19-Jul-2002 -- After an attempt to visit North 57 East 25 earlier that day (a disappointing experience that only resulted in a lot of scratches, bruises, insect bites and other inconveniences), we decided to try our luck again a bit further to the west. This confluence is near Riga (the capital of Latvia). Actually, it is within the city limits and it can be reached quite easily. A road map with a small city map of Riga (without coordinates) allowed us to estimate its location.

We drove through the city centre of Riga to the west bank of the Daugava river, followed Slokas iela, Jurmalas gatve, and Kurzeme prospect to reach Kleistu iela, which we followed for a few kilometres before turning right. The first right turn we took was too early, we would have had to cross water to reach the confluence, so we drove back further and took the next one. This dirt road brought us about 350 metres from the confluence and then walked into the dense forest (pine trees and lots of undergrowth and nasty insects).

To our surprise we found that the confluence was marked with a signpost that gave the coordinates (proudly called Riga’s meridian and Riga’s parallel). It was next to a path, so there must be an even easier way to get there… The sign looked rather new but there was no indication who placed it there, (probably the Riga municipality) and its location corresponded exactly with our GPS readings!