Sigulda is a small town and a wonderful holiday destination, located in the picturesque Gauja National Park. Here you will find a relaxing holiday surrounded by pristine nature, nature reserves, castles and palaces from the Middle Ages, as well as places for active recreation and entertainment.
In this article we will tell you about hiking routes in Sigulda and its surroundings, as well as what to do and what you can see in Sigulda in one day with or without children.
Hiking routes in Sigulda and its surroundings
In addition to walks around the city itself, Sigulda has prepared several walking routes in the surrounding areas of the city.
In the photo, a map of Sigulda routes with all the attractions:
Such a card can be obtained free of charge at the Sigulda Tourist Information Center, located in the building of the Auto and Railway Stations, at the address: st. Ausekļa iela 6, Sigulda, entrance from the city side from the station square.
In red on the map Above is the route through the city of Sigulda itself, with all its attractions: the key square, the cane park, the Sigulda Evangelical Lutheran Church, the White Castle, the Sigulda Castle of the Livonian Order, etc. The route is picturesque and interesting, the city hides a lot of hidden places.
Particularly beautiful, it includes the New and Medieval castles, as well as the creative quarter of Sigul Castle.
We recommend everyone to take a walk along this route, or rather not even along the route, but around the city of Sigulda, regardless of how far you came to the city. We talked about a walk around Sigulda and its main attractions earlier.
After walking through the center of Sigulda, you have the opportunity to go along two different routes - green or burgundy-lilac.
Green route on the map small in length. Walking along it you will go deeper into the Gauja National Park, where you can enjoy wild nature. This route includes a visit to Paradise Mountain, the Krauklu (Voronov) cave and gorge, the Satesele settlement and Petra Cave.
Burgundy-lilac route longer than the green one, its length is 5 kilometers in one direction. In addition, this is the most picturesque and visited route in Sigulda. We walked along it and received a lot of unforgettable impressions, we recommend it!
By choosing this route you will be able to ride a cable car, enjoy the clean fresh air and nature of the Gauja Park, visit the Krimulda estate and the ruins of the Krimulda medieval castle, the Gutman Cave, which is associated with a romantic cave, go to the most visited museum in Latvia - the Turaida Museum-Reserve, on the territory where the famous Turaida stone castle is located. About a walk along this route and all its places of interest.
And finally, route marked in blue on the map(first photo in this article), the one on the left. To walk along it you need to return again to the Sigulda station square. Following this route you will see the Royal Throne, the Piken cliff, the small Devil’s Cave and the rocks of the Devil’s Cave. On the way to this route you will come to the bobsleigh and luge track and the Forest Cat adventure park.
What can be done in one day in Sigulda
In one day in Sigulda you can have time to walk around the city and follow one of the suggested routes. We would recommend the longest route, with Gutman's Cave and Turaida Museum-Reserve. Although you can choose any other of the proposed routes to your own taste.
To take one of the routes in time, you need to arrive in Sigulda early in the morning and expect to spend the whole day in the city. About the best way to get from Riga to Sigulda and back.
Having visited Sigulda, we were convinced from our own experience that one day is very little for such a charming town, with a lot of beautiful historical and natural places. We haven't seen so much in one day yet. Conclusion: for Sigulda you need at least three days. But if you only have one day in Sigulda, then it doesn’t matter either, choose your route and follow it, one day is enough for that.
One day with children in Sigulda
In Sigulda, you can take a walk around the city with children and visit one of two adventure parks.
First - adventure park "Tarzan" located near the cable car. But in the photo with the map he is number 11. In the Tarzan Adventure Park there is an obstacle course for children and adults with more than 100 different obstacles placed in the trees, a carousel lift, trolleys, a track that works on the principle of a roller coaster, a catapult, a rotor, a giant swing in the trees , a climbing wall, large trampolines, velomobiles, tube rides, attractions - archery, and a separate area for picnics. The Tarzan Adventure Park is located at: Sigulda, Peldu Street 1.
Photo taken near the cable car
Second, Adventure Park "Forest Cat". To get to this park you need to follow the blue route, the park is number 25 on the map. This park offers obstacles, cables, nets, bridges of various designs, swings, beams, ropes and ladders, as well as rope flights, volleyball a playground, a guest house built in Alpine style, a sauna complex, a tavern and seminar rooms. In winter, there is a ski slope in the park. The Lena Cat adventure park is located at Sigulda, Senču Street 1.
We decided to get to Sigulda as early as possible, but at the same time we really didn’t want to get up early. The choice fell on the minibus, which departs from Riga at 9 o’clock. And in two hours it delivers you to the Sigulda Bus Station. For me, the name of this city is associated with the bobsleigh and luge track. After studying the materials, it turned out that the city is rich in its history, and is interesting for its castles, which have been preserved, albeit partially.
A little history. Sigulda is located on the banks of the winding Gauja - the most beautiful river in Latvia. People have settled in these picturesque places since ancient times. In the II-III millennia BC. e. Finno-Ugric tribes lived here, engaged in hunting and fishing. Until the end of the 12th century, Sigulda was inhabited by Livs. Then the territory was conquered by German crusading knights. At the same time, the division of Sigulda took place: one bank went to the Livonian Order of the Sword, and the other went to the Riga Episcopate. During the Livonian War, or more precisely, in 1562, the Poles took possession of Sigulda; during the Polish-Swedish War, the city came under Swedish rule. All these strife, as well as the Great Northern War and the plague, caused enormous damage to Sigulda. But she survived and continues to develop."
