Memories of the Batlics and Helsinki.

At the Hill of Witches, Curonian Spit, Lithuania.

This is the diary of my trip to the Baltics in 2013 and as with a few trips now, my brother was my travel partner.  We're now in a pattern of doing a big trip together every year and I'm thrilled to pieces about that.  There's no other way that I would rather spend a few weeks than to be traveling with him.  Besides, no one else knows how to put up with me better than him! :-)

Into the Heart of Latvia. Aglona.

This is the view that greeted us at the end of the day.  So worth the drive it took to get there!

Our drive today would take us 340km from Tartu, Estonia to Aglona, Latvia. According to our itinerary, we would pass through the Latvian towns of Alūksne, Rēzekne, and Preili along the way. 

Tartu.

Town Square.  Very charming area.  I can imagine what a lively place it must be
on a sunny day or at night when all  the restaurants and bars come to life.

Despite my complaints about the location of our hotel room (on the ground floor, right next to the reception desk, feet away from the road, I slept okay. Not great, but not bad. I must have been tired from yesterday. We headed to the restaurant for breakfast and it was not good. Not totally bad but definitely not good. I'll have to make it up somewhere else.

Continuing the Road Trip to Tartu.

Inside the Orangery at Palmse Manor.

By the time we left Käsmu, we had agreed that we would cherry pick the places to see rather than following Ieva's suggestions to a tee.  We had learned our lessons with Jägala-Juga waterfall, Kolga Manor and especially, the Jaani-Tooma kivi stone - all sounded good on paper but didn't come close to living up to our, perhaps overblown, expectations.

From Tallinn to Tartu. Part 1.

Posing in front of the kivi stone. He's gritting his teeth and clutching is fists,
pretending to not laugh :-)  Story follows.

Today as a long day.  Our drive would take us from Tallinn to the town of Tartu, known for its university.

Jurgen had kindly agreed to meet us in his apartment at 7:30a.  I thought it was too early but for him not.  He had to take his daughter to school and was up and ready to meet with us.  He's been such an accommodating host.

See You Later Tallinn. Hello Helsinki!

Water and boats....we're heading in the right direction.

Wake up! I had to rustle Bro up today. It was an early wake up call as we left Tallinn for Helsinki today. We had packed our bags last night. Lucky for us, Jurgen had kindly agreed to allow us to leave our suitcases in the apartment even though we were not spending the next two nights here. It was nice to be able to just lock up and go.

Tallinn. Day 2. Relaxing the Afternoon Away.

Pikk Jalg.  Our apartment is in the gray building just before the tower.

We heralded our last afternoon in Tallinn with contented sighs. Nothing like a delicious meal to put me in a good mood!  We left the restaurant and headed down a very familiar street, Piik Jalg.  Our wandering continued - we had to burn off the several hundred calories we had just ingested.

Tallinn. Day 2. Puppets, Museums, & a Tunnel.

Back at Toompea Hill on a picture perfect fall day.

One of the best things about traveling on your own is being able to get up at whatever time pleases you. For me, that's still relatively early. I was up and about a while before Bro even showed signs of waking up.

I left the breakfast making duties to him. Eggs, scrambled with sausage and cheese were the main course. While Bro cooked, I did the *important* tasks of checking on our laundry and my chanterelle mushrooms that were drying on the window sill.

Tallinn. Day 1. Part 2.

Old Tallinn's main square.  All quiet by day's end.

Mid afternoon, we headed out in search of the supermarket that I found mention of on several of the online Tallinn travel forums. The place is called Rimi and Old Town being such a small place, I figured we could easily find it. Of course, I should have looked up a street address but getting stupid these days. In any event, it was pretty much the only supermarket in town except for the small convenience store located about two blocks from the apartment. Even if we needed directions, someone should be able to help us out.

Tallinn. Day 1. Part 1