Day 51: Cēsis

MAY 24 - Start out early to continue the tour of the city. Get breakfast in a café on Rigas Iela.

Time for the brief historical synopsis of the country. As with Estonia, the Stone Age times consisted of several periods of activity, separated by times when sea level rises inundated most everything (Fun Fact: the maximum elevation of Latvia is 312 meters AMSL). The original people in historical times were called the Balts, and fell under Viking domination, which eventually shifted to German domination as the Teutonic Order was expanding (and Christianizing) everywhere they could conquer. But being in an even more enticing position than Estonia, Latvia became even more enmeshed in conflicts between the Teutonic Order, Sweden, Poland, and finally Russia, which was looking for more access to the Baltic Sea. The Livonian War (1558-83) pitted the Russians again a coalition of other European forces, which they lost. This resulted with pacts that left Latvia to Poland-Lithuania.

In modern times, Latvia went though the same trials and tribulations as Estonia: Invasion by the Germans at the start of WWII, only to fall behind the Iron Curtain until the early 1990’s.

The Cēsis Castle Complex, the main reason why the town is so special. It began as a hilltop fort under the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in about 1208, and was greatly expanded by the Teutonic Order thereafter. It served as a very effective defensive structure, inviting no attack for 300 years, until a siege by Ivan the Terrible in 1577. Huge cannons were used to pummel the castle into submission. The fear of Ivan’s army was so great that a group of people, seeing the end was near, blew themselves up with kegs of gunpowder.

Some of the castle interior passages were very dark, so we were supplied with candle-lit lanterns.

The people responsible for handing Odette a burning object to run around the castle with.

There was an overwhelming number of exhibits and filmed demonstrations of life and warfare at the castle, as well as a huge museum covering everything Latvian.

A good view of St. John’s Church from the top of one of the defensive towers.

After giving into an hour of playground fun, we sort out a local bus route heading west of town, close to the entrance of the Gauja NP. This is the largest NP in the country, extending along a large area of valley occupied by the meandering Gauga River. This river is large and has been historically important as a source of fish, and a conduit of trade, since prehistoric times. Stone age tools have been excavated along its banks.

Looking downstream the Gauja River. There were no visible outcrop in this area, and it is clear the river has changed course constantly over the eons.

Our mandatory forest walk for the week. Many species are recognizable from the northwestern US, including willow, alder, and elderberry.

The Cïrulïši Cliffs, on the eastern bank of the river, form a solid barrier to the meandering of the river. The pond at their base is an oxbow lake. The cliffs themselves are red sandstone, probably Cambrian in age.

A spring flowing out from the base of the cliff. The water was very cold.

Our exciting animal find of the day was this, Looks a lot like a snake, but from what I can tell, it is an eastern slowworm (Angius colchica), which is a type of legless lizard.

Lïgavas Cave. In my mind I imagined something different, but it was just really a hollowed out area in the sandstone cliff.

Also see some frogs and several different butterflies. We are nearly alone on the forest trails. Exit the park into the town of Cïrulïši. Here, we decide to walk 2.8 km rather than wait an hour for the bus. All in all today we took in about 14 km of walking.

Today’s route in Cēsis and environs.

One note of interest about today. As we were sorting out the bus to Gauja NP, there was another family of three looking for the same bus, speaking Russian (or something like it). They were also obviously not completely sure what they were doing. The father had a ziplock bag with documents, including blue colored passports inside. While on the bus, I sat next to a member of a different family, who had a brand new (blue) Ukrainian passport in his hand, along with a bunch of groceries. All these people got off the bus at an apartment complex on the edge of town. My guess is that there is a community of Ukrainian refugees here, and that many towns in Latvia have the same. While Latvia has no border with Ukraine, holders of Ukrainian passports have been granted temporary protection in the EU, so once a person gets across the border (eg., to Poland), they can move freely to other EU countries.

Latvia