The route of our hike around the city and its surroundings began from the Bus Station. The route is on the map maps.google.ru/maps/ms?msid=2… If you arrived at the railway. station, then we pass through the station square and Ausekla street. Directly in front of us is the post office building, we go around it on the right and move along Raina Street. On the left side we will see the Bus Station. In the same building there is a tourist information center, where you can get maps of the city and surrounding area, get the necessary information, and if you want to book an excursion or come up with an entertainment option. Let's go through the bus station to get out on the opposite side. Here, near the bus station, we will see an interesting sculpture “Wind Bell”. Inside the concrete bell there are 8 bells. From the wind they play their melody. The sculpture was installed in 2007 in honor of the city’s eight hundredth anniversary.
Let's go back to Raina Street and turn left. We move to the intersection with Pils street. Here at the intersection there is a park of keys. Three huge keys resting on a stone wall and arches are a symbol of the three historical centers of the surrounding area - Sigulda, Turaida and Krimulda. Opened in honor of the 800th anniversary.
At the next intersection with Cesu Street there is another interesting park (on the left as you go) - a walking stick park. Opened in honor of the city's most famous souvenir. Making walking sticks is an ancient craft passed down from generation to generation. This history goes back more than 200 years.
On the right as you move along will be the Sigulda Evangelical Lutheran Church. It was first mentioned in chronicles in the 15th century as the Church of St. Bertulis. The current church (lat. Siguldas luterāņu baznīca) on Baznīca iela was built at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, and the bell tower with a pencil-sharp dome was added to it in 1930. During Soviet times (from 1965 to 1990) it was the only functioning church in the entire district.
We go further and on the right we pay attention to the peculiar sculptural group “Parade of Knights”. On a small platform, knights painted black are assembled from various pieces of iron. Instead of heads there are stones, the rest of the organs are depicted just as realistically. Each knight has his own name. Having hugged the knights, we merged with them.
And now we come to the places that are described in many reference books dedicated to Sigulda. Behind the bars of the beautiful gates the new Sigulda Palace peeks out. Although this is not a castle at all, but simply a two-story main house of the estate, built not so long ago - in 1878-1881 according to the design of the architect J. Mengelis for the owners of the estate, the princes Kropotkin. The original four-story tower, which gave the building an even greater resemblance to a castle, was added in 1937.
So it would be more correct to call the “New Sigulda Castle” the Sigulda Palace complex or the Sigulda Manor complex. Before Latvia’s annexation to the USSR, the Latvian Society of Journalists was located here, in Soviet times (since 1953) the cardiological sanatorium “Sigulda”, and now the Sigulda Regional Council.
On the territory of the estate there is a fairly large and very well-kept park with alleys, flower beds, various sculptural compositions, including a bronze monument to the Latvian linguist and teacher Atis Kronvald.
Just behind the palace is the Old Sigulda Castle. Sigulda Castle is one of the medieval castles in Sigulda (Latvia), built in the early stages of the conquest of the Baltic lands by the crusaders. Construction work on the construction of the castle began by order of the first master of the Order of the Sword, Winno von Rohrbach, in 1207 on the territory of one of the former Liv settlements on the banks of the Gauja River. Almost immediately it became a bone of contention - in 1236 it was captured by the knights of the Livonian Order and a new confrontation broke out - between them and the Bishop of Riga, who “in revenge” built his castle opposite - in Turaida.
During the Livonian War of 1558-1583, battles between Russian, Polish and Swedish troops took place here; the Poles won, capturing the castle. However, the Swedes did not give up and thoroughly battered the castle during the war at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, and Sigulda passed from hand to hand for another century and a half. In the end, the Russians decided to restore order near their borders and, during the Northern War, annexed these lands to the Russian Empire, completing the task of turning the castle into ruins and turning the almost completely ruined Sigulda into an estate, which a little later (in 1737) was given to one of the royal nobles. This nobleman was Field Marshal General Pyotr Petrovich Lassi. Subsequently, the castle passed from hand to hand along the family line on the female side.
In 1867, by decision of the owner family, the family coat of arms of the von Borchows was built into the gate tower of the castle. Before this, the owners took care of thoroughly strengthening the once monumental castle complex. At the same time, two arches were built to strengthen the interiors. The remains of this castle complex continued to amaze the imagination of contemporaries, inspiring such popular Russian writers as Alexander Aleksandrovich Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, who worked in the concept of romanticism, which involved an appeal to the images of medieval castles of Livonia.
What has survived to this day from the castle is the monumental gate tower, the bridge to it, the North Tower, fragments of the walls of the castle chapel, which are laid out of roughly hewn limestone (“white stone”) - in it you can schematically see vaults and window openings made in the early Gothic style . The chapel also preserved in fragmentary form elements of interior decoration (in particular, the supporting beams (consoles) of the vaults) and individual elements of the design of the castle facades (meaning the original cruciform niche, updating the religious aspect, invariably present in Gothic sacred architecture). The tower itself, which is a regular quadrangle in plan, was erected around 1400 during the time of the Master of the Livonian Order, Willemar von Bruggenoe, to replace the previous one, which was not so massive and inspiring hope. According to the old tradition of order castle architecture, a roughly chopped heavy boulder was used as a building material, which is objectively considered the most durable, resistant, and, of course, safe material in comparison with many others.
A stage was built inside the castle and now concerts are held here. You can now climb the restored walls of the Gate and North Tower. For ease of inspection, special stairs and flights were built.
After visiting the castle, we walked through the park of the New Sigulda Castle onto the road leading to the bridge over the Gauja River. The road winds down to the river. From the bridge there are magnificent views of the river and the banks covered with forest.
We continue moving along the road. We reach a clearing and, crossing it, we run into a serpentine road that will lead us to the ruins of the Krimulda medieval castle. The serpentine road was built back in 1862 for the visit of Russian Tsar Alexander 2.
