Blogs from Sigulda, Vidzeme Region, Latvia, Europe

Hello my fellow travellers! My final day in Latvia was certainly enough to equal, maybe even top, my last day in Lithuania! I left together with my host Katrina and then we split up as she went to her office and I headed to the bus station to catch a bus to Sigulda. The connections there are excellent, the bus was nice and only cost 2.5 euro and took one hour and 15 minutes. As I left the bus it was a feeling of ready set go and I immediately headed for Siguldas Viduslaiku Pils, a castle that used to belong to the Livonian Order. I knew that time would be a bit of the essence today because I only had about seven hours in Sigulda until the last bus back to Riga. Sigulda has no ... read more

Sigulda near Riga in Latvia 29 August 2014 After finishing some emails and blogging and watching all the group Dutch motor homes slowly leave the camp site at Cesis, we drove to Sigulda which is about 50kms NE of Latvia's capital, Riga. And hooray, the roads were excellent. Located in the picturesque Gauja valley, with its steep banks and cliffs, Sigulda has become known as the 'Switzerland of Latvia'.....without the mountains. We got our maps of the area from the tourist office again. We saw the following: Turaida castle was about 4km outside of Sigulda. It's been rebuilt in the Soviet area and now houses exhibition space and a small café. It also has fabulous views over the valley and the river. Gutmanis cave lies half-way between Sigulda and Turaida castle and has a little creek ... read more

Before breakfast, headed to the supermarket to buy packed lunch. What a start to the day! Left the hotel at 08h45 and walked to the bus station in order to catch the 09h20. Though due to arrive at 10h30, traffic jams in Riga meant that the bus didn't reach the city boundary until 45 minutes after departure, eventually arriving in Sigulda at 10h50, quite a bit later than planned. Before doing anything else, decided to buy an ice-cream once in Sigulda as it was already so hot. Then set off for the walk to the cable car, passing some pretty gardens and odd sculptures. The first set of (250) stairs down to the river took me through some very cooling trees, the route being fairly mosquito free. Having crossed the river though, the walk up to ... read more

Voor ik de fiets buiten zet, ga ik even te voet naar de supermarkt voor de daginkopen. Dit gedaan, neem ik afscheid van Geoff. Deze was precies blij dat ik vertrok, had ik de indruk. Ik steek terug de brug over en ontbijt in het centrum op een pleintje. Hier eet ik een gebakje dat gevuld is met vis, dit smaakt me totaal niet! Via vele eenrichtingsstraten verlaat ik het centrum. In deze straten is er toch verkeer in beide richtingen. Dit snap ik niet goed. Na de echte kern verlaten te hebben, rijd ik nog gedurende lange tijd over een lange, drukke monotone baan. Uiteindelijk ga dit bosrijker gebied in maar er passeren nog geregeld vrachtwagens. Ik krijg ook nog gezelschap van een zwerm vliegen die je zot maken als je stopt! Gelukkig kan ik ... read more

After a reasonably refreshing night’s sleep, we awoke ready for a foray into our second national park, Gauja. We packed the appropriate rain gear (Rīga and the surrounding area apparently gets quite a lot of precipitation) and had a hearty breakfast of yogurt, fruit, bread, and hard-boiled quail eggs. Yes, quail eggs. We’ve seen them in a handful of supermarkets, packed in their own little containers, and just couldn’t resist buying some. Unsurprisingly, they taste like eggs, but perhaps just a little . . . smokier? Fortified with nutrients, we packed our small backpack and headed to the train station. There’s a route that heads directly east from Rīga and drops off in Sigulda, essentially at the start of our intended hike, and how could we say no to a train trip? The train itself was ... read more