I went to Cēsis Castle and it was awesome

Sveiki! Yank here, I was on a road trip a couple weeks ago and spent an afternoon at Cēsis Castle.

When I paid €10 for entrance, they handed me a candle-lit lantern and told me I'd need it because the towers were dark. Amazing. So fucken cool. More castles should do this. This made it one of the more memorable castle visits I've had.

Different parts of the castle had undergone renovation or restoration at different times, and a large portion is still being restored.

A decent-sized museum is in a portion of the castle that had been renovated to a fancy nobleman's taste in the 1800s, IIRC. You can go up on one of the towers there and get a great view of the surrounding town.

There is plenty of English-language interpretation. There's also a workshop open to visitors in the summer (I happened to go on the first day of the season!) where they make and sell replicas of historical jewelry and clasps etc found in archaeological digs.

10/10 would visit again and look forward to seeing it when even more has been restored. If you're wondering if you should go, my answer is a resounding yes. H/t to the redditors over in /r/BalticStates for the recommendation.