We were on the road a bit earlier than usual at 9:30am this morning – not bad considering that we slept in until 8:15am. We had been disturbed somewhat about 4:00am but other guests clattering in from their big Friday night out, though to their credit they settled down quickly.
Apart from a couple of quick photo stops to capture some of the pretty examples of trees in their autumn colours, out first port of call was the little town of Koknese noted for its old castle ruins down on a spit where two rivers join. It came very close to being flooded a few years ago when a dam was built downstream, so it now sits right on the water’s edge. I cannot imagine a more beautiful time to see it than as it was today; on a partly cloudy day, right on the water, with trees down to the waterline in a range of autumn colours. Against this backdrop the castle’s ruined walls with open arches and window spaces provided a setting that could have kept a photographer happily experimenting with different shots and effects for at least couple of hours. I didn’t have that sort of time of course but Laura and I did spent about half an hour looking around as we sampled the local delicacy of chocolate coated apple rings.
Thereafter we drove on to where we planned to stay tonight, the town of Sigulda. After a visit to the local tourist office we delighted in the luxury of checking into our accommodation by 2:00pm! After a quick lunch we decided to check if the “aerodrium”, where you get to fly in a vertical wind tunnel, was truly closed as the tourist office advised, because the brochure said it was open until the end of October. (We have learnt to our cost that you can’t always rely on what a tourist office tells you – see yesterday’s blog).
When we arrived we found that not only was it indeed closed, but it appeared to have been dismantled. Also there were a couple of cyclists (a German woman and a French guy) who had been on the road since May riding through Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Estonia. They were even more peeved than us at the state of the “aerodrium”, as they had ridden out to it especially and been really looking forward to it. We ended up having quite a long chat about our respective travels through the Baltic states, since they were headed south while we were headed north, and we left them with the Riga section of our guide as that is where they were headed next.
We drove back into town to start the 6km walk to the recently reconstructed Turaida Castle, originally built in 1214, on the other side of the river. We would have liked to catch the cable car across the valley, partly to save some walking and partly because it was reported to offer a very nice view of the valley itself. However the huge mountain bike event that was obviously in progress was causing a real traffic jam of cars, people and bikes around the entrance to the park where the cable car starts from, so we decided to just walk down the hill. In doing so we passed of a lot of muddy and exhausted looking mountain bikers, some pushing their bikes up the hill to the finish line. About half way down the hill we detoured to see the Segulda Medieval Castle, initially erected at the top of this side of the valley in 1207. The remains of the castle were evidently under restoration, though a large area in the forecourt was setup as an open air theatre (not used in winter I am guessing!).
We resumed our trek down the hill, across the bridge, and along the walking track towards Turaida Castle on the other side. At one point this took us to the “biggest eroded limestone cave in the Baltic”, which is a massive 2-3 metres high and about five metres deep. (Apparently the centuries of graffiti engraved into the face of the cave has worn away about half a metre of limestone, so carving graffiti on it is now banned). Shortly afterwards, as we walked up the road towards the Castle, a police bike came down the hill waving all the uphill traffic off the road. He was closely followed by a constant procession of motorbikes that must have run into the thousands, as it went on for at least 12-15 minutes. Motorbikes and motortrikes of all sizes, many with pillion passengers, and some flying flags of what looked like motorbike clubs, just kept on coming and coming. It all seemed very good natured, as they waved at people taking photos (such as myself) and at the people in cars who were pulled over to allow them full use of the road.
When we reached Turaida Castle there was an entrance fee (of course) but it wasn’t much and we were actually grateful for the advice that the museum section closed at 6:00pm (it was by then 5:40pm) so we wouldn’t feel obliged to see it after all the other castle museums we’ve seen this trip. Fortunately the castle tower with its viewing platform at the top was open until 8:00pm so we would be able to indulge our new found passion for climbing stairs! On the way to the castle tower itself we did have a quick look at an old wooden church, but it wasn’t particularly interesting, despite the lady in period costume who was there as “minder”. Once we climbed the castle tower, being such a clear day, the view really was very good with pine forests in all directions. Being so late in the day, the shadows also leant an interesting dimension to the views.
