We had a nice nights sleep in the carpark in the town of Cecis and were up bright and early to explore the castle.

We arrived at opening time of 10am and were the first people through the door. And we both got in for half price as seniors! Senior age here is 60, so I’m not quite there yet, but they didn’t question me. I’m still not sure whether to be offended or elated.

On payment, they handed us a lantern with an actual candle burning inside. How cool is that? It was for the darker corners of the castle, and when they said dark, they meant it. The stairwells were pitch black, winding up through towers that probably hadn’t changed in centuries. The candle barely cut through the blackness, making us double and triple check our footing. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t pass health and safety anywhere else in the world, but that’s what made it so cool. It felt gritty and real, like we were discovering some forgotten fortress rather than following a marked tourist trail..

After the castle, we made a stop in Līgatne, a little town that used to revolve around a paper mill. The neat thing about this town was the cave cellars. Locals dug them into the sandstone cliffs to store food and keep things cool before fridges were a thing. Some of them even had little wooden doors and signs, like hobbit holes with a Soviet twist. They continued to make caves as late as 1975, but then they turned the area into a national park, preventing any further caves.

We also stopped by Zvārtes Rock, a giant sandstone cliff rising out of the river. There’s a local legend about it being a gathering point for witches. We didn’t see any.

After this we were very sightseed out. I found a place to camp for the night, down a rutted bumpy dirt road. They all seem to be down these places for some reason. Neither of us felt the “vibe” here, so we had an afternoon nap and moved on. 

We ended up in a carpark for a cable car across the river. We’re not doing that, looks too scary! It was about 7pm and very peaceful as there was no one else around. So we decided to stay. But then cars kept turning up all hours of the night. They weren’t noisy, no loud radios or anything, but it just made me wonder why people were turning up at midnight. It was weird.