Travellers with a penchant for the unusual will appreciate Latvia’s initiative to develop a new travel trend that can only be dubbed as ‘Military Tourism.’
With a well-documented, conflict-ridden past, Latvia currently has no fewer than 60 former military sites accessible to visitors.
The bases of the Red Army of Latvia – where Russian signs can still be seen stenciled on the walls – are among the most popular destinations for sightseers, providing unconventional insight into the country’s storied history.
Other peculiar facilities visitors can tour are military prisons and a nuclear command bunker.
Though inarguably fascinating to avid war-buffs, some such sites – like a missile facility – stand in a noticeably poor state of repair.
"We think these sites have real potential, but locally people don’t always see that," Latvian native Edgars Karklevalks told AFP. "It would not require a lot of investment to make them more attractive to tourists – in some cases just cutting the grass or erecting an information board."
While some question the intention and value of glorifying Soviet-era sites, Karklevalks offers: "Military tourism is positive from the point of view that whether or not the actual sites or events were positive or negative, they are all part of our common heritage."