Daugavpils

When I have mentioned traveling to Daugavpils, Latvia's second largest city close to the Russian border, most people have told me to not even bother. Even one of my guide books said there is little to see there and we wouldn't recommend it. After spending the day there I seriously wonder if any of these people have actually been to Daugavpils. We took the train there yesterday for a day trip and it was a very pleasant and interesting city. I think its kind of sad that people make it out to be horrible, full of factories and economic depression because people there were nothing but nice to us and there were enough touristy things to keep us busy all day. It was actually very funny because going there felt like a different world, like we were in a foreign country but not really, all the street signs were in Latvian but everyone spoke Russian. Still we never had significant problems communicating with people and they were really excited to have tourists in their city. Here are some of the pictures from my adventures.

Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Church
Soviet World War II Memorial (that wasn't identified on my map)
The entrance to the fortress
The fortress used to be a Soviet Union Army base and the remnants of communism are still visible. People actually live in the old barracks of the fortress (we saw kids playing behind this gate).
Me and the Cathedral of Boris and Glyeb. We actually went and watched the end of the Easter service which is the most sacred holiday of the year in the Eastern Orthodox church.
Jill and I on the train ride home.