3 November to 5 November 2023
Onward by bus to Riga, Latvia. Our first whole day was our free walking tour using Guru Guides (Latvian guide Tomn), as has been our pattern recently when available. We found out that this is a city infatuated with black cats due to a building with black cats on the roof, said to be placed bum out towards the guild building when they would not let him join (only Germans could join the guild & the building owner was native Latvian). The landmark caught on with many business’s taking the black cat name and theme scattered throughout the city eg Black Cat Tattoo. In the afternoon we visited the Art Nouveau section of the city to admire the architecture.
Our second day we took a bus out to Sigulda to see some castles and nature. An hour bus ride deposited us in the town, which was about 5km from the main castle, Turaida. A visit to the tourist office set us up with an itinerary and so off we went, walking. First stop, Sigulda new castle. It was pretty on the outside but did not look special enough to go in. Behind it was Sigulda Livonia Castle. Mostly just ruins, but quite extensive remains with many built up areas as lookouts to see the surrounding countryside and river below, Gauja.
Then quite a long walk across a bridge, through forest and along a road to get to the main castle. Along the way we passed Gutmans Cave, a cave bearing inscriptions from the 17th century. Finally, Turaida castle which was more a complete complex with the castle itself in various stages of ruin and repair. We got to go up one high tower with multiple landings with chandeliers and smooth orange walls, one even had a family of pigeons in a corner. Great views were seen from the top all the way around. Then a walk around a part of the extensive gardens scattered liberally with interesting sculptures.
Riga
Sigulda
No comments:
Post a Comment