The Naujene castle hill is on the steep bank of the Daugava River, is up to 25 metres high and has two valleys on its sides.  Between 1275 and 1277, the master of the Livonian Order, Ernst von Ratzenburg, organised the construction of a brick castle to replace a Lettigalian wooden castle that had stood there before.  The castle had a drawbridge and an external and internal forecastle.  Until the middle part of the 16th century, the castle was the residence of one of the top officials in Dünaburg.  The forces of Ivan the Terrible sacked the castle in 1577, after which the location lost its strategic importance.  New fortifications were built in the location that is now the city of Daugavpils.  Alongside the ruins of the castle is a miniature model that helps to imagine the appearance of the location many centuries ago.  A well-appointed pathway leads from the car park to the castle hill.  The hill offers one of the loveliest views of the curvy Daugava River and its surrounding nature park.

This route offers most unusual views.  Seda is the only town in Latvia with Soviet-era planning from the middle of the last century, featuring a central square and streets stretching from it in a star pattern.  The architectural style of apartment and public buildings is rather exotic.  The Seda Swamp yielded peat moss during the first period of Latvia’s independence and is one of the largest industrial and environmental territories of its kind in Latvia and the Baltic States.  Former peat fields have partly become flooded and are overgrown with reeds, thus creating an outstanding environment for nesting water birds and migrating birds which rest at the swamp.  Peat is still being extracted, and perhaps you will be lucky enough to spot the “little peat moss train.”

Route information from Latvijas Lauku forums

Saimnieks Valentīns Kuklis savā viensētā izveidojis no koka un citiem materiāliem un vēsturiskiem priekšmetiem veidotu brīvdabas kolekciju, kas savākta g.k. no Latgales lauku sētām. Daļa no vēsturiskajiem priekšmetiem ir izvietota saimnieka veidotā muzejā. Piedāvā ekskursiju un stāstījumu par savāktajiem darbarīkiem un sadzīves priekšmetiem.

The Alantos Estate is in the village of Naujasodžio, and it was built in the style of Neo-Classicism in the 19th century.  The estate is surrounded by a park with many types of trees, as well as a set of ancillary buildings.  The mansion is reminiscent of an Italian villa, and the Neo-Romantic park has alleys of trees and three ponds of various sizes.  The trees were planted so that over the course of time, their trunks would grow together to ensure mighty crowns.  Alongside the park are a few gazebos, an obelisk that stands a few metres high, as well as white marble sculptures of Venus and Jupiter.

The blacksmith’s shop is found at the medieval Cēsis Castle. You can examine, order and purchase reproductions of ancient jewellery, watch the craftsman at work, hear a very attractive story about the history of jewellery-making, and try your own hand at the craft.

The largest town in South-Eastern Latvia is on the banks of the Daugava River, which is the border between Latvia and Belarus at this location.  The border runs down the middle of the river.  Piedruja has two parts – Piedruja and Aleksandrova, which are separated by a central street (the V 631 road).  Piedruja emerged from the Druja town that was on the left bank of the Daugava.  During the 17th century, the two parts were owned by the Stapekha dynasty of Lithuanian aristocrats.  It is worth strolling through the town, because the low-level wooden houses are reminiscent of buildings that are exhibited in open-air ethnographic museums.  Piedruja is neat and tidy, with two churches and the Daugava rock that are part of a local hiking trails.  Aleksandrova has a tourist accommodation, “Piedruja,” which offers special soirées in the Lettigalian, Russian and Belarusian style.  Please be aware that you need a temporary permit to enter the border zone.  The Border Guard facility is in Piedruja and at a place where there was a Daugava crossing point comparatively recently.