Jūrmala, Latvia

Jūrmala is a seaside resort city in Latvia with roughly 56,000 residents, stretching 32 kilometres along the Gulf of Riga about 25 kilometres west of the capital. Its Majori beach runs for five kilometres and is noted for its fine white quartz sand. The Majori and Dzintari districts preserve wooden Art Nouveau summer cottages built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the town grew into a fashionable retreat for Riga's merchants. The Dzintari Concert Hall hosts the annual New Wave music festival, while Soviet-era sanatoriums once catered to high-ranking officials. How that history shapes the resort today is part of what follows.