Let's climb the serpentine road to the very top. There will be signs right in front of us. In front of them you need to turn right and you will see the ruins and the castle wall. The ruins of Krimulda Castle appear as they were a hundred and two hundred years ago - overgrown with bushes and trees, quiet and deserted - as if sleeping.
Although, of course, there is nothing special to look at - the foundation of the castle wall along the perimeter and the only surviving fragment of it above the steep cliff. On this remnant (or rather, reconstruction) of the stone wall, two openings of Gothic windows are visible, a small loophole near the ground and even a dormer window - this is on the outside, and inside (if you can call the back side of a lonely wall that way - there are several more windows and former gates located now below ground level. It is quite possible to climb around the ruins, unless, of course, you are afraid of breaking your neck. After examining the wall, you can walk north along the foundations of the castle to a small observation deck (from which, however, little can be seen) and then go down along the wooden up the steps into the Gauja valley, heading towards the caves...
In the meantime, let’s go read the history of Krimuldas Castle (Krimuldas pilsdrupas). It was founded in the second half of the 13th century at the direction of the Riga Dome Chapter, and after construction was completed, Sigulda received three castles, which have come down to us in one form or another.
However, Krimulda Castle (its real name is Cremon) was initially built not as a military citadel (it had only two small turrets for defense), but rather as a residence for receiving distinguished guests. In 1601, the Swedes easily captured it, but during a quick retreat they burned it, in the full sense of the word, leaving behind no stone unturned...
Only in 1861, the then owner of Krimulda, Count Lieven, began to carry out excavations on the territory of the castle and even, apparently, showed them to Emperor Alexander II, who visited Krimulda in July 1862. In those same years, thanks to the fashion for ancient ruins, the fragments of the wall I mentioned were restored on the previous foundations, and so successfully that they are perceived by many as originally ancient.
Here we are at the observation deck. From here you can clearly see Turaida Castle. Further along the steps we will start back into the river valley. On the way we will cross the Vikmestes River. The river was previously the natural border of the Turaida and Krimulda lands. There is a nice bridge across the river, which will serve as a place for photos.
We go out into the open. To our left is a high cliff. There are inscriptions everywhere on the clay wall. Many date back to the last century. And here is the first cave in front of us. This is the Maza Cave (during the Soviet Revolution). It is located on the right bank of the Gauja River, at the foot of the main slope of the ancient Gauja valley. The depth of the cave is 14 meters, the width at the entrance is 7.7 meters, the volume is 25 m3. The height of the cave at the entrance is 2 meters and decreases with each meter. After walking a few steps, you need to bend down, take another step or two and you can only move forward on all fours. If you lie down, then by the light of a flashlight, you can see an island sparkling in the water. Further on, the ceiling of the Maza cave no longer decreases, but at a height of 30 cm it extends five to six, perhaps more, meters deep. The end of the cave is not visible. A spring flows from the depths of the cave.
In 1957, proclamations issued in 1932 and directed against the bourgeois government of Latvia were found in the cave - therefore the cave was called the Cave of the Revolution. In 1990, the cave again became known as Maza.
Let's walk 150 meters. And before us is the most famous cave of Sigulda. Gutman's Cave is the largest cave in the Baltic countries. It is probably impossible to say anything new about Gutman’s cave. Perhaps, proudly tell you that you also left your painting on its walls (without saying that for this you had to erase writings from a hundred years ago). We did not do this, but rather enjoyed looking for the oldest inscription. We managed to find a record from 1811.
The cave is really beautiful. Its walls (as well as the surrounding stones, slopes, and other surrounding caves and cliffs) are filled with inscriptions left by visitors over the centuries. These walls consist of dense red sandstone, formed in the Devonian period, more than 400 million years ago.
A clear and cold stream flows out of the cave and flows into the Gauja, which flows nearby.
As for romance, according to one version, in ancient times, the leader of the Livs named Rindaug ordered a beautiful but unfaithful wife, who did not wait for him back from the war, to be walled up in a rock. The walled-up wife sobbed bitterly; her tears formed a clear stream, which then gnawed out the cave.
The most famous legend is that of Maya, known as the Rose of Turaida. The most beautiful one in the area was engaged to the local gardener. Every evening they met at this cave. As usual, a local rich man fell for the beauty and tricked Maya into calling her to the cave. When the rapist had already grabbed her, she, realizing that she would not be able to escape, offered him a ransom for herself. He asked what they were talking about. In response, Maya gave the villain her red scarf, which was tied around her neck. She explained that the scarf was enchanted, and that no one could hurt someone who wore the scarf.
The officer expressed doubt that the scarf was magical, but Maya offered to test its power by again tying the scarf around her neck and offering to hit her with a sword. The rapist decided that the handkerchief was indeed enchanted, since the girl offered to stab her without fear. He took the sword and struck Maya on the neck, killing her on the spot.
At the sight of the murdered girl, he woke up, sobbed bitterly, rushed into the forest and hanged himself there with a sword belt.
A young man in love, who came on a date and saw his beloved dead, was accused of murder, and only the confession of the rapist’s accomplice saved him from the gallows.
After the funeral, a cross was placed on the grave of the Turaida Rose, and the beloved young man left for Württemburg, where he was born.
Over the centuries that have passed since Maya's death, the story has acquired various mystical details and has become a legend - one of the most famous legends in Latvia.
In addition, they also talk about the healer Gutman (Gutermann - from the German “good man”), who treated many people with the help of water from a stream. The cave was named in honor of Gutman.
FROM the cave we will return to the road along which we will need to climb to the very top. To our right we will see the entrance to the Turaida Museum-Reserve, and to our left there is a bus stop for returning to Sigulda and trays with souvenirs. For lovers of souvenirs, we recommend buying them here. The choice is larger and cheaper. About visiting the castle and continuing the walk in the next part.
