Ezeri Sigulda

... numerous protests of Nein sprecken zee deutch, specken zee Inglish??) - in the end she took me up to the steeple (!!) no doubt giving me a complete history of it's restoration on the way !!

I took a wrong turn and walked down to the river (under the cablecar) and had to walk back up a mountain bike track to the cable station. Across the river into another town which has a stately home ...

Cesis itself has very little to offer - other than as a town it surrounds the former strong-hold of Cesis Castle, built in the twelth century by the German Crusaders who then made it a base for the Livonian Brothers of the sword.

The castle ruins are in very good shape - considering - though most of it, is just foundations, three towers are still in intact ...

... have strong fortifications once, with thick walls and moats, but Polish - Swedish war of the 18th century brought along one battle too many, and after that the castle had never been restored again. After all, Sigulda got itself a new castle in the nineteenth century, so who would bother any more to rebuild the old one? This New Sigulda Castle was built just a few metres away by one Prince Kropotkin for his residence in late 19th century. When the old prince went to his ...

... Castle shared its fate with the town of Cēsis, fending off assaults by Russian, Polish and Swedish forces. It took its fair share of beating and consequently it had to be rebuilt and expanded on several occasions. But wars and plagues in later centuries proved too much and after that it had never been rebuilt. Inside the castle, or rather inside the Cēsis Castle Park, I could still see one of the last vestiges of Communism in Latvia. Once a proud Lenin statue that ...

Утром мы собра 83;и все вещи и отпра 74;ились к Андре 02; на дачу в Саулк 88;асти - чудес 85;ый г ...

... deserted. A few metres away was the ruins of Krimulda castle, one of the three castles of the Gauja valley. It was a nice spot in the forest on the hill above the river, and especially nice due to the lack of people. We headed on down the hill and along the track to Turaida. We passed some iced over lakes, and through more nice forest. We arrived at Turaida castle, but in a fun fashion, since we headed straight up a muddy hill to get there, bypassing ...

... ground level. On the way back to town, I stopped by Gutamni's Cave, where Viktors and Maija used to meet. The largest cave in the Baltics (though that's not saying much) its soft walls are covered in graffiti, some of it dating back to the 16th century. My final tourist stop in Sigulda, before heading to Cesis, further up the valley, was Sigulda Castle, both the old and the new. The old castle is now a beautiful set of ruins and gives a good view of ...

... area. We took the bus on the way, which was the slow bus... Then we arrived and started walking around talking the telepheric above the river to the first castle and then hike in the forest to the second castle, down the cavern where there was several weddings and couple coming as what seems to be a tradition. Which we understood by reading the info panel saying that the cavern was the place where a man had lock his unfaithful wife and the spring water coming out was ...

... a bend near the castle, and we could see some kayakers drifting down. The most interesting feature of the castle was the radiant heating system -- hypercausts under the floor heated the main living quarters -- very unusual for a Mediaeval castle, and very clever. The grounds are very park-like; lovely. Surrounding the castle is a sculpture garden -- many large stones, carved with shapes of women, men, and odd figures. All pieces by ...

... detail about paths. I tried to keep an eye on the river bends to help keep an idea of where I was. I took a left at one point and this ended at a stream no way over unlike the lovely bridges that had got me here. I went back to the main path and tried to follow that but came to a sign that said I was in private property. I had noticed another sign as I retraced my steps too. The path was going a long way inland and I began to wonder where this nice ...