Cesis - a city with more than 800 years of history
After our stay in Kuldiga we continued by bus to Cesis, northeast of the capital Riga. We had to change trains once in Riga, but that was no problem at all. In general we can say that the buses in Latvia arrived very punctually and all transfers always worked without problems!
Cesis is a medieval town surrounded by the Gauja National Park and we were looking forward to the combination of old town and lots of nature! Unfortunately the weather was not quite on our side, we had some rainy hours every day. We stayed three nights in an accommodation on the outskirts of the city, where easily 8 people could have stayed. We had a small kitchen for self-catering, a living room with three beds and two bedrooms.
In the middle of the city of Cesis there is an old castle, which is built as a museum and in whose towers you may enter. Already in 1212 the castle was built by German crusaders! We started with the visit of the castle park, which we already liked very much. At the entrance to the museum we received a small lantern with a candle in it, which we needed for the tour. That gave the whole thing a great flair!
On the second day the weather was good in the morning and we took the chance to have a look at the sandstone rocks at the river Gauja. We found out that there is a bus that can take us very close. The Erglu Cliffs ("Organ Cliffs") are about 20m high and 700m long and are located directly at the Gauja river. We really liked it very much. What we also liked most was that we were alone at the rock all the time. So we had the great view only for us.
For the way back there was no suitable bus that could take us back to the city. We first thought about walking to a bridge a few kilometers further in the national park, but decided against it as the weather got dangerously worse. The Gauja National Park certainly has a lot to offer. I also read that many people go there for a canoe trip, which sounds great. But of course, such activities are only half as nice with rain and thunderstorms. So we walked the almost 6 km back to our accommodation and arrived just in time before it began to rain.
Cesis was our last stop in Latvia and we went on to Estonia!
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