...Traveling through Central Asia, I often thought that the grandeur of the mountains and the vastness of the steppes cannot replace the most ordinary forest above a slow river. So now, after a two-month break, I resume the story about Latvia. Past posts about this Baltic country - look by tag.
If the Western Dvina is such a “Latvian Dnieper”, then the Gauja is here instead of the Dniester: the main river Vidzeme, the longest in Latvia (since, unlike the Daugava, it flows through it from source to mouth) and notable for its deep wooded valley. On the Gauja, fifty kilometers from Riga, stands Sigulda (11 thousand inhabitants) - perhaps the most picturesque Latvian town, which grew up in the Middle Ages in the field of view of as many as three castles: the order's Zigevold on the left bank, the episcopal Treiden (Turaida) and the capitular Kremen (Krimulda) on the right. Ziegevold is usually translated as “forest of victories” - it was the first castle founded by the Crusaders in the interior of the mainland (1207). About him, in general about the left bank of Sigulda and about the kilometer-long cable car through the Gauja valley - in the first part.
The history of Sigulda is very typical for Latvia - a turbulent and beautiful knightly Middle Ages, transformation into a provincial estate village after the Livonian and Northern Wars and finally the return of city status in 1928. The border of Sigulda is formed by the Riga-Pskov highway, from which the walk to the station is about a kilometer, to the Sigulda castle - about three, and to Turaida - more than 6. The area from the highway to the railway is completely inexpressive:
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The only thing that catches your eye is a little church on one of the side streets, which, upon closer inspection, turns out to be a typical remake:
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The border of the center can be considered a station on the former Pskov-Riga railway, which in 1886-89 connected Riga with St. Petersburg along the shortest route. The traffic here is not as active as on the electrified lines near Riga, but still diesel runs every 2-3 hours:
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When I saw the station, I immediately admired - “what an excellent example of the architecture of the First Republic of Latvia!”, and most likely not even from the time of Ulmanis, but from the 1920s - you must agree, there is nothing like this in other countries of the former Union:
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It’s all the more surprising that it’s actually Stalinist, which I refused to believe until I saw a photo of a real station from the 1920s. In general, I regularly make mistakes in the dating of buildings in Latvia, that is, in fact, the “architecture of the First Republic” lived on even after its disappearance, right up to the Khrushchev era. The fabulous appearance of the old station at a station that was not even a city at that time probably indicates that Sigulda had already begun to develop as a resort.
5a. 
According to the new Latvian tradition, the station here is combined with a motor port, buses to Riga run every hour and it is much more convenient to get there.
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On the square there is the local Laima clock. That's right, "Laima" is a well-known famous chocolate factory in Riga, and a similar clock is installed in the capital at the entrance to the Old Town near its company store. Why there are still some here - alas, I don’t know.
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If you follow the railway for about a kilometer towards Riga, you will come to the beauty and pride of Latvian sports, the bobsleigh and luge complex (1986), until recently the only one in the post-Soviet space. I reached him the next day, accompanied by renatar - the fact is that this complex was designed by her father, Victor Rimsha.
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In general, as it turned out later, I saw three buildings designed by Viktor Benediktovich, and I didn’t know this about the other two - but I remembered them. According to Renata, in modern Latvia they don’t really like to remember his contribution, and the authorship of the building is attributed either to the Yugoslavs (in fact, they carried out the direct construction), or to the Germans from the GDR (they carried out technical calculations). The bobsleigh track here is unique in that from one point you can see its 7 turns:
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The track descends very beautifully into the Gauja Valley, and it is not so uncommon to find lugers practicing on it.
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Scheme of the route and a bob - a bobsleigh with a " " ornament on the side. Although luge originated in the 1880s in the Alps, and entered the Olympic Games program in 1954, this sport is still not very well known in our country - however, it was Latvian lugers who won the first USSR medals in this sport in 1980. In post-Soviet times, their own luge and bobsleigh complexes have since been built in the Moscow region (Paramonovo) and Sochi.
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From the station to Sigulda Castle it is another twenty minutes walk. There are more cute houses here than behind the railway, but they do not form a coherent development anywhere.
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Installations so beloved in the Baltics:
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But in general, most of all, Sigulda resembles Jurmala - a comfortable resort town, where in every second house there is not a hotel or a cafe, and every second passer-by is a group of tourists:
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On the approaches to the castle there is St. Berthold's Church (1930-36, but generally known in this place since 1483):
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Protestant minimalist hall:
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And in the tower there was an exhibition of mosaics by Valdas Athals (if I’m not mistaken):
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Everything would be fine, but they are made of buttons! I have seen paintings made of sand, and of feathers, so these mosaics perfectly continue the series.
