Vienu kilometru garā lokveida taka, kas ved pa lielāku nacionālā parka meža masīvu, uzskatāmi attēlo Žemaitijas augstienes un tuvākās apkārtnes reljefa veidošanās vēsturi. No takas augstākā punkta – Mikitai kalna, kas ir sens pagānu upurkalns, paveras (ainaviska stiga) tālākas apkārtnes skats. Kā takas interesantākie apskates objekti ir jāmin teikām apvītais akmens ar Velna pēdu un ar akmeņiem izliktas akas paliekas.

Vijciema čiekurkalte ir viena no retajām vēsturiskajām čiekurkaltēm Eiropā, kas celta 19. gadsimtā, un ir ne vien teicami saglabājusies līdz mūsdienām, bet arī, izmantojot vairāk nekā 100 gadus senas iekārtas, čiekurkaltē arvien tiek žāvēti čiekuri, lai iegūtu augstas kvalitātes meža sēklas.

Pateicoties ēkas bagātajai vēsturei un senajām čiekuru žāvēšanas tradīcijām, Vijciema čiekurkalte ir iecienīts tūristu objekts, kas piesaista vēstures, dabas un tehnoloģiju interesentus.

Vijciema čiekurkaltes apmeklētājiem ir iespēja doties izzinošā ekskursijā gan individuāli, gan grupās. Ekskursijas laikā ir iespēja atklāt čiekurkaltes vēsturi, skatīt čiekuru apstrādes cikla demonstrāciju, kā arī uzzināt, kur, kā un kāpēc čiekuri tiek lasīti.

Ekskursijas un individuālos apmeklējumus iepriekš jāpiesaka, zvanot 26478620.

Cena

• Pieaugušajiem >10 cilvēki –  EUR 3.00
• Pieaugušajiem <10 cilvēki – EUR 2.00
• Bērniem, pensionāriem – EUR 1.50

It is worth hiking this road where in crosses the Šlītere Blue Hills.  This part of the road is approximately one kilometre long, and it goes down to the valley of the stream which crosses the hills.  The place has been given a peculiar name – the Kušperlankgrāvis ravine (or the Zeltiņi ravine, as is claimed in other sources).  If you're driving, be careful, because there is no bridge here, just a ford.  During the early spring or the winter, you will appreciate the ravines and the impressive Blue Hills themselves.  Impressive sandstone cliffs which are several metres high and have been vandalised by human hands are on both sides of the road.  There is a small niche in one of the cliffs.  To the right (East) from the road at the terrace of the Blue Hills is a side road which leads to the Mežlīdumi homestead.  Please be gentle with the cliffs!

One of the highest dunes in Latvia, located between Bernāti and Jūrmalciems villages. It is 37m high and offers a magnificent view of the sea and natural pine forests. The highest dunes in Latvia stand to the South of Jūrmalciems village: the Pūsēnu hill, the Ķupu hill, the Mietragkalns or Tiesas hill, the Pāļu hill, the Garais hill, the Ātrais hill, the Lāvas hill. The Pūsēnu dune is the highest of these dunes which are all called hills by the local people. The Pūsēnu hill developed between 1785 to 1835 when shifting sand became extremely dangerous. Several homesteads were buried in sand, among them „Pūsēni”, where a forester’s family lived. The family is said to have moved to Bārta. The dune was named after the buried homestead.

Jēkabs Janševskis, a Latvian writer, wrote in his book „Nīca”: “In olden times, large pine trees were growing in the dunes on the coast of Nīca and they stood steady and firm. But i Swedish times (around 1650), the Swedes built a large kiln for charcoal and tar. Pine wood and stumps provided an excellent material for this. Once a big fire rose, and the charcoal kiln burned down as well as the whole pine forest. The remaining stumps and bare trunks in the vast burnout could not hold the storm-driven sand; it flew further and further burying not only the burned-out forest, but also the nearest fields. In wintertime, when the vast, low marshy grasslands were covered with ice, jets of sand drifted further over its surface, and soon most of the grasslands and large meadows turned into sandy heath-land and dunes.”

To reconstruct Liepāja, severely damaged during WWII, a silicate brick factory was built in the town. The main raw material was white sand and it was taken from the Bernātu forest. In the 1960-ies they started to dig off the Green Dune and the White Dune, later also the Pūsēnu hill. The excavators used to work day and night, in three shifts. The work stopped at around 1980, as there was no more sand suitable for production of brick.

A trail is set up to facilitate walking in the Pūsēnu Dune in the Bernātu Nature Park.

The former name of the house was “Forstei” (Forester’s House). It was built using logs of the old Bīriņi Castle. The first owner of the building was Alexander Alexei von Pistohlkors, the baron of Bīriņi Manor. It used to be a house of the manor’s chief forester Pauls Moltrehts. The building served as the chief forester’s work place and residence, as well as the Manor’s hunting base. The building was rebuilt several times. It obtained its current appearance and also the symbolic deer antlers in 1891. During the times of the Independent State of Latvia the house obtained a Latvian name – “Meža māja” or “Forest House”. Ownership of the house has repeatedly changed. In the 1930s, the house became a recreation place for cultural professionals and artists. In 1937, the composer Alfrēds Kalniņš spent the summer in the house working on an interpretation of the score for the second staging of the first Latvian opera “Baņuta”. During the post-war period – from 1945 to 1956 – the building housed Saulkrasti Village Council, and during the times of Saulkrasti District it was the location of the People’s Education Department. Later the children’s sanatorium “Ugunskurs” was transferred from Jūrmala to this building and was renamed “Saulkrasti Children’s sanatorium”. Now the building is privately owned.

This route passes along one of the most diverse and beautiful parts of the coastline of the Bay of Rīga.  You will see the Randu meadows, which are known as Latvia’s open-air “herbarium” because of the diversity of plants that can be found there.  The coast features various sizes of rocks and stones, as well as no shortage of lovely and sandy beaches.  This is the only place in Latvia where Devonian sandstone cliffs can be seen.  Past each horn there is a different landscape, and the last 20 kilometres of the route are paradise for bird watchers during migration season.  The route is in the Northern Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve.

Route information from Latvijas Lauku forums

Piltene is one of the smallest and oldest cities in Latvia, first mentioned in 1295, and being granted the rights of a city in 1557.  Between the 14th and 16th century, Piltene was the administrative centre for the Bishopric of Kurzeme.  The historical streets that surround the castle ruins feature wooden buildings from the first half of the 19th century.  The bishop’s castle in Piltene was built at the turn of the 14th century and used until the 16th century.  Only its foundations and fragments of its tower on the banks of the Vecventa River survive.

The Sutru Berry Garden is in the Sutru Parish in the Līvāni Administrative District.  It grows blackberries in tunnels, which means that the berries ripen far more quickly than elsewhere in Latvia.  You can purchase berries on site.