is seen as the newest village along the Livonian coastline.  It was established during the 17th century.  Košrags had 78 residents in 1826.  The first reading school for Livonian children in the Dundaga seashore villages was opened at the Žoki homestead in 1832.  One of the teachers was Nika Polmanis, who was the first Livonian to have completed a professional education.  He also translated the Gospel of Matthew into the Eastern Livonian dialect.  Košrags had a windmill, water mill and boat building facility.  During the spring, job seekers from Saaremaa stopped here.  A port was installed in 1932, and a breakwater to collect sea fertiliser followed in 1938.  During the 1930s, Košrags was regularly visited by Finnish and Estonian linguists to study the folklore of the Livonians.  The Norpiedagi homestead was built by Livonian activist Didriķis Volganskis (1884-1968).  His son, Livonian cultural worker and pastor (in Finland) Edgars Vālgamā (Volganskis, 1912-2003) was born there.  He translated the Andrejs Pumpurs epic "Lāčplēsis" into Finnish.  Košrags today is a cultural monument of national importance.

The village of Kaldabruņa in the Jēkabspils Adminitsration District has a former elementary school that is currently managed by the Ūdenszīmes organisation.  The meadow museum exhibition is compared to a human life cycle, and visitors will see a Smilga exhibition, a childhood lighting objects, the Kadabruņa Māra belt in a hole in an oak tree, the Vārdnieki crown, the Pūra crown, and exhibitions of endangered and rare plants.  The Kaldabruņa or Krievāni Māra belt is one of the greatest cultural and historical treasures in the administrative district because it is a unique ethnographic material.  The belt is made of 52 ornaments, including 36 modified fire cross ornaments.  Nothing of the sort can be seen in Latvian ethnography.  The Stāmeriena wrap has 19 modifications of the fire cross, while the belt has blue and yellow ornaments, with red and green colours on its edges.  At the end of the belt is a complicated weave of little pearls and fringes.  Authentic copies of the belt have not been presented in public, and this unique material has also not been seen in the digital environment.  The original belt was received by ethnographers in the late 19th century from Māra Krievāne from the Mačulāni homestead in Kaldabruņa.  It is housed at the Latvian Museum of History, which also has the only known copy of the belt.  Decoding of the ornaments can be found in a book about Latvian ornaments.  The building that is managed by Ūdenszīmes also contains an unprecedented art venue -- the Šķūņa Art Gallery.  Also of interest is a hay museum and the stories about the locations. 

The Varakļāni Estate has a mansion which is known as one of the most outstanding monuments to Classicism in Latgale. It was built between 1783 and 1789 and designed by the Italian architect Vincento Macotti, and it was owned by Earl Michael Johan Borch. Late in the 18^th century, the same architect designed the estate’s lovely and romantic landscape park, which was one of the first parks of its kind in Latvia. The Varakļāni Administrative District Museum is housed in the mansion today.

Pastāv uzskats, ka tieši Rubenē izveidojusies pirmā latviešu draudze. Baznīcas altārdaļa būvēta jau 14.gs., bet pati baznīca savu pašreizējo izskatu ieguvusi 1739. gadā.Būtiska baznīcas interjera sastāvdaļa ir Ķieģeļu muižas mantinieces Barbaras Helēnas fon Budbergas 1762. gadā dāvinātais kroņlukturis ar Krievijas impērijas divgalvaino ērgli un zaru ornamentiem uz bumbas. Baznīcā redzama arī zīme (1869. g.), kas ir veltīta pusgadsimtam kopš dzimtbūšanas atcelšanas.

Pastāv vairākas teikas par Rubenes baznīcas nosaukuma rašanos. Viena no tām vēsta, ka, sargājot baznīcu no velna, tās sienā iemūrēta sieviete un vīrietis, kura vārds bijis Rubens. Baznīca esot nosaukta viņam par godu.Vēl viena versija vēsta, ka baznīcas nosaukums cēlies no rubeņa, kas sēdējis kādā no kokiem, kas vēlāk izmantots baznīcas celtniecībā.

A panoramic tour of Lithuania and Latvia with highlights of nature experiences in the National parks and nature reserves. A variety of landscapes, nature attraction sites, birds and wild animals, forests and seashore. The tour also offers some cultural and historical insights.

Baltic States are lucky to have plenty of untouched natural territories. During the Cambrian, Silurian and Devonian eras, the territory of the current Baltic States was often covered by seawater, which is why there are places where lots of geological evidence can be found about these periods in history.  These are manifested not just in fossils and various geological objects, but also in the unique landscape. For example, The Gauja River basin is an outstanding locations for Devonian cliffs and caves. Other interesting elements of the terrain relate to the development of the Baltic Sea in the past – the Baltic Ice Sea and the Littorine Sea. That is well presented at he landscape of hillocks and valleys in the Slītere National Park. Many forests  and bogs have remained virtually untouched as biotopes here.  The Ķemeri, Slītere national parks were all established to protect wetlands. Rivers in the Baltic States have not been straightened and dense areas of buildings are not common.  There are two “lands of lakes” in the Baltic States – Latgale and Augštaitija. The Baltic States are at the crossroads of the living areas of many different plants and animals, and that is why “northern,” “southern,” “western” and “eastern” species can all be found here. Some national parks have been established to protect distinctive local cultural heritage.

A tour of professional farms to offer a look at modern and technologically developed farms.  During the introductory day, participants will tour Rīga, which is part of the UNESCO List of World Heritage, and the Rīga Central Market, which is one of the largest closed markets of its type in Europe.  The next day there will be a meeting with specialists from the Latvian Agriculture Ministry and agricultural NGOs.  Next we will tour an ecological facility for farm waste, which is a pan-European initiative in the context of which heat that is manufactured is used to heat greenhouses, thus ensuring an ideal environment for farming (flowers and tomatoes).  We will visit innovative farms that collect birch juice for products such as biological birch juice wine (rose, semi-sec), biological birch juice foaming wine, birch juice lemonade, and syrup.  The next morning will begin with a visit to a farm that produces high-quality vegetables and potatoes, successfully dealing with the storage and sale of it produce, as well as with logistical aspects of the process.  Along the way, we will visit the ruins of the Koknese castle, which is on the banks of Latvia’s legendary Daugava River.  We will also visit a farm that grows hemp for various food products.  We will spend the night at an aristocratic estate that is now a complex for accommodations and spa treatments.  The next morning, we will be off to one of Latvia’s newest beer breweries for a tour and tastings.  Around noon, we will visit a farm that manufactures co-generated biomass head during the winter and heats greenhouses.  We will return to Rīga in the evening.

In Estonian, Luitemaa means ‘the land of dunes’. It is the seashore territory of the Gulf of Pärnu, 13 km between Vöiste and Häädemeeste with shallow waters, vast coastal meadows, the highest dune range in Estonia and the Tolkuse Mire (Tolkuse raba). The Tolkuse mire trail (~2.2 km) and watching tower are available for dune and mire sightseeing tours. Situated in Luitemaa Nature Reserve.