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Well, the castle is just a stone's throw away. For his detailed history, as usual, I refer you to Renata Rimsha’s website, but I will retell it very briefly. As already mentioned, Zigevold was the first castle founded by the Crusaders far from the sea (1207-1211), and for the next three hundred years it remained one of the most influential in Livonia. Firstly, the lands touched here, and therefore the interests of the Master of the Order, the Archbishop of Riga and, in addition, again the Riga Dome Chapter, which did not have many possessions outside of Riga, collided; Secondly. the Gauja valley, in principle, turned out to be the center of the order's lands, its capital Wenden (Cesis) stood a little higher, and Zigevold was the center of the commander's office (province), on the territory of which it was located. Since 1432, the residence of the landmarshal, that is, the commander, was located here - and as you might guess, in the Order this was position No. 2 after the master. And although the castle was destroyed by Ivan the Terrible during the Livonian War, it was still rebuilt much faster than Wenden, and under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth it was the de facto center of the Wenden Voivodeship, which included almost the entire right bank of Latvia. The castle was finally finished off by the Polish-Swedish war, and after it fell to Sweden in 1621, in subsequent centuries Zigevold turned from a fortress into an estate that grew up on the site of a destroyed forburg - the decorative wall of the late 19th century runs approximately in the same place as the fortress wall:
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Over the course of three hundred years, the estate changed many owners, the Baltic barons Borchs owned the castle the longest (1783-1898) (I already showed another of their estates), and the last owners were the Kropotkins - it must be said that it is quite a rare case that the estate of a Baltic baron went to Russian nobleman: Dmitry Kropotkin married Olga Borkh (formally remaining the mistress of the estate until the end of her life), after which, in 1878-81, one of the most beautiful neo-Gothic palaces in Latvia was built, the architect of which, by the way, was the ethnic Latvian Janis Mengelis .
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But the wooden outbuildings may be older, from the time of the Borchs:
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Another painted sleigh, this time not at all sporty:
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Burnt down during the First World War, after the war the palace became state property, and in the 1930s it housed the House of Writers - I don’t know what they did there: they performed, created, or rested; then (1936-37) the tower was built on. Nowadays the palace is occupied by the Sigulda City Council, and I still don’t understand whether it is possible to freely get inside, where very beautiful interiors from the 1920s have been preserved.
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And medieval ruins are found right in the backyard, behind the deep ditch that separated the convention from the foreburg. Ziegevold was lucky - the owners of the estate took care of it as a decoration of the park and a relic, and even before the revolution the Old Castle became one of the main attractions of the Baltic region. As I understand it, most of the surviving buildings date back to the 15th century, and in 2011 they underwent a very high-quality restoration. On the right is the meeting hall and chapel, on the left is one of the two surviving towers, and in the wooden structure there is a ticket office and a souvenir kiosk:
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Above the entrance is the Borchov coat of arms.
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From a wall so high that an arrow could not fly over it, there is a view of the Kropotkin Palace in one direction, and a scene inside the castle in the other:
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The wall and the chapel - the look of the Middle Ages is simply amazing:
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Chapel from the inside. The wall in the foreground separated the meeting room:
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The core of the second tower contains a small museum, which I did not go to:
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And this is what the castle looked like during its heyday on the eve of the Livonian War:
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The observation deck offers views of the Gauja forest and Turaida Castle in the distance, a plan of which is also attached.
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Or rather, his replica - the real Treiden has not survived to this day; many of its stones went into the construction of the Kropotkin Palace, and there, in the distance, since 1953, the “ideal Livonian castle”, a collective image of the knightly past of the Baltic states, has been slowly being built.
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The excitement in the castle that day was clearly noticeable: in addition to the stage, there were laid tables...
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At the checkout counter there is a girl in medieval attire (I apologize for the fact that I took a photo in an awkward position, but I still think that even this way it is clear that she is very beautiful):
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And at the gates of the estate, a boy musician greeted the arriving guests:
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Coming out of the gate, I went to the right - past the boiler room:
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Past the directorate of the Gauja National Park - by the way, the largest (about the size of Moscow before expansion) and oldest (1979) in Latvia:
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Through a busy street that descends steeply from the shore and through a cozy park with flower beds to the cable car station, the 1060 m long line of which was thrown in 1969 across the Gauja valley:
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The only booth runs once every half hour until 6 pm, and it is better to arrive in advance - everyone may not fit in it. I was waiting to board in a group of tourists, where the most noticeable was a large girl of about 20 with short hair and a very loud voice. In principle, after five minutes of waiting, judging by the intonations and expressions (especially the word “hipster” that regularly popped up), I had no doubt that these were Muscovites in front of me, and I couldn’t even resist asking them about it directly. There are generally a lot of Russian tourists in Latvia, and the guys, of course, were not very happy about the appearance of a compatriot in their field of vision.
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The start of the cable car is impressive - as soon as it starts, it goes down sharply. The appearance of the pavilion is rather suspicious - clearly another echo of interwar architecture. I didn’t measure the travel time, but it felt like 7-10 minutes.
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The Gauja, with its wild hilly banks, reminded me a lot, especially where nothing man-made gets into the frame:
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But that this is not the Russian North, but the Baltic states, is made clear by three castles from different sides - Zigevold is behind, barely visible behind the trees:
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Turaida three kilometers upstream:
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And Krimulda is right ahead - it has been known since 1255; like Ziegevold, it was destroyed in the Polish-Swedish war and from 1625 turned into an estate, which was further owned by the Lievens, and in 1862 Alexander II even stayed in the palace. The current palace, as I understand it, was built around the same time, and somewhere in the manor park there are even ruins of walls from the 14th century. In Soviet times, a tuberculosis sanatorium was located there, for which the cable car was built, and as reported calendulae , with the participation of builders from the Georgian Chiatura, where there is a whole network of passenger cable cars. However, I didn’t really examine the Krimulda estate:
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The bridge is a little older than the cable car - 1950, and in principle it is strange that the matter was not limited to it. Pay attention to the abundance of driftwood - its wooded banks of the Gauja are very intensively eroding:
45.
Krimulda station at the other end of the cable car:
46.
You can get to Turaida Castle using this thing - but I decided to walk:
47.
About Krimulda and Turaida - in the next part.
LATVIA-2013
. Villages and religions. Imperial Riga. "Eisenstein Quarter".
Station, market and high-rise building.
Maskachka. The wrong side of Riga.
Factory suburbs. Grzinkalns.
Factory suburbs. North-Eastern industrial zone.
Factory suburbs. Sarkandaugava.
