“Mazsālijas” is a guest house on an organic farm. The farm breeds fallow deer and trout, grows vegetables and fruit, makes wine. The hostess offers a 4 hour food workshop for small groups of visitors to cook a meal together in a friendly atmosphere. During the food workshop visitors will learn how to cook a meal on a firewood stove from the home produce – vegetables, trout, and fallow deer meet. The food workshop includes cooking a three-course meal: a starter (fallow deer tartar, salted trout), the main course: trout fried on butter with steamed vegetables, fallow deer meet with rosemary and potato gratin, a dessert: cream cheese with strawberry sorbet.

According to an old Latvian belief, nine dishes should be served for the festive Christmas meal. The hostess at “Vīnkalni” country house will teach visitors how to cook three Latvian traditional dishes:

‘Biguzis’ – a traditional country dessert with rye bread, whipped cream and fresh berries. Its ingredients are rye bread, cranberries or lingonberries, honey, cinnamon and whipped cream. Mature rye bread is crushed or grated. Cranberries are squeezed in juice, diluted with water, sweetened with honey and poured into bread. When the bread has sucked into the liquid, it is topped with whipped cream.

Fresh cheese – made from cow's milk adding various herbs and spice (cumin, hemp, greens).

Buns and cakes. It is said that in Latvian folk tradition round cakes and buns in the form of a crescent were baked to honour the Sun and the Moon. Today they are often baked for celebrations and festivities. The traditional Latvian buns ‘pīrāgi’ are made from yeast dough, are 5-13cm long in a curved form like a crescent. They are filled with bacon and onions or with cottage cheese or apples.

On December 21, Valmiermuiža will gather local producers from all around Latvia, offering homemade bread, cheese, smoked goods, lamprey, honey, herbal teas, spices, homemade wine, beer, juice, candied fruit, hard candy, gingerbread cookies and lots more.

Everything offered at the fair is natural and, hence, healthy, made by locally grown plants or gathered in the clean forests and meadows of Latvia. Local craftsmen will offer woollen socks, mittens, crochets, hammered work, wooden toys and jewellery to give them as presents to friends and relatives. Items made by local craftsmen would make our ancestors proud, as they have been made according to the best traditions.

Along the fair all visitors will have an opportunity to enjoy a varied culture programme, including activities to get better acquainted with the traditions of the annual customs, learn songs and games, master some of the traditional crafts and much more. 

Those who sell and those who buy are looking forwards to meet on the December 15 Christmas market at Straupe! There will be lots of seasonal treats and goodies for your festive table. To name just a few: fresh carp, a specially prepared quince elixir, vacuum packed beef, lamb, turkey, freshly cooked smoked meat, gingerbread dough, candy, marmalade, tea and honey jars. It will be a great and rich market that will fulfil all your wishes in the run-up to Christmas!

The programmes allow visitors to experience four unique and different ethnographic regions where authentic traditions are still part of peoples’ everyday life. They are: Setomaa region (Estonia), Kihnu island (Estonia), Suiti cultural space (Latvia) and the Livonian coast (Latvia) presenting UNESCO heritage in the following ways:

UNESCO proclaimed Intangible Cultural Heritage:

• SETO LEELO, Seto polyphonic singing tradition;
• KIHNU cultural space;
• SMOKE SAUNA tradition in Võromaa;
• SUITI cultural space.

On the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Latvia: the LIVONIAN Cultural space. Livonian community has made a commitment to prepare a nomination for UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Booklet (PDF).

Available in languages: English, Estonian, Latvian

Baltic Coastal Hiking is a long distance hiking route part of E9 along the coast of the Baltic Sea. The hiking route starts at the Lithuanian-Latvian border in the village of Nida in Latvia and finishes at the Port of Tallinn in Estonia. The ~1200 km of the Baltic Coastal Hiking Route are split up into 60 separate parts of one day walks (~20-25 km). Each day’s walk has a detailed description. An additional three spreads of the guide are dedicated to the islands of Estonia where travellers can continue their hike or, quite the contrary, relax by enjoying the cultural, historic, gastronomic or wellness offers on the islands. The guidebooks are issued in 5 different languages (english, latvian, german, estonian and russian). In limited amounts english, latvianan and german versions are available in printed format at our office in Riga, Kalnciema street 40.

>>> Free guidebook download (PDF, ~64MB)

Homepage: coastalhiking.eu

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Setomā (Setomaa) ceļvedis sniegs nelielu ieskatu setu zemes dabā un kultūrā, kā arī pastāstīs par Setomā tūrisma maršrutiem. Tā kā vēsturiskā Setomā sadalīta starp divām valstīm – Igauniju un Krieviju, tad nedaudz tiks apskatītas arī Krievijas teritorijā esošās nozīmīgās vietas: Pečoriem un Izborskai. Grāmata apskata arī svarīgākos ikgadējos notikumus, kā arī informē par ēdināšanas un nakšņošanas vietām. Ceļveža beigās atrodami daži praktiski padomi un neliela setu - latviešu vārdnīca.

Ceļvedis pieejams latviešu, angļu, krievu un igauņu valodās elektroniskā formātā šeit, kā arī  iespējams saņemt "Lauku ceļotāja" birojā Kalnciema ielā 40, Rīgā

Sadarbībā ar biedrību "Etniskās kultūras centrs "Suiti"" esam  izdevuši jaunu ceļvedi, kas domāts tūristiem, lai  iepazītu dzīvās un krāšņās Suitu tradīcijas. Ceļvedī ir īsi aprakstīti galvenie ar Suitu novadu saistītie vēsturiskie notikumi, interesanti fakti un 23 tūrisma objekti, kur var iepazīt suitu mantojumu, minēti svarīgākie ikgadējie notikumi, kā arī pievienota mazā suitu vārdnīca.

Ceļvedis pieejams latviešu, angļu, krievu un igauņu valodās elektroniskā formātā šeit, kā arī  iespējams saņemt "Lauku ceļotāja" birojā Kalnciema ielā 40, Rīgā

„Ceļvedis pa Lībiešu krastu” tapis ciešā sadarbībā ar lībiešiem un tas domāts ceļotājiem, kuriem interesē lībiešu kultūra un tradīcijas. Ceļvedī uzskaitīti galvenie ar Lībiešu krastu saistītie vēsturiskie notikumi, interesanti fakti, aprakstītas 23 vietas, kur var iepazīt lībiešu mantojumu, minēti svarīgākie ikgadējie notikumi, kā arī pievienota maza latviešu - lībiešu vārdnīca. 

Ceļvedis pieejams latviešu, angļu, vācu un igauņu valodās elektroniskā formātā šeit, kā arī  iespējams saņemt "Lauku ceļotāja" birojā Kalnciema ielā 40, Rīgā

The brochure introduces the Baltic Coastal Hiking route along the Baltic Sea coast between Riga and Tallinn. The 1200km route is part of the European long distance hiking route E9. Any part of the itinerary can be chosen for a hike of 60 days, a daily hike around 20 km. The whole route is divided into 8 sections revealing the variety of the seacoast and allowing hikers to choose their preferences. The brochure describes the highlights in each section, offers practical tourist information and includes a hiking route map.

Baltic Coastal Hiking tourist brochure and map (PDF, 18 MB)