Touring in North Latvia - Tour No. 1

Riga - Aluksne - Gulbene- Madona

Leaving Riga and driving north-east will take you to the nature park of Gaujiena, and its palace and estate dating from the 19th century. The park also contains a museum dedicated to the memory of composer J. Vitols, as well as a memorial to the poet O. Vacietis and the ruins of the Gaujiena castle. Take a ride in a horse-drawn carraige (for information. Tel. 43-57340/57182) to Zvartava Castle, with its adjoining park and abbey set on the shores of the splendid Lake Zvartava.

Forty-five kilometres further on, in the north-eastern corner of the Vidzeme province, is the town of Aluksne, nestling on the shore of the Aluksne lake. In the town centre, between the lake and Pils Street, is Aluksne's Lutheran church, built between 1781 and 1788 on a foundation of natural rock. Unusually for a Latvian church, the walls are not plastered but of rubble. As you go towards Pils Street you'll come across the E. Gluck Bible Museum, named after the man who first translated the Bible into Latvian: until the 19th century spiritual books were the only ones available to Latvians. This museum contains a fascinating collection of sermons, texts and hymnbooks. Only a kilometre out of town, along the lakeshore, is the entrance to the Aluksne park, created at the end of the 18th century. A wooden bridge will take you across o Pilssala ('Castle Island'), with its castle ruins and open-air theatre.

Latvia's last operating narrow-gauge railway line connects Aluksne and Gulbene, where the station is at 10 Viestura Street. For information on the trains, call 43-22128. Gulbene itself is a long-established provincial town, but today it is dominated, more so than most Latvian towns, by the typical architecture of the Soviet era. However, the Vecgulbene estate, with most of its houses intact, can still be seen. The classic White Palace (1763), the Red Palace and the Magazine granary at 9 Brivibas Street, which today is home to the History and Art Museum are all worth a visit. Emzes Park itself was created in the 19th century by Baron Heinrich Wolf, to honour his pretty wife Marisa, and today several artificial ponds, complete with islands, survive, as well as many sculptures and some rare trees and plants.

The first thing you'll see as you approach the town of Cesvaube, 39 km south of Gulbene, will be the red-tiled turret of the former Cesvaube Palace, built between 1890 and 1897 and a fascinating example of ecleticism in architecture - Gothic, Romanesque, Renaissance and Art Nouveau elements all combine in this beautiful building which has been home to a school since 1919. Alongside the northern façade of the palace are the remains of the Bishop of Riga's castle, dating back to the 14th century.

Five kilometres down the road, you'll come to Biksere, with its sculpture garden, before reaching Modona. The eastern Vidzeme highlands make for some magnificent scenery, and the best views can be seen from the viewing tower on Gaizipkalns, at 311.5 m the highest point in all of Latvia.

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