I think I’m going to try to make this short (ha!) and just on Cēsis. I’ll then do one more on Latvia and the food and general observations. That’s the plan. 

Cēsis is one of three main towns in the Gauja National Park. It’s actually in the center and the other two, Sigulda and Ligatne, are closer to Riga. I decided on Cēsis as a couple of (non-Cēsis) TI people said it’s the prettiest town in Latvia. It also supposedly has the least slant toward outdoor activities — Sigilda also has an old castle but it’s got adventure park stuff too (think bungee jumping?) and sounded more kid / activities friendly which I did not need. 

If you have a car I think you can rush through and do all three in a day or certainly at least see the highlights. The one thing in Ligatne that I had hoped I could visit was a spa/rehab center. Not just for the craved-for sauna but also, this particular center was built in the Soviet 60s to hide a bunker underneath. So funny! They needed an excuse to wire up and build this huge facility —and apparently Russians love their spa treatments — so they built a huge structure in the middle of a forest to cover up the bunker in case of nuclear fallout. I read that the air supply is only enough for 3 months — there was speculation on what exactly they’d do when the air ran out!? This does not strike me as good planning.

I loved the idea that I could get a treatment upstairs and then tour the paranoia of the 60s below. Or perhaps better to do the tour first and then fully relax. But sadly it was not to be. The TI was not the kind to arrange tours and the only buses that ran on weekends were not going to get me there and back in reasonable times. I thought about Bolt-ing back (Europe’s cheaper answer to Uber) … but without a phone (I only have data) it just didn’t seem like I could could set it all up. Sigh. Another missed opportunity that I’ll have to do next time! 

In any case, I had the first really nice weather since entering the Baltics and the castle was very cool. And the town is cute. 

Cēsis is unusual in Latvia because it has original medieval structures. It’s out of the way enough that it was never bombed in either war. Thus some of the cobblestone streets, castle and buildings are original. 

That said, the castle is in ruins because Ivan the Terrible, a tsar who deserved his name, laid siege to the castle in 1577. At one point when they realized they were going to lose, the castle residents blew themselves up — not so much in the heroic way I remember from when the Cretans were holding off the Turks in the Arkadi monastery and wanted to take the invaders out with them. This was more because Ivan famously tortured his captives and it was better to die than be captured. They found a woman’s body with two children in a different room and speculate she was hoping to survive, but the castle walls fell on them and they were crushed when the castle exploded. 

The tour is self-guided and they give you a lantern (like with a wax candle burning in it) because “it can get dark.” I of course thought this was merely a cute gesture — setting the scene for medieval times. But NO! It was damn dark. In the end my candle almost burned out and I was getting concerned. 

Of course we all have cel phones with flashlights and obviously they could update this to flashlights … but I guess they want you to get the feel of going up and down those crazy curvy steep narrow staircases with a lantern. (And I thought Luca’s stairs were challenging?) Honestly I’m usually kind of anxious on stairs like these for fear-of-heights reasons but it was so damn dark, I wasn’t afraid of the heights since I couldn’t see anything. So one good thing. I was more afraid of just tripping in the dark — on hard stone and with fire in hand!? I found out the lantern is the symbol of Cēsis. Of course it is. 

Meantime since the 1830s, a proud rich German/Latvian (von Sievers? His commemorative bust was in German and Russian) bought the area and created a park and a new castle (now the castle museum). Beautiful. Two white swans in one pond and two black swans in another (though I only saw one of each). Actually the black one is in another park across the street which was intended more for kids to play in.

The museum was part rich man’s house, part museum of stuff found in the castle over the years, part history of the area, and also offered great views from the turret. 

Lovely. I went overboard on castle photos but I do love a good castle not to mention ruins. And the park. Oh and interestingly there was no moat! They dug a deep trench around the castle up on the hill and used the soil to build it up … but no water. I’m guessing it’s because in winter it would freeze over and the whole purpose of having a difficult-to-traverse separator would be lost. So the moat was moot (tee hee!).

But before you think this is all I did, I actually spent the castle tour morning walking through a nearby part of the national park. When the TI woman realized where my Airbnb is — a little out of town— she said I ought to walk further out to the Cīrulīšu Nature trails. It would’ve been great if I had had a car. My place even had free parking. As it was, I walked further RT (2.5 miles) to get there and back than I walked in the forest (1.7 miles). But I had time and it was worthwhile. Of course it had rained that morning and was spitting a little when I was there, making things slick but it warmed up and the sun was out sometimes.

Scary lookout tower aside, it was cool! I walked by the Gauja River, a fresh spring, a cave, a tiny lake (oxbow), lots of spruce and pine — and birch trees— all in a short loop. It was hilly but very well marked and with good paths. With the exception of a downed tree right at the start.

There are a bunch of placards along the trail and HONESTLY just as I’m reading one that talks about listening to the “polyphony of voices” — meaning the birds and even various insects — I hear very loud human voices totally drowning out the birds. I presume they were Latvian — a couple with a baby strapped on the dad and a mother/in-law with hiking poles. Kind of ruined the moment. Not to mention they got ahead of me and I then heard what can only be called bear calls. Turns out up a hill was a megaphone thingy that you can use to mimic a bear. I think. The signs were only in Latvian but it definitely sounded like a bear. As my family knows, I’ve been a bit concerned about a potential bear encounter in the Baltics wild (they wander over from Russia) and this did not help. Thankfully the noises were not accompanied by the family screaming so I figured I was safe.

I had some good food here — last chance to try famous Latvian dishes — but I’ll do a separate blog on food and drink.

Finally, St. John’s church (Lutheran) is normally open in the summer for tourists but that starts in May. But the (really spectacular) woman at the TI office mentioned that they’re hosting a choral concert Sunday and of course were open for mass.

Maybe it’s just the weather but Cēsis was lovely. Except for the races going on but I’ll put that in the next blog too. I’ll finish this one with a final shot of the sculpture outside the church. Called “through the centuries” of course it’s a monk with a lantern. They say if you rub the lantern, it’ll bring good luck and light the way (ah, sort of the meaning of Luca’s Chinese name). Of course I rubbed it. And wished for world peace. Sigh.