Our next stop was Rundale Palace, about a 15-minute drive
from Bauska, where we spent an enjoyable 2 hours exploring this monument of
Baroque and Rococo architecture (which loosely reminded us of Versailles). If
you are there at the right time of year, be sure to look for the monstrous
stork nest built atop one of the towers/chimneys. (Storks return to the same
nesting spot year after year; although we didn’t see any birds, the massive
size of the nest was just incredible!) Rundale was built in the mid-18th
century as the summer residence for the Duke of Courland by the same architect
who designed St. Petersburg Russia’s Hermitage, Peterhof Palace, and Catherine
Palace. It includes 138 elaborately decorated rooms spread over two floors of a
U-shaped building, a French garden (with Baroque elements like hedges,
pavilions, and arbors), a Rose Garden (featuring 8,000 different roses, in
colors like red, yellow, pink, white,
orange, black, and blue), and a Latvian museum. We toured rooms
including the White Hall, Great Gallery
Hall, Gilt Hall, Duke’s and Duchess’s suites, four staircases, and two
kitchens. This site offers a gift shop, restrooms, and
cafes/restaurants. We visited the casual Cafe Ozollade Rundales Novalva
(meaning “Oak Chest”, where we had a round of drinks for about $5 USD; it is
not necessary to purchase admission to the Palace to dine there). Other dining
options at the Palace include the Restorans Rundales Pili, Cafe SIA Kommats (in
the porterhouse and garden pavilion), and the Cafe Under the Gold Vase (in the
garden).
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