Left Coast. Zadvinje, or Pardaugava.
Left Coast. Bolderaja, Daugavsgriva fortress and access to the sea.
Riga Ethnographic Museum.
Jurmala. Resort villages.
Jurmala. Railway, Sloka and Kemeri.
Vidzeme.
Sigulda. Left bank of the Gauja.
Sigulda. Krimulda and Turaida.
Cesis. County town.
Cesis. Wenden Castle.
Cesis. Araishi.
Vidzeme hinterland. Straupe, Ungurmuiza, Birini.
. Narrow gauge railway.
. Cities and estates.
Semigallia (Zemgale).
Jelgava. Mitavsky Palace and Castle Island.
Jelgava. Remains of the city.
Rundala and Zalenieki. Biron Palaces.
Bauska. The first capital of the duchy.
Tukums. On the way to Courland.
Neighborhoods of Tukums. Slokenbeka, Cinevilla, Jaunmok.
Courland (Kurzeme).
Kuldiga. City over the waterfall.
Kandava and Sabile. Courland towns.
Courland outback. Embute, Virga, Priekulya, Grobinya.
Liepaja. Sea façade.
Liepāja naval. Karosta and Tosmare.
Liepaja industrial. Metallurgical Plant and Northern Suburb.
Liepaja. New City and Trade Canal.
Liepaja. Old city.
Cirava, Saka, Pavilosta.
Land of the Suits. Alsunga, Edole.
Ventspils. Old city.
Ventspils. Port and new flavor.
Ventspils. Seaside Park.
Dundaga and Nurmuiza.
. The root of the Baltics.
Let's start with the Sigulda-1 ZPU, because it is perishable. We’ll leave the Ligatne deliciousness for later.
The ZPU of the Civil Defense Troops of the Republic of the LSSR Sigulda-1 is located, oddly enough, in the city of Sigulda (a little more than 50 km in a straight line from the center of Riga). It was supposed to complement the Līgatne ZPU. Part of the party leadership had to take refuge in Līgatne, and part in Sigulda.
The facility is located on the territory of an abandoned military unit. The bunker itself is located under the main ground level, hidden on the surface by a large metal hangar, which is located on an embankment approximately one and a half meters high, that is, between the actual surface of the earth and the “ceiling” of the bunker is approximately two to three meters. Until 2015, HF was abandoned. Then the Laser Tag Club bought it and organized several playgrounds on its territory (but games are not held in the ZPU, but it seems that the owners sold almost all the metal from there).
We wait for the club’s workers to leave for lunch, we rush into the territory and look for the leaner.
So what do we have inside here? Dilapidated walls and almost complete absence of anything iron. The lights are on in two lampshades. Not much, but we'll see.
The table has been preserved! Important party members were supposed to sit behind him and discuss what to do when the blast waves above were demolishing the houses of mere mortals.
Well, other rooms in which at least something has been preserved:
And this is the second entrance/exit from the ZPU, leading to the parking lot with a helipad:
There was most likely an inventory warehouse here:
This wall in the former diesel plant is worthy of a separate comment. According to the “legends”, behind the backfill there should be a secret passage leading to the Līgatne ZPU. I doubt about Līgatne (after all, it’s 17 km in a straight line), but Sigulda-2 can definitely lead to the ZPU. I will tell you about it below.
Now we get out and walk a couple of kilometers to the Sigulda-2 control point. There is an operating hotel on the surface of this communication facility. The bunker itself is partly abandoned, but is in good condition: there is a diesel generator, all pressure doors, fire control units, electrical wiring, signs on the doors, civil defense posters, etc. All entrances are closed, except for the entrance from the ravine.
To my great regret, already in the first ZPU my camera battery began to run out. And all that I was able to photograph in Sigulda-2 was the process of breaking through the foam block masonry.
Therefore, you will only have to talk about what is inside. The bunker is a single-sector, one-story flat structure, measuring approximately 30 by 45 meters. The central corridor runs through the entire bunker. There are 2 main entrances, one of which branches into 3 entrances, including the one in the ravine. The object was one of the nodes of the secure terrestrial communication line of the Iskra-1 system (object 535), segment Riga-Sigulda-Valmiera-Valka-Pskov.
Whoever will be there after me, be sure to take a photo of him, please! :)
And now we proceed to a full inspection of the Līgatne ZPU. It is located 67.5 km in a straight line from the center of Riga. The ZPU had the name "Boarding House Object" because a boarding house was built above it. During the USSR, only military personnel with high ranks could get a ticket to it.
Historical reference:
In 1968, a decision was made to build a shelter facility under the boarding house of the fourth main department of the Ministry of Health of the LSSR, which was under construction. The cost was supposed to be 4 million Soviet rubles, but it turned out to be only 10. Construction took 13 years.
The facility performed two functions: it was a communications center and a shelter for the highest echelon of power in the LSSR. After 5 years, the functions of the communications center were transferred to facility 535, which was introduced in Sigulda; the communications equipment in the Boarding House facility was dismantled and it was left with one function - a reserve command post for the leaders of the republic.
By 1982, the entire health complex of the boarding house, along with the underground shelter, was put into operation. The boarding house itself was classified and until the restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia in 1991 was under the patronage of the 8th and 15th departments of the KGB of the USSR.
Now the boarding house is open to everyone, and excursions are conducted in the boarding house. But excursions don’t work, so it was decided to coordinate with one very good Latvian friend and go there after the tourists had left. We arrived at the place in the afternoon and began to wait for the right hour. We while away the time and walk around the territory. It becomes clear that there is a really large object underground: there are as many as seven ventilation shafts, and some of them are located 30-40 meters from the building. Interestingly, most of them are covered with bushes or trees so that they are not visible from a satellite.
