The Lake Castle of Āraiši is of pan-European importance. It is a reconstructed Lettigalian lake castle from the 9^th or 10^th century, and it is the only place in the Baltic States at which visitors can learn about how people lived more than 1,000 years ago. The castle offers various thematic events.

Ein der ethnografischen Dörfer in Dzūkija mit Holzgebäuden und Kruzifix.

This is a very interesting monument to the history of fishing in the region.  These areas had docks and areas where fishermen built huts to store their nets and other inventory.  The areas also had a social role – men came together to discuss work that had to be done, while women and children wove nets.  The huts at Bigauņciems were eventually washed into the sea, and the areas at Ragaciems have been partly destroyed.  The ones at Lapmežciems are the ones which are best preserved.  One of the net huts has been restored, but the others are in very poor condition, indeed.  That may be why you should focus on these huts as you walk along the beach.  Make sure that you take some pictures of this historic location.

One of the biggest castle hills in Estonia, which is surrounded by walls built of stone. It is mentioned in Livonian Chronicle of Henry as one of the best fortifications at that time.

Temple Hill is steep (with artificially created steepness) and about 30 m high, and it is opposite Marijas Island.  It is an ancient Lettigalian castle hill, 80 m long and 40 m wide, with several artificial ramparts.  One of the oldest objects found in the region is an axe from the 2nd to 3rd millennium BC.   Archaeologists believe that the island was populated at that time.  There was a Lettigalian castle on the hill during the 10th and 11th century, but it was sacked by the Holy Crusade.  The surface of the castle hill was transformed comparatively recently in 1807, when a granite rotunda was built there in honour of Russian Field Marshall Sheremetev and Swedish captain Wulff.  The view of Lake Alūksne and the town is one of the most beautiful ones in all Vidzeme.  The Sun Bridge (1937) is also worth a look.  A wooden viewing platform is nearby.

The biography of Krišjānis Valdemārs tells us that during the summer of 1839, teachers and students from the Lubezere school spent a few days on the coastline in Roja, where Valdemārs would later help to build a maritime school.  The area was breath-taking and unforgettable for the little boy.  “The noble appearance of the sea grabbed the spirit of the young man so powerfully that during those three days, I thought about nothing other than the noble sea, with childish courage that allowed me to prepare a plan for a deeper port in the Roja River so that larger boats and small ships could enter it,” Valdemārs wrote. (Source: Roja TIC)

The Strūves Park is toward the northwest of Jēkabpils, on the left bank of the Daugava, and opposite the Ādamsona (Krustpils) island. The park was established in the 19^th century as a place where the city’s residents could relax and hold celebrations. It can be said with absolute certainty that this is a place of global importance, because the park contains a memorial stone to Professor Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struwe (1793-1864) from the University of Tartu. He was an astronomer and geodesist. The stone is at a place where Struwe completed his land survey of the Vidzeme Province of the Russian Empire. The meridian location which Struwe identified (and other points related to those locations are found in many other European countries) is on the UNESCO list of world heritage.

Stupeļu Hill is 3 km to the South of the Vecumnieki-Ilūkste road. There are no signs, so the castle hill might be difficult to find. The Great Stupeļu Rock, which is discussed further on in this guidebook, is also hard to find when there is vegetation. Stupeļu Hill is approximately 30 m high, and it was one of the highest castle hills in the historical district of Selonia. Archaeologists say that it was first abandoned at the beginning of our era and then populated again during the late Iron Age. It is interesting that iron was extracted and processed near the castle hill. Archaeologists believe that this is the site of one of the earliest “cities” in the region. To the West of the hill is the Great Stupeļu Rock, which is 6.7 m long, 5.6 m wide and up to 2.7 m high. Above ground, it is 35 m³ large, and it may have been a cult location. During archaeological digs in the late 1970s, antiquities from the 10^th to the 13^th century were found here.

The graveyard that is alongside the Lestene Lutheran Church is the final resting place for more than 900 soldiers who fell during World War II, particularly during battles at the so-called Fortress of Kurzeme, as well as in Zemgale and Vidzeme.  The sculptress Arta Dumpe designed the commemorative monument “Mother Motherland – Latvia.”  The cemetery of the brethren is the second largest resting place for soldiers from World War II after the Cemetery of the Brethren in Rīga.  The names of some 11,000 soldiers are engraved on the gravestones.

Kolkja, Kasepää and Varnja are another example of one-street villages of Old Believers who fled to Estonia from Russia in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Old Believers Museum (www.hot.ee/kolkjamuuseum) is located in Kolkja as is Suur-Kolkja prayer house. An Old Believers´ church and the Museum of Living History are found in Varnja (www.starover.ee). Both museums tell a gripping and well-illustrated story of Old Believers on Lake Peipsi over 350 years.