Gauja National Park, Sigulda and Cesis, Latvia

Saturday, October 6

We bade farewell to Lithuania this morning and headed north, back into Latvia.  Once back in Latvia, we again noticed an interesting characteristic of many of the roads here.   Many of the country’s two lane roads are actually three – with a single lane in each direction supplemented by the shoulder. Cars traveling in each direction routinely straddle the right edge of their lane, half on the shoulder, half in the travel lane.  That way, there’s a virtual center lane that is used for passing, with the only real problem coming when drivers from both direction try to pass at the same time, each claiming the center lane.  I’m not sure whether it’s the law, or an unwritten rule, but it’s widely observed.

The day was clear and sunny, the landscape touched with fall colors, and we were skirting Riga by early afternoon and headed for Gauja National Park.  The park encompasses a river gorge, several castles, small cities, caves, trails, and forests, which were ablaze with fall colors.  On this crisp Saturday afternoon, there were lots of people out enjoying it all.

We stopped in Sigulda, one of the four main towns in the park, and home to three castles,  We had a lovely time exploring the ruins of Sigulda Medieval Castle, which dates to the early 13^th century.  Today, the great stone castle had to vie with the amazing foliage display and the views across the forested river gorge to a manor house and to the red brick Turaida Castle.  The whole scene was glorious, and made us realize how autumn-starved we desert dwellers have become.

A few miles down the road, Cesis, another city within the park, was our destination for tonight.  After checking into our apartment, we went into the old center of the small city to see its castle (Doesn’t every town have one?!?) and the park and small lake spread out below it.  It was truly spectacular!

We’ve had many gray days during the last couple of weeks, so we were especially delighted that our visit to this area of such great natural beauty occurred on this perfect day.