VS from the residential part of the bunker (it remains closed, only the rooms where people were supposed to work are accessible):
Vshi from the FVU node and the canteen:
Diesel VSh:
The ZPU has three entrances/exits: from the side of the car park, from the side of the helipad disguised as an open drained swimming pool, and inside the boarding house. Let's look at the one next to the parking lot.
We will get there (the herma is held on by a screwed bolt), but later.
More surroundings:
Swimming pool acting as a helipad (photo from the Internet):
At half past eight we go inside. We are greeted by a curved corridor that leads to the main part of the bunker. There is also a room with diesel generators in it, but, unfortunately, it was tightly closed.
The first herms are inside. The photo was taken in the airlock chamber, where the clothes of those who came from outside should be decontaminated.
Wash your hands!
Having orientated ourselves in space and conjured over the light switches and locks, we go to the entrance located inside the boarding house to imagine that we are important members of the LSSR party, who were alerted and taken to the ZPU.
It is worth providing a map of the site. “Passage to the second bunker” is the entrance to the residential part of the ZPU, where the entrance leads from the side of the helipad. The area of the residential part is half the area of the working part of the ZPU. Impressive scale!
Hm. So, let's transform! From Riga to ZPU Līgatne, General Maris Balodis and radio operator with security clearance Kristina Berzins arrived at the alarm!
Let's go down...
We open the pressure doors...
And we understand that things are bad: only we were able to get to the ZPU. There is not a soul in the huge underground bunker. We have a great responsibility!
Let's go around the bunker clockwise, looking into the rooms.
Let's check what the state left us:
Using one of these phones you can call the Kremlin:
Telephone PBX:
All kinds of equipment:
And here is the meeting room. It's a pity there is no one left to gather.
Sigulda is a small town located 51 kilometers from the Latvian capital. People come to Sigulda, first of all, to relax from the hustle and bustle of the big city, as well as for the picturesque pristine nature, fresh air and solitude. And it’s not in vain that Sigulda attracts people like a magnet, because the city is located in the largest city in Latvia, stretching for 918 kilometers along both banks of the Gauja River.
In addition to the gorgeous nature, Sigulda has many architectural and historical monuments, medieval castles, churches, parks and other interesting places of interest.
In this article we will take a leisurely stroll around Sigulda and see the main and, in our opinion, most interesting sights of the city. As we said earlier, Sigulda is a small town, you can easily get around it on foot in just an hour. This city is beautiful, impressive and somehow calmingly calm. In some places, especially sitting on a bench in the walking stick park, Sigulda resembles small towns in Bavaria ().
Our walk around Sigulda started from station square(Stacijas laukums). This is where we came from Riga by train, and buses also come here. About how to get from Riga to Sigulda and back on your own.
The station square is small in size, there is playground And Laima watch. Laima clock is a city clock, with the logo of the famous Latvian confectionery factory “Laima”. Similar clocks can be seen in other cities of Latvia, for example in Riga. Laima Clock is located on.
Walking around Sigulda, we kept coming across public gardens and natural parks
Walking along Pils street we came to a landmark, Keys Square. The Square of Three Keys is a small piece of land on which there are three huge iron keys resting on a stone wall, an arch with a bench for rest and a decorative bridge nearby. The Three Keys monument symbolizes the three historical centers of the surroundings of the Gauja National Park and their unity - Sigulda, Turaida and Krimulda. The square was opened in 2007 in honor of the 800th anniversary of Sigulda.
Walking further we came across the next attraction of the city - Cane Park. Sigulda Walking Stick Park was opened in 2007 as a tribute to Sigulda's most popular souvenir - walking sticks. Mention of this item can be found in archival publications of the city of the 19th century, which say that for a walk in the countryside mountainous area you definitely need a cane, which previously could be purchased from any street urchin. Nowadays, the cane, of course, has lost its practical use, but it remains a popular local souvenir. You can buy such a souvenir in any shop; they sell them in a variety of sizes, from large to small.
Cane Park, a small green square with benches and sculptural compositions.
The streets in Sigulda are not wide, and residential buildings are mostly private and one-story with lawns and low fences around the perimeter. Of course, you can’t call them an attraction, but they’re still beautiful.
Having crossed to the opposite side of Raina street (Raiņa iela) we go out to small lake.
Near the lake is located (Siguldas Evangeliski Luteriska baznica). Address of the location of the Sigulda Lutheran Church: Baznicas iela 2.
In ancient times, on the site of the current church there was another church called the Church of St. Bertulis (Berthold). The first evidence of the church dates back to 1483. Since the early 30s of the last century, a new church tower was built according to the design of the architect P. Pekshen, and six years later the restoration of the altar was completed. They say you can climb the church tower, from there you can enjoy a panoramic view of the city.
The inside of the church is small; from the main entrance to the altar there is a passage covered with a carpet, and there are benches on both sides of it.
An organ is installed above the central entrance. The current organ is a masterful mosaic of parts from various organs. The fact is that in the post-war period several parts disappeared from the original organ, after which they were replaced with equivalent parts from the organs of other churches. So, over time, the organ was completely restored.
We go to another famous attraction of Sigulda - to the white house. The White House was built in the 90s of the 19th century for Nikolai Kropotkin and his family, the owner of the Sigulda estate. During the agrarian reform in 1920, the house was sold. Its new owner was Ernestine Poruks, the widow of the famous Latvian poet and romantic Jānis Poruk. She ran a boarding house in the house, which she gave another name, White Castle.
