The Southern Vidzeme Milk Tour

This is the only place in Latvia where you can tour a cellar in which the owner uses birch juice to prepare syrups, birch wine, sparkling wine (champagne), lemonade, and fermented birch juice. You can taste and buy the products.

This is one of the oldest museums in Vidzeme and features interesting discoveries from the Middle Ages and the Iron Age, some of which were found around Lake Lubāna. Employees organise thematic exhibitions related to the culture and history of the administrative district, as well as art exhibitions.  The museum is in the historical buildings of the former Birži Estate.

This is the most modern rabbit farm in the Baltic States. The animals live in cages in a shed, but there are also cages outside where they can be viewed. Children will love contacts with 24 types of rabbits, as well as an opportunity to study the surrounding area from a viewing tower. If you apply in advance, you can purchase fresh rabbit meat, sausages, dried meats and pâté. A new thing at the farm is the Mangalicas breed of wild pigs from Hungary.

This is one of the largest goat farms in Latvia, with approximately 160 pedigree goats (Alp, Anglo, German White Noble and other breeds), as well as pigs for breeding purposes. You can take a tour and help in herding the goats. Kid goats can be seen in the spring. You can taste various kinds of cheese, ice-cream made from goat milk and watch how the goats are milked (around 5:00 PM every day). You can also taste and purchase canned meat. No preservatives are ever added to the farm’s products. 

Found on the right bank of the Daugava where the little Karikste river flows into the Daugava, all that remains of the castle today is a set of ruined walls and foundations.  The castle was built by the Livonian Order in 1224, and it was inhabited until the mid-17^th century, when it was sacked during the Polish-Swedish war.  The ruins offer a good view of the local gravel road that goes along the right bank of the river valley.

A bit less than one kilometre from the Aizkraukle castle hill, the church can be seen from the Rīga-Daugavpils highway (A6).  The church was built in 1688 on the steep banks of the Daugava River Valley, and old Daugavpils road can still be spotted.  Between 1896 and 1899 the church was rebuilt in Neo-Gothic forms.  Inside is an important altar painting by Augusts Annuss, “Lord Help Us, We are Sinking.” There are memorials to local people such as Col Jorģis Zemitāns and Archbishop Arnolds Lūsis.  A legend says that the steeple of the church is crooked because it was hit by a German military plane during World War II.

The herd consists of around 200 goats. The owner will tell you a humorous story of life with goats in Latvia and Europe, the story of making goat cheese and the secrets of its taste, will invite you to try cheese which you will be able to buy later. Goat cheese that is made in Lielgrodes is not only healthy, but very tasty.

The museum was established in 1973 and has been in the Kalna Ziedi homestead since 1989.  The permanent exhibition is in a building that was erected in 1989 on the foundations of the former home, while the warehouse (1990) was built on the foundations of a cattle shed.  The exhibition hall (2000) was built where a granary once stood.  The only part of the former farm that remains in place is the cellar, but the placement of the buildings is typical for the layout of a farm in Vidzeme.  The collection of the museum speaks to the history of the administrative district, beginning with information about the Stone Age.  The open-air exhibition features beehives with marks of belonging, as well as rare round crosses that are monuments to Medieval cemeteries.  100 metres to the Northeast from the museum is the Kalna Ziedi castle hill, while 200 metres to the south are the remains of a sacrificial oak stump that was destroyed in 1994.  The location is on the edge of the reservoir of the Pļaviņas hydroelectric power plant and offers a broad view of the plant’s dam and the town of Pļaviņas.

Located in a cultural centre at Brīvības Street 15 in Ogre, the museum was established in 1980 and has a permanent exhibition, “Ogre – a Swimming and Air Spa, Relaxation and Everyday Life, 1920-1940,” which offers a good look at the “golden age” of Ogre, when it was a popular spa.  Another exhibition, “Legendary Ogre” offers a different view.  Visit the museum to find out what it is!

The Cesvaine Castle is one of Latvia’s most beautiful castles. Built in the style of Eclecticism, it is said to have been presented by its owner, Adolf von Wulff, to his wife. The castle was built between 1893 and 1896. On the banks of the Sūla River alongside the castle is the Cesvaine Park, including the afforested Cesvaine castle hill.

The Cesvaine castle roof reconstruction is complete! Visitors may tour the castle accompanied by a Cesvaine Tourism Centre guide. Restoration of the castle interior will ccontinue throughout 2020. Periodic closure of the castle can be expected. Please phone in advance to arrange a visit T. +371 26172637. For more information visit www.cesvaine.lv

The farm is along the upper reaches of the Daugava Ancient River Valley, and it offers more than 100 types of plants, including decorative plants, herbs, medicinal plants and traditional Latvian farm plants. You can tour the largest field of so-called Northern kiwis in Latvia. Take a tour, purchase plants, taste teas, fruits and berries, and receive consultations from the owner.

Found in the northern part of Cesvaine, the church was built of fieldstones in the Neo-Gothic style in 1879 by the architect Paul Max Bertschy.  The church was restored in 1929 and again in the early 1990s.  The altar painting, “Christ on the Cross” (1923) is by Jēkabs Bīne.

