The largest town in South-Eastern Latvia is on the banks of the Daugava River, which is the border between Latvia and Belarus at this location.  The border runs down the middle of the river.  Piedruja has two parts – Piedruja and Aleksandrova, which are separated by a central street (the V 631 road).  Piedruja emerged from the Druja town that was on the left bank of the Daugava.  During the 17th century, the two parts were owned by the Stapekha dynasty of Lithuanian aristocrats.  It is worth strolling through the town, because the low-level wooden houses are reminiscent of buildings that are exhibited in open-air ethnographic museums.  Piedruja is neat and tidy, with two churches and the Daugava rock that are part of a local hiking trails.  Aleksandrova has a tourist accommodation, “Piedruja,” which offers special soirées in the Lettigalian, Russian and Belarusian style.  Please be aware that you need a temporary permit to enter the border zone.  The Border Guard facility is in Piedruja and at a place where there was a Daugava crossing point comparatively recently.

The Skala silence home is on the banks of the ancient Nevežio river valley.  You will be served happy dishes from everything that is grown at the farm.

Krodziņš "Mežavējš" atrodas Rīgas - Liepājas šosejas 101. kilometrā. Krodziņa ēdienkartē iekļauti latviskie ēdieni.

Latviešu virtuve: Skābu kāpostu zupa, biešu zupa, skābeņu zupa, aukstā zupa, kartupeļu pankūkas, plānās pankūkas ar ievārījumu, šmorētas cūkgaļas ribiņas, zemnieku cienasts, mājas kotletes, auzu pārslu kārtojums, rupjmaizes kārtojums.

Laidze Parish Farm "Cukuriņi" is engaged in sea buckthorn cultivation. The farm covers about 10,000 sea buckthorns on an area of 6 hectares. The fields are treated with a computerized irrigation system. The owners of the grown berries both sell and process it themselves, obtaining sea buckthorn juice, oil and frozen berries.

The New Sigulda Castle was built between 1878 and 1881 for Prince Kropotkin.  Its tower was extended in 1937.  From 1923 until 1940, the building was known as the Writers Castle, and it was managed by the Latvian Press Association.  During the Soviet era, a cardiology sanatorium was housed there.  In 1993, the Sigulda City Council took over the castle, and since 2003 it has been home to the Sigulda Administrative District Council.  The wooden residential building (mid-19th century) in which the Kropotkin family lived still survives, as do the granary (late 18th or early 19th century), the gardener's house (19th century), and the stone wall (19th century).  The New Sigulda Castle is part of the historical centre of the Sigulda, Turaida and Krimulda complex, as are the ruins of the Sigulda Castle and the Krimulda Castle, the Krimulda Estate and the Turaida Castle.

A small town on the way from Riga to Bauska. Town's name is first mentioned in written sources in 1492. Here you can see Lutheran Church and former Manor Park

Ancient trading routes provided not just goods, but also knowledge and culture. The Light’s rout relates to the Reverent Ernst Gluck, who was a writer, the first translator of the Bible into Latvian, and a founder of Latvian children's schools, the Hernhutian movement of brothers, Kārlis Skalbe, the Kaudzīte brothers, Jānis Poruks, Antons Austriņš and their spiritual heritage.

People in Vidzeme bake rye, wheat, barley, spelt and grit bread with various seeds, caraway seeds, nuts, dried fruit and hemp seeds. Hemp is used to produce traditional butter, oil and dumplings made with grey peas. It is also added to candies and even chocolate. Barley flour in the past was used only for celebrations, but today people will teach you how to use it to bake water pretzels with salt and caraway seeds. Visit farms and restored windmills to track the route of grain.

Taste traditional Summer Solstice cheese, as well as Green cheese and tasty goat cheese.  Pipe perch from Lake Burtnieks is a local delicacy, and you will also find trout, catfish and sturgeon, as well as crabs in season. Local meat and fowl dishes are popular, including dishes made with rabbit. Kitchens at aristocratic estates will offer wild game and pheasants with forest goodies and wild herbs. In Vidzeme you can meet the Garlic Queen, who prepares plant powders. Enjoy pies, sheet cakes, honey cakes, desserts of whipped cottage cheese, mountain ash, quince, apples, sweet cream and rye bread, as well as blackberry or apple dumplings. Slake your taste with herbal teas with honey, birch juice, berry lemonades or, if you're looking for something stronger, some tasty beer or wine.

Церковь строилась с 1909 по 1913 год. Качество красного кирпича, используемого в строительстве храма, было плохим, поэтому с 1939 года заменено около 60 000 кирпичей! Храм считается одним из самых внушительных сакральных строений Латвии. В строительстве церкви применены декоративные элементы неоготического стиля, а в интерьере - алтарь, кафедра, хоры органа, молитвенные скамейкии изготовленные в наши дни исповедальни созданы в готических формах. Орган строился в 1931 году. Храм пострадал во время Первой мировой войны и был восстановлен в 1921 году. Осмотр церкви рекомендуется проводить в сопровождении гида.

This section of the Forest Trail leads through the entire Gauja National Park and gives an opportunity to see all the most beautiful places and sights of this national park of more than 100 km. Gauja National Park is the oldest and largest national park in Latvia. The ancient valley of the River Gauja is the deepest river valley in the Baltic states. The banks of the River Gauja reveal colourful sandstone outcrops, which are reflected in the water. The sights are most wonderful in springtime, when bird cherry trees are in full bloom, and in autumn, as the trees turn red and yellow. The ancient valley of the River Gauja has a distinctive terrain relief that can fluctuate by up to 80 m. The largest part of the road leads through forest paths, along the river, and exits the woods in Līgatne and Sigulda.

Almost half of the park is covered by forest. Gauja National Park is known for the great diversity of specially protected forests, featuring herbaceous spruce forests, slope and ravine forests, as well as mixed broadleaf forests.