Further, the White House was renamed more than once and there was nothing under its roof. There was a gymnasium, Latvian and Russian secondary schools, during the Second World War the German army used it as a refuge, and the house was also abandoned for a long time until it was transferred to the economic management of the Administration of the Gauja National Park. Currently, the initiative center for education in the field of nature and cultural environment “Balta pils” operates in the White House.
Near the White House there are these bunker-shelter, built in the 40s of the 20th century to shelter local residents from air raids. The bunkers have been abandoned for a long time and of course there is nothing remarkable about them, except perhaps that they are now serving wintering sites for bats.
Not far from the shelters there is such a wonderful composition. Some soldiers made from scrap metal, granite stones and wood. By the way, this sculptural composition is also included in the list of attractions of Sigulda and it is called Sculptural group "Knight's Parade"(Skulpturu grupa ""Bruņinieku parade").
The residents of Sigulda are very proud of this sculpture, well, firstly, they consider the sculpture a unique object, and secondly, they believe that it not only fits perfectly into the general appearance of the city, but also complements it. Why do they think so? Now you will understand this!
If we look forward from the Knights' Parade sculpture and walk a few steps, we will come out to a stone gate stylized in the Middle Ages, and upon entering the gate we will be greeted by stunning beauty New Sigulda Castle, built in the 19th century by the Kropotkin princes. And behind the castle another amazing surprise awaits us - ruins of the old medieval castle of Livonian castle, built in the 1200s.
The medieval Sigulda Castle was once a majestic stone structure, then a city was formed around it, and it was from this castle that the history of Sigulda began. Currently, only two observation towers and part of the defensive wall remain from the Medieval castle. These two castles are considered the most important sights of Sigulda, together forming. A separate article is devoted to these two castles on our blog, with detailed descriptions and magnificent photographs.
In the photo on the left is the New Sigulda Castle, on the right is the Sigulda Medieval Castle of the Livonian Order
This concludes our walk around Sigulda. Then we went to the cable car and went on a walking route to the Gauja National Park, visiting the Gutman Cave and the Turaida Museum-Reserve with the Turaida Castle. But this is a completely different story, which we will tell about in the next article. So, after walking around Sigulda, don’t stop, but continue your walk, you can join us about the walking route through the Sigulda nature reserve, cable car, cave and castles.
What to do in Sigulda with children?
Sigulda is not only about architectural sights and nature, that is, mostly entertainment for adults, the city also has a lot of entertainment for children of all ages. First of all, it's big and famous Adventure Park "Tarzan". Tarzan, the largest amusement park in the Baltic, attracts families from all over the area.
The park is located directly in the city, in the open air. What is attractive about the park is that everyone, regardless of age, will find entertainment in it. We also wanted to visit this park, but we didn’t have enough time, it’s big and you probably need to set aside a whole day to visit it.
Tarzan Adventure Park features an obstacle course for children and adults with over 100 different tree-mounted obstacles, a carousel, zip lines, a roller coaster track, a catapult, a spinner, a giant tree swing, a climbing wall, large trampolines, and velomobiles. , tube riding, attractions - archery, and a separate place for picnics.
The Tarzan Adventure Park is located at: Sigulda, Peldu Street 1.
There is another park in Sigulda, this Adventure Park "Forest Cat". To get to this park you will need to walk a bit. The park is also suitable for the whole family. The Forest Cat amusement park offers obstacles, cables, nets, bridges of various designs, swings, beams, ropes and ladders, as well as rope flights, a volleyball court, a guest house built in the Alpine style, a sauna complex, a tavern and premises for seminars.
In winter, there is a ski slope in the park. The Lena Cat adventure park is located at Sigulda, Senču Street 1.
Active holidays in Sigulda
Active recreation is also well developed in Sigulda. Of course, the parks listed above are also suitable for active recreation, but there are still separate places for this in Sigulda: the Sigulda Sports and Active Recreation Center and the bobsleigh and luge track.
Sigulda Sports and Active Recreation Center, offers its guests a 1.25-kilometer track for roller skating, Nordic walking and running. Roller skates and roller skis can be rented here. A distance ski trail is open in the center. By the way, this is the only frozen track of this type in Eastern Europe. The center for sports and active recreation also has a giant swing with a 7-meter free fall.
The sports and active recreation center is located at the address: Sigulda, Pukyu Street 4.
Sigulda bobsleigh and luge track is one of the rarest buildings of its kind in the world. Its length is 1420 meters, has 16 turns and a 200 meter braking distance. The bobsleigh and luge track is located at the address: Sigulda, Šveitses street 13.
As you can see, Sigulda has prepared a lot of different places for relaxation and entertainment for every taste and color for all ages. So, come to Sigulda, you definitely won’t regret it. From personal experience I can say that having visited Sigulda, we regretted only one thing: we came to the city for only one day and did not have time to see and do so much. Next time we will definitely come for a few days and catch up.
Shops, cafes and restaurants in Sigulda
Almost all shops, cafes, restaurants and bars in Sigulda they are located near the Auto, Railway station, and near the station square. Further, walking around the city and along the routes of the Gauja Park, there will be practically no cafes or shops as such, so if you want to take food with you, worry about it in advance. We didn’t think about our daily food, the long walks exhausted us, so then we couldn’t even buy water, we had to walk around hungry for half a day.
Large Elvy's grocery store (Elvi) located near the Auto and Railway station at the address: Vidus iela 1, Sigulda. Prices for groceries in Sigulda are the same as in stores in Riga, and throughout Latvia they are approximately the same. About food prices in Riga.
Where to stay in Sigulda?
Vacationers in Sigulda are offered hotels without stars, which cost from 20 € per double room per day, and three, four and five star hotels, costing from 57 € per double room per day.
It is better to book rooms, especially during high season, although it is high season in Sigulda at any time of the year. We always book hotels in any country in the world through
