Page 189 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

LA T VIA REGION B Y REGION  187

EASTERN LATVIA

The eastern part of Latvia includes some of the country’s most
popular attractions, both natural and man-made, as well as
rarely visited rural districts. Although far from mountainous,
the terrain is not as flat here as in the west and there are two
extensive upland areas dotted with myriad lakes. Some of
these have well-developed tourist facilities, while others
remain isolated and untouched.
When the German crusaders arrived, best-known writers and musicians. Today
they found the Livs and Lettgallians Vidzeme is second only to Rīga as a
inhabiting the region which now forms travel destination, with the Gauja
Vidzeme, while Latgallians and Selians National Park com bining natural beauty
lived further east in what is now Latgale. and his torical attractions.
The Bishop of Rīga took control of the Latgale, on the other hand, was ruled
west and east of Vidzeme, while central by Poland until 1772. The Polish
Vidzeme and most of Latgale was influence fostered a strong Catholic
claimed by the Livonian Order. After the tradition, particularly evident in the
collapse of the Livonian Order in 1561 pilgrimage centre of Aglona. Latgale was
the whole of the east fell under later absorbed directly into the Russian
Lithuanian, and later Polish, rule. Empire, unlike other Latvian regions
The end of the Polish-Swedish Wars in which were ruled as separate provinces.
1629 saw Sweden ruling both Estonia This isolation from the rest of the country
and Vidzeme. The Russians conquered means that it has long been neglected
Vidzeme in 1721. Reliant economically as a predo minantly Russian backwater.
on agriculture, forestry and wood Despite this, its villages and serene lakes
processing, the region is sometimes charm visitors and the regional capital,
claimed as the cradle of Latvian culture Daugavpils, is slowly shaking off its
as it produced many of the country’s image as a grey Soviet throwback.

Old houses and tower in Cēsis, a town steeped in history
Turaida Castle among the trees of Gauja National Park

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