🇱🇻 Latvia by Car 1. Unique Places. Madona - Riga. Daugava River. Liepkalni.
Channel: Lidija SKOLNIJA 🔥Sparklet!
Date: 2023-01-20

🔥 In this film, you can see what to visit in Latvia in the summer if you drive from Madona to Riga. This time we stopped in two places Kalsnava of Madona County and Liepkalni near Plavinas. Interesting story of Daugava transformation, beautiful flower fields, and history of Liepkalnu Bakery. The Liepkalnu bakery is located on the right bank of the Daugava river in the lower part of Lower Daugava, Klintaines parish, Aizkraukle district, on the right bank of the Daugava near the town of Pļaviņas.

The ancient valley of Daugava is the most transformed natural area in Latvia. It was this section of the Daugava between Pļaviņas and Koknesi that was the most beautiful and powerful. The river flowed in a deep canyon-like valley, and dolomite cliffs up to 15-20 m high were exposed on the banks, the most outstanding of which was Oliņkalns with Andreja crag and on the other side of the river Staburags with Liepavota, boulders, rapids, ravines, and springs.

Now it is all covered by the Pļaviņu HPP water reservoir, only 1-4 m high dolomite walls rise above the normal water level (72 m above sea level), but Olinkalns is now a 350 m long and 130 m wide island.

Staburags is now preserved only in legends and literary works, as well as, of course, in memories and photographs, because it was one of the most popular excursion destinations even 60 years ago. It was. With the construction of the Pļaviņu HPP, Staburags went to the bottom of the Daugava, but the Koknese castle ruins, which once stood on the top of the hill, are now at the water level itself. However, just before the flooding, a large number of excursionists went to say goodbye to the crying Staburaga.

Lokstenes shrine is a shrine opened on May 6, 2017, on the Daugava island near Pļaviņas, which includes the main building, a transfer house, a gathering and flag square, a stone image, and the Gate of the Sun. It is named after the nearby flooded Lokstenes mound. The shrine is managed by the Latvijas Dievturi Sadraudze, which organizes events for the gods, as well as the Latvian calendar and national holidays.

About Liepkalni bakery

We always stop here to drink coffee, eat lunch, and buy freshly baked bread or dried meat on the spot. Many passers-by do, but do they know how this place came to be. I researched it.

Before the war in Latvia, bread was baked in every farmstead, including in the house of Liepkalni, where during the Latvian period in Naukšēnu parish, a good landlord, Jānis Mendziņš, farmed. He owned a large, well-kept farm "Liepkalni", which was established in 1928. Rye and barley were sown in Liepkalni fields. In the fall, the golden grains that have fallen in the mill are milled: rye - for rye bread, barley - for karasha.

On Saturdays, the hostess, tying a white scarf around her head, mixed the bread in the abra, lit the big bread oven, and put the big, round loaves of bread in the oven with a wooden spoon. Soon the whole farm smelled temptingly of fresh bread.

Owner Jānis always kissed the first cut piece. The owner of Liepkalni knew her special techniques, and recipes she had collected over the years, according to which the baked bread was especially soft and filling. Self-grown linseeds, pumpkin seeds, and cumin were also added to the bread.

In 1992, brothers Dagnis and Didzis Čākuri established the farm "Liepkalni" in Naukšēni parish near the border of Estonia, recovering their grandfather's land - 42 hectares and started growing grain.

From the grain he grew, he began to bake bread not only for his family but for the surrounding parishes.

In January 2006, they solemnly opened another bakery equipped with the latest technology in Liepsala - on the banks of the Daugava near Pļaviņas in Klintaines parish. This bakery, which is under the same roof as a shop and a cafe, is popular with many motorists on kilometer 117 of the Daugava highway. Us too.

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