Das größte im Baltikum. Marathonloipe von Tartu, Wand der künstlichen Felsen und Trasse der Radmarathon. Skimuseum. Auf der Tehvandi-Sprungschanze ist ein Aussischtsplatform eingerichtet.

You will start your hike from the popular Latvian spa town of Jūrmala.  The route is great for those who like to hike along the coastline, with former fishing villages full of unique coastline charm, as well as lonely and seldom visited beaches.  Many villages have small smokehouses where dried fish can be bought.  Your destination is Cape Kolka, which the father of Latvia’s maritime school, Krišjānis Valdemārs, considered to be the centre of Europe.  The cape has been known as a very hazardous shipping route since the age of the Vikings.  Cape Kolka is also a fantastic place to watch birds.

Route information from Latvijas Lauku forums

The church was built between 1932 and 1938 to replace an old Neo-Gothic wooden church.  It was designed by J. Cīrulis.  Until 1994, the building housed a venue that rented out films.  Today it houses an exhibition, “From Foundations to the Steeple:  Photographs of Ancient Lettigalian Construction Jobs.”  This documents the construction of the church.  The 37 metre steeple offers a good look at Rēzekne.

The guesthouse is on the shore of Lake Ciritis with a view of lake islands.  Guests are offered Lettigalian dishes, including ones made from lake fish.
Latvian cuisine: Fish soup, smoked eel and pike-perch, stuffed chicken, potato pancakes with cottage cheese and dill, bread soup with whipped cream or ice cream, whipped cranberry dessert, fried ice cream, freshly squeezed apple juice.
Special foods: Lake fish a la Latgale.

 The Krustpils Lutheran Church is found at Rīgas Street 211A in Krustpils, on the right bank of the Little Daugava. The stone church which is there was built between 1818 and 1820 and consecrated in 1824. Two older churches stood on the site before then. The church was seriously damaged during World War I, and it was restored in 1924. There are several notable cultural monuments in the church – the altar painting, “Christ Prays in the Garden of Gethsemane”, the organ (with pipes that were manufactured in Germany), etc. The church is seen as one of the best examples of Empire-style architecture in Latvia, and in 1999 it was granted the European blue flag as an element of cultural heritage. There are legends about underground passages to Daugavsala, which is to the West of the church. The church is closed to visitors most days and can only be viewed from the outside. Nearby the church are two monuments – one commemorating the politically repressed, and the other memorialising national partisans.

The palace was built as the summer residence of the duke of Courland, Ernst Johan Byron, and it was designed by the outstanding Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. The construction of the palace ensemble took place between 1736 and 1740. The decorative finishing of the interiors was carried out from 1765 to 1768 by the sculptor Johann Michael Graff and the painters Francesco Martini and Carlo Zucchi. The significance of the palace lies in its authenticity as it has not been modified through rebuilding since then. Intensive restoration works started in 1972 when the Rundāle Palace museum was established. The restoration was completed in 2018.

The castle was commissioned by Baron Alexander von Fittinghof and built between 1859 and 1863 in the late Tudor Neo-Gothic style.  It is one of the most important monuments to this style in Latvia and has an ornate limestone façade.  The 7th Sigulda Infantry Brigade was housed in the castle from 1921 until 1940.  Today it is home to the Alūksne Museum with a permanent exhibition and an “environmental labyrinth.”  One of the most unusual exhibits is a set of fluorescent minerals that can be viewed under lights with various spectrums.

The craftsman produces wooden dishware and other products, making use of many local species of trees. The technique is unusual and reveals the specific texture of timber. The artist has masterfully integrated amber, bone and animal horn in his dishware. He also engraves spoons with ethnographic signs. You can commission or purchase products from the master craftsman, who also restores wooden furniture.