The Northern Vidzeme Milk Tour

The “Kukaburra” café is located on the 115th km of the Riga-Veclaicene highway (A2). It is possible to see the Bread museum. Guests can take part in baking rye bread every weekend. The café has a Latvian interior and serves products from local farmers and home-based producers of ingredients.

Latvian cuisine: Chicken liver salad, lamb soup, dumpling soup, cold soup, baked catfish, sautéed pork, potato pancakes, pancakes with jam cottage cheese buns, stacked rye bread.

Special foods: Home baked rye bread.

The history of Cēsis begins at the Riekstu hill, which is 18 m high and the surrounding area.  There was a wooden castle built by the Vendian tribe that stood there from the 11th to the 13th century.  The hill is in the central part of the castle’s park, and it offers a fine view of the park, a pond and the ruins of the Cēsis Castle.  A long staircase leads to the hill.  The Cēsis Castle was built in the early 13th century as the residence of masters of the Livonian Order, and it was one of the most fortified forts in the Baltic region.  Alongside is the New Cēsis Castle, which was built in 1777 in a place where gate fortifications had been before.  The building houses the Cēsis Museum of History and Art, and an annex contains the Castle Visitor Centre and the Cēsis Tourism Information Centre.  From the tower of the castle, we get a good view of the castle ruins, St John’s Lutheran Church and the northern stretches of the city.  Opposite the new castle is the stable of the Cēsis Castle Estate and a wheelhouse (both from the first half of the 19th century).  Today these house the Cēsis Exhibition Hall.  Other buildings include a granary, a hut for coachmen and an old brewery.  On the other side of the street is the romantic May park, which was installed during the 1830s.  Streets in Cēsis include Lielā Katrīna, Mazā Katrīna, Mazā Kalēju, Kalēju and Lielā Līvu streets and Līvu square with wooden buildings from the late 18th and early 19th century.  Torņa Street stretches along the walls of the Medieval castle.  Outside the church is a sculpture, “As the Centuries Pass By,” and legend has it that anyone who rubs the lantern of the Old Time Man can see the future.  One of the most impressive buildings in Cēsis is St John’s Lutheran Church, which was built in the late 13th century by the Livonian Order.  The Roman-style three-segment basilica has elements of Gothic design and a 65 m steeple that was installed in 1853.  The building was reconstructed several times during the 20th century and contains grave plaques relates to masters of the Livonian Order and local bishops.  The pulpit dates back to 1748, the oak altar was manufactured in 1858, and the altar painting “Crucified One” was painted in 1862.  The windows of the altar part of the church contain artistically valuable stained glass.  The organ was manufactured in 1907 by the E.F. Walker firm, and it is one of the best concert organs in Latvia.  The solar clock with the number 1744 is in the south-wester corner of the church.  It is worth scaling the viewing tower of the church.  At its foot is Rose Square, which was a market square from the mid-13th century until 1927 and was restored in 2008.  This is the central square in the city.  During the Middle Ages, a punishment pole and the city well were here.  Rīgas Street has been the main street in the old part of the city from the very start, and here we find most of the architecturally distinguished buildings from the 18th and 19th century – the former city hall, the Fābers house and the Princess house.  At one end of the street is Liv Square, where there a church, cemetery and the Rīga gate in the city’s walls existed in the 13th century.  Today the square is decorated by a lighted fountain at a place where a well was found in the 13th century.  On the other end of the street we find a reconstruction of the foundations of the Rauna gate from the 14th and 15th century, offering a good look at Medieval walls and the size and strength of the gates.  It is commonly claimed that the national flag of Latvia was born in Cēsis, but it must be emphasised that the flag that is mentioned in chronicles was designed in Cēsis in 1279 as the ideological prototype of the current Latvian flag, while the story of the first national flag actually comes from Valmiera, where it was sewn in 1916.

The farm has more than 20 types of chickens along with African ostriches, peacocks, pheasants, quails, turkeys, guinea fowls, peacock pigeons, other exotic birds, pygmy pigs, ponies, rabbits, marmots, fallow deer and various pets. Tours are offered, and eggs from the birds can be purchased during the appropriate season.