The company produces butter, cream, cottage cheese, cottage cheese products, yoghurt and desserts, using high-quality milk that comes from more than 100 local farms and three co-operatives.  Technological processes are observed and improved during the manufacturing process so that the product retains its value in terms of taste and nutrition.  Tourists are welcome, and tastings are available.  This is one of five companies in Latvia that can produce “Summer Solstice” cheese as an EU guaranteed traditional product.  The company’s products also have the “Green Teaspoon” quality mark.

To the south of Koknese, the Destiny Garden is on an island that is surrounded by the waters of the Pļaviņas hydroelectric power plant (there is a bridge to the shore).  The aim of this fundamental open-air object was to commemorate people in Latvia who suffered because of totalitarian regimes.  The first work here began in 2008, and the designer of the landscape was a Japanese landscape architect, Shunmyo Masuno.  Work on the garden continues, but it is already a popular tourist destination.  The first permanent structure is a terrace that offers a view of the Koknese castle ruins and the local Lutheran church.  This means that there will be something new each time that people visit the park.  People are invited to bring rocks for this nationally important location that commemorates Latvia’s history.

Located in the Lielvārde Park and alongside the Andrejs Pumpurs Museum, the church was restored in 1932 on the foundations of a church that was built in 1747 and bombarded during World War I.  Inside the church are several artistic monuments, including the altar, the pulpit, the pews and an altar painting by Kārlis Miesnieks, “Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane” (1939).  On the eastern wall of the church is a stone cross that has partly sunk into the ground.  Specialists believe that it is an old gravestone.

This exhibition features the Pļaviņas hydroelectric power plant as a unique architectural building with unique engineering elements.  It is the largest producer of electricity in the Baltic States and one of the largest in Europe.  The exhibition speaks to the construction of the plant and major aspects of its operations.  There is a model of the plant, as well as various types of equipment that are used to ensure its operations.  Visitors will see a diver's suit, as well as various documents and photographs about the operations and reconstruction of the plant, the history of Aizkraukle, and the lives of people who worked at the plant.  Tours are available of the machine room of the plant, a look at the plant from a viewing platform, and a chance to learn more about the buildings as such.

The visitors are offered the excursion around the wine garden and the story about different sorts of grapes and the secrets of wine-making. During the excursion the vistiors can learn about the traditions of growing grapes in Latvia, to see and taste the newest tendencies of grape selectioning,as well as receive advice on growing and tending grapes. It is also possible to try home-made wines and buy grapes saplings.

This is Latvia’s first major hydroelectric power plant, and construction along the right bank of the Daugava began in 1936.  The plant was designed by the architect Eižens Laube.  The first hydro-aggregate (17 MW of capacity as the largest plant in Latvia) was switched on in 1939.  A second round of construction occurred between 1976 until 1979, the result being a new building on the left bank of the Daugava, increasing the capacity of the plant to 260 MW.  Another round of reconstruction occurred between 1998 and 2001 on the left bank of the Daugava (the HES-2 plant).  The Energy Museum is now there.

The nature park near the town of Ogre is a popular place for leisure, hiking and, in the winter, cross-country skiing. Most of the park is covered with coniferous trees that are on a long and comparatively narrow line of hillocks with steep sides – another element of nature left behind in Latvia by the Ice Age. Many different plants can be found here. The Jaunogres castle hill is one of the most distinct hillocks in the area.

This venue organises seminars, courses and activities related to Latvian holidays and family celebrations.  There are master’s classes about culinary heritage in Latvia, musical instruments that can be played, and demonstrations of various handicrafts, including weaving, knitting, crocheting, etc.  The ladies of the house prepare tasty porridges, soups, herbal teas, chicory coffee, pastries and pierogi.  Visitors can learn about folk dances, games and songs.  Wedding performances are also available.

Where the little Rumbiņa river flows into the Daugava (on the left bank of the little river opposite the Lielvārde park), there is the Dievkalns castle hill that has been reduced by the waters of the Daugava.  It is also known as the Cepure hill.  According to antiquities that have been found here, representatives of Baltic tribes lived here from the first millennium BC to the 6^th or 7^th century AD.  The level of the Ķegums hydroelectric power plant can be reached by a staircase from which the best view of this object can be found.

Santa Lasmane owns a farm near Lake Jumurda and manufactured goat’s cheese from 40 dairy goats (60 goats in all).  You can buy the cheese there and at local markets.  Products are delivered on demand.  You can tour the farm, meeting Bonija the goat and her friends, and taste the cheese.

The Vecsiljāņi farm is in the Bebri Parish in the Koknese Administrative District.  It is a dairy farm and also grows wheat, barley, oats, rye, corn and grasses.  In 2010 the farm began to produce hard cheese under the brand name "Ievas siers."  Visitors can taste the cheese and tour the farm and the cheese-making facility.

The potter offers tours of his workshop, a chance to use the potter’s wheel to produce your own clay dishes, opportunities to draw, and a chance to manufacture drums and dolls. You can buy the finished products and listen to the craftsman playing his drums.

The farm grows herbal tea plants such as blue dragon, purple cornflower, peppermint, and lavender, as well as other plants. It also offers cosmetics such as the Beāte line of facial creams, as well as cornflower eau-de-toilette. You can take an informative tour, taste delicious teas, and purchase the cosmetics.