It's still Thursday, 17 August. And we are still not back into Riga after our excursion to the Guaja valley. So let's continue the journey ...
Next stop: Gutman's Cave.
Gutman's Cave is the largest cave in the Baltics, about 18.8 meters deep, 12 meters wide and 10 meters high. It started forming more than 10,000 years ago when meltwater eroded the sandstone rock after the Ice Age.
The cave is named after a 'good man' who lived in the cave and healed people with the water from the spring inside the cave. The spring is still there and many believe that the water has healing properties. The walls of the cave are covered with 'graffiti' carved into the rock, including names, initials, dates, coats of arms among other things. The oldest engraving in Gutman's Cave is a coat of arms that dates back to the 17th century.
Our last stop before returning to Riga was at Sigulda (New) Castle, a Neo-Gothic castle built in the 19th century. The complex includes the castle, exhibition halls, other structures related to the area. In addition, see the statue of Atis Kronvalds, a Latvian writer, linguist and member of the Young Latvia movement. Our guide told us that he believed strongly in the need for Latvia to promote its own culture and language, and he worked to help define and shape the Latvian language by replacing words that had been 'borrowed' from other languages with a Latvian version. That work continues today.
This was our last stop of the excursion, and was mostly just a photo op. Back to the bus!
Once back in Riga, my plan had been to head back out to find the Botanical Garden or perhaps take a canal or river cruise. However, the skies decided to open up and drop rain all over me! Actually, it wasn't that bad, but I had left my raincoat in the hotel room. So I decided to head back and relax for a while before meeting up wtih some of my fellow travelers for dinner back in the old town.
Friday (tomorrow) is a travel day to Tallinn (Estonia). I know we make a couple of stops on the way, but I am going to use the evening to finalize these last few posts and make sure they are up. So expect anything interesting from Friday to be in the post that includes Saturday's exploration of Tallinn.
I'm actually a little sad to think this part of my walk-about in Europe will be over in another day or two. I have met some really nice people, and seen some amazing places. But at least I have the memories ... and the blog posts ... and thousands of photographs!
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