The Old Town of Riga used to be surrounded by walls on all sides to keep all those pesky invaders out, but over the years most of its walls either crumbled or were destroyed by aforementioned invaders or were finally torn down in the 1800s. What survives is the Old City Walls and Swedish Gate (Vecpilsetas muris and Zviedru varti). The remains of the fortifications no longer fortify anything really, but the Swedish Gate, so named because it was built by ruling Swedes in 1698, is the only gate to the city still standing, and separates a quiet part of the Old Town from the noisy bars around it.
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