After getting our feet back on the ground we had a bit of a look around some of the other parts of the Castle but there was nothing of special interest so we headed out and started the walk back to town. We decided we’d like to catch the cable car back (for the same reasons we’d wanted to catch it over) so we hurried up the hill (steep and almost a kilometre to the top) to try and be on time for its expected departure time. We arrived sweaty, fatigued and breathless to find that the last ride for the day had left 30 minutes ago. So we had expended all that energy only to add another 1.6kms to what was already a 12 kilometre walk. Bumma! Instead we saw the cable car trundle from the other side of the valley to the middle and start tossing out fare evaders. Just kidding – it was being used as a platform for bungy jumpers.
To cut a long story short we didn’t get back to hotel until nearly 8:00pm, by which time it was dark, and we were feeling quite hungry and very leg weary. Too tired to be bothered going out to find somewhere for dinner so we opted for dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, which fortunately was very nice and not as exorbitantly-priced as it could have been.
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| Autmn colours by the river |
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| Autumn road scenery |
When we arrived we found that not only was it indeed closed, but it appeared to have been dismantled. Also there were a couple of cyclists (a German woman and a French guy) who had been on the road since May riding through Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Estonia. They were even more peeved than us at the state of the “aerodrium”, as they had ridden out to it especially and been really looking forward to it. We ended up having quite a long chat about our respective travels through the Baltic states, since they were headed south while we were headed north, and we left them with the Riga section of our guide as that is where they were headed next.
We drove back into town to start the 6km walk to the recently reconstructed Turaida Castle, originally built in 1214, on the other side of the river. We would have liked to catch the cable car across the valley, partly to save some walking and partly because it was reported to offer a very nice view of the valley itself. However the huge mountain bike event that was obviously in progress was causing a real traffic jam of cars, people and bikes around the entrance to the park where the cable car starts from, so we decided to just walk down the hill. In doing so we passed of a lot of muddy and exhausted looking mountain bikers, some pushing their bikes up the hill to the finish line. About half way down the hill we detoured to see the Segulda Medieval Castle, initially erected at the top of this side of the valley in 1207. The remains of the castle were evidently under restoration, though a large area in the forecourt was setup as an open air theatre (not used in winter I am guessing!).
We resumed our trek down the hill, across the bridge, and along the walking track towards Turaida Castle on the other side. At one point this took us to the “biggest eroded limestone cave in the Baltic”, which is a massive 2-3 metres high and about five metres deep. (Apparently the centuries of graffiti engraved into the face of the cave has worn away about half a metre of limestone, so carving graffiti on it is now banned). Shortly afterwards, as we walked up the road towards the Castle, a police bike came down the hill waving all the uphill traffic off the road. He was closely followed by a constant procession of motorbikes that must have run into the thousands, as it went on for at least 12-15 minutes. Motorbikes and motortrikes of all sizes, many with pillion passengers, and some flying flags of what looked like motorbike clubs, just kept on coming and coming. It all seemed very good natured, as they waved at people taking photos (such as myself) and at the people in cars who were pulled over to allow them full use of the road.
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| View from Turaida Castle |
After getting our feet back on the ground we had a bit of a look around some of the other parts of the Castle but there was nothing of special interest so we headed out and started the walk back to town. We decided we’d like to catch the cable car back (for the same reasons we’d wanted to catch it over) so we hurried up the hill (steep and almost a kilometre to the top) to try and be on time for its expected departure time. We arrived sweaty, fatigued and breathless to find that the last ride for the day had left 30 minutes ago. So we had expended all that energy only to add another 1.6kms to what was already a 12 kilometre walk. Bumma! Instead we saw the cable car trundle from the other side of the valley to the middle and start tossing out fare evaders. Just kidding – it was being used as a platform for bungy jumpers.
To cut a long story short we didn’t get back to hotel until nearly 8:00pm, by which time it was dark, and we were feeling quite hungry and very leg weary. Too tired to be bothered going out to find somewhere for dinner so we opted for dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, which fortunately was very nice and not as exorbitantly-priced as it could have been.
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