014 for 140 million euros, his No. 6 (Violet, Green and Red) is one of the priciest paintings of all time.