Turaida Castle

Turaida Castle is a medieval fortress above the Gauja Valley, on the edge of Sigulda. Its warm red brick makes it one of Latvia's most recognisable landmarks. Before the stone walls went up, this hill held the wooden fort of Kaupo, a Livonian leader. The Livonian name for the place, Toreidhia, translates as the Garden of Gods.

After Kaupo's fort burned in battle, Bishop Albert of Riga ordered a new stone castle here in 1214. It was first called Fredeland, the Land of Peace, but locals kept saying Turaida, and that name won. Over the centuries the site grew into a complex more than 200 metres long, with homes, kitchens, a brewery and even a prison.

The oldest part of the castle is the main tower, which reaches nearly 39 metres to the top. In the Middle Ages it was the last place to retreat if the castle fell. Oddly, you could not walk in at ground level. The original door sat about 10 metres up, roughly where the balcony is today, and wooden stairs led to it. If enemies attacked, the defenders pulled the stairs down.

Guards spent their days running up the steep steps to watch the valley for approaching troops. The climb is still a workout - in one modern race, the fastest runner took the tower stairs in just 31 seconds. As firearms spread, the castle gained heavy gun towers. The North Gate Tower has walls up to four metres thick, with slots for the early hook guns.

The castle had a stormy life. The archbishops of Riga ran it, but the Livonian Order seized it again and again. During the wars of the 16th and 17th centuries it changed hands between Poles and Swedes, passed around like a prize.

Its end came in 1776 through pure bad luck. The story goes that someone in the manor tried to shoot a swallow perched on a barn's straw roof. One spark caught the dry straw, and the fire spread until the castle stood in ruins. It stayed a romantic ruin for almost two centuries.

Restoration began in the 1950s. After 25 years of digging, which made Turaida the best-studied medieval castle in the Baltics, the walls and towers were rebuilt from old 18th and 19th-century drawings. The restored buildings now hold exhibitions on medieval life.

The castle is tied to Latvia's saddest love story, the Rose of Turaida. In the early 17th century an orphan named Maija grew up here and fell in love with Viktor, the castle gardener. A Polish soldier, Adam Jakubowski, wanted her for himself.

He lured Maija to nearby Gutman's Cave and tried to take her by force. To stay true to Viktor, she told him her red scarf was magic and would stop any blade, then dared him to test it. He swung his sword and she fell dead. Her grave still lies by the castle walls, carved with the promise that love is stronger than death.

The castle is only one part of the 42-hectare Turaida Museum Reserve, and the rest is worth a slow walk. The Hill of Songs and the Sculpture Park celebrate Latvian folk songs, the dainas, while the old wooden Turaida Church and Church Hill stand nearby.

You can lay flowers at the Rose of Turaida's grave, then wander the historic manor, where nearly 40 old buildings show how people lived here long after the knights were gone. Sigulda next door adds a cable car over the Gauja and more castle ruins, so the whole area makes an easy day trip from Riga.