Fishermen along the seashore of the Baltic Sea love Laikas. They can hope to catch plaice, cod and eels, after which the owners of the farm will cook tasty fish soup or smoke the fish. You can help out in the process.

Pirms dodamies tālāk – Skaistkalnes virzienā, var izmest nelielu loku līdz Lejeniekiem, kas atrodas skaistā vietā – Mēmeles kreisajā krastā, 6 km austrumos no Bauskas. Latviešu dzejnieka Viļa Plūdoņa (1874. – 1940.) memoriālais muzejs dibināts 1968. g. viņa dzimtajās mājās „Lejeniekos”. Zemgales daba un vecmātes stāsti būtiski ietekmēja nākamā dzejnieka daiļradi. Šeit nokļuvušie var apskatīt ratu un etnogrāfisko priekšmetu kolekciju, izstaigāt Plūdoņa taku vai apmeklēt dzejnieka un viņa radinieku atdusas vietu netālu esošajos kapos. Bērniem noteikti jāiegriežas “Zaķīšu pirtiņā”.

 The Lašu castle hill is 0.2 km from the Vecumnieki-Ilūkste road at Laši. It is an ancient Selonian castle hill, and it was populated between the 1^st millennium BC and the 10^th or 12^th century. Very little remains of the old Veclaši (Tiesenhausen) Estate, which had an impressive mansion designed in the Neo-Gothic style in the late 19^th century. What remains are an ancillary building, the foundations of the mansion, fragments of the gates, and a park. Until 1920, the estate belonged to the Pshezdzetski dynasty, and before that it was owned by the Tiesenhausen and Fittinghoff dynasties. Before visiting the location, look for photographs of the old mansion on the Internet. Sadly, the important cultural monument has not experienced any major improvements over the past 20 years.

Atrodas ezera Vilkokšnio ezera krastā - attālā dabas nostūrī, kur smelties spēku un enerģiju. Pirts, guļamistabas ar koka smaržu, vasaras lapene, kamīns, rotaļlaukums, peldēšanās ezerā, makšķerēšana, sporta laukumi, laiva, ūdens velosipēdi, kalnu velosipēdi un kempings. Lauku sētas entnogrāfiskajā istabā tiek cepta mājas maize. Iepazīsieties ar senajiem piederumiem, maizes cepšanas tradīcijām un paražām.

To view the Daugava River from a different perspective, visit the Liepkalni bakery, which offers tours in a Viking longboat that is called “Lāčplēsis” and can carry up to 24 people.  The Daugava has always been an important transport corridor for many species and animals that arrived in Latvia because of that, as well as for people and tribes that lived along the banks of the Daugava River and the shores of the Baltic Sea.

The Baltic Way was a unique demonstration at the Baltic, European and global level.  Never before had the residents of three countries joined hands in a single chain to link the capital cities of the three nations – Vilnius, Rīga and Tallinn.  The historical event occurred on the evening of August 23, 1989 and involved some two million people to recall events that had happened 50 years before – the conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that allowed the two superpowers of the day, Germany and the USSR, to divide up spheres of influence in Europe before the new world war.  The Baltic States lost their independence as a result of the pact.

The chain of demonstrators was some 600 km long, marking out the Baltic Way from Bauska to Rīga and then on to Sigulda, Cēsis, Valmiera and Rūjiena.  The route was known and used in the 14th and 15th century, or even earlier.  Testimony to this is given by the mighty castle hill at Mežotne and the ancient port alongside it.  The Bauska Castle was an important fort during the age of Livonia and, later, one of the residencies of the dukes of Courland.  Sigulda was well fortified on the banks of the Gauja River, with three stone castles nearby.  It was also a health spa.  Līgatne is important in industrial terms because of the paper factory that is there.  Āraiši is another ancient trade crossroad with a lake castle, ancient church, castle ruins and a famous windmill.  Cēsis is one of the historical diamonds of Vidzeme with its old town, the old and new castle, and the majestic views of the ancient Gauja River valley at the cliffs of Ērgļi.  Valmiera boasts of his St Simon’s Church, the Dāliņš stadium, its own theatre and the youthfulness of its own university college.  In Rūjiena, there is a monument to the Bugler of Tālava, which was carved by Kārlis Zemdega and installed in 1937 to commemorate the liberation of Rūjiena.  The monument survived all of the years after the war.  The engraving, “the bugler had to die, but the Latvians heard his call,” is very much in line with the Baltic Way on August 23, 1989.

This small restricted area protects the Swedish juniper and the lime meadows in which it grows. There is a marked circular trail which allows visitors to study one of the few but excellent stands of juniper in Latvia. The bushes are 50 to 70 years old, and all around them are interesting habitats, plants and animals. Natural stands of juniper in the Baltic States are the result of farm work such as reaping, chopping, etc., as well as of herding of sheep and other livestock. A small part of the area is still “managed” by sheep. Unfortunately many junipers have died because of overgrowing of territory.