Ķurmrags is one of the most distinct capes along the Vidzeme shore of the Bay of Rīga.  Around it, waves and ice have put together a large amount of fieldstones, and the steep shores are made of sandstone.  There are the ruins of an old lighthouse here, with the building collapsing toward the sea.  It was still standing around 15 years ago.

A Latvian traditional farm with a herd of some 150 goats, offering tours of the farm and cheese for sale.  They offer also home-made ice-cream from the goat milk and a soup made on open-fire. Also latvian traditional sauna is available. The products can also be bought at the little market in Straupe.

The creamery or clock tower (so known because a clock was installed in the round roof window of the structure) is near the gate to the Naukšēni Estate.  The eight-corner brick building has a domed roof that is covered with tin.  The clock tower has two floors.  The second is easily ventilated because of small windows on all sides of the building.  The creamery is seen in a picture drawn by J.K. Brotze around 1800.  It suggests that the building has not lost its initial shape even today.  The tower deteriorated during the Soviet era, when a barn was attached to it and a large gate opening was broken into it.  In 2002, the tower was renovated (architect Inese Maurāne).  The interior preserves the historical brick floor and the stairs to the second floor.  Historical objects are displayed in the creamery, and today it is one of the main tourist attractions for the Naukšēni Estate.

The Rauna cheese factory is owned by Ceriņš family, and for the past 10 years it has offered high-quality and nutritious products to its consumers – cheese, butter and macaroni.  The most popular product is “Green cheese,” in which one of the main ingredients, fenugreek, grows in the factory’s garden.  Fenugreek is a perennial with five leaves and blue flowers.  While the new shoots are soft, they are dried in a wood-fired drying house.  Then the fenugreek is ground up, sieved and added to a mass of protein that is put in thin layers in special wooden boxes and allowed to dry.  After the fenugreek is added, the cheese gets its typical taste, colour and smell.  Groups of 10 or more can apply in advance for tours of the factory and learn about how the cheese is made.

The Limbažu Cheese factory has more than 90 years of experience with dairy processing.  It only uses milk from local farmers in Vidzeme, while the dairy processing technologies have been brought in from Switzerland.  Limbažu Cheese exports 95% of its output.  Alongside the company and on the other side of the street from the ruins of the Limbaži castle is a little store where the company’s products can be bought.

This trail of pathways dates back to 2005 and it passes from the Dunte Estate (which has an exhibition about Munchhausen) along damp shoreline forests and on to the sea.  There are rest stops along the trail with wooden sculptures related to the famous Baron Munchhausen, as well as other attractions.  The trails are in the Northern Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve.

Work on the Valmiera Castle began in 1283.  The castle was burned down in 1702 during the Great Northern War, and the city’s walls were torn down in the late 17th century.  Ruins of the castle and remnants of other Medieval fortifications have been preserved.

This company is proud of more than 100 years of history.  Today it is the third largest cheese manufacturer and sixth largest dairy processing company in Latvia. It partners with some 150 Latvian providers of high-quality milk.  Smiltenes Dairy is the only one to manufacture “Latvian Cheese.”  The company’s products have been awarded the “Green Teaspoon” award.  Smiltenes Dairy exports products to five countries in the world and has a nearby store where you can purchase its products.

This is the most impressive and colourful set of cliffs along the Vidzeme coastline.  Waves have created the steep shore that is as much as 6 m high, with several hundred meters of red sandstone cliffs with narrow caves, niches, grottos and other formations.  The nearby Veczemu farm is where the Rīga Film Studio shot the films “Long Way into the Dunes” and “The Nest of the Old Fisherman.”

The owners breed chinchillas, which originated in the Andes in South America. They offer a tour and a story about the lives and growth of chinchillas. Animals and their pelts can be purchased. The lady of the house is also a painter.

The farm has a herd of 70 cows to produce milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, cream and cheese.  It is open to shoppers every Friday.

The tower is at the western end of the Seda swamp, accessed from the side of Jērcēni. Transport is limited here. The tower is in the area of the swamp where peat moss is extracted. It offers a broad view of the ponds of Seda and a boat rental facility that is nearby. It is an appropriate location for bird-watching during the season of migration. There is another bird-watching platform near the town of Seda. This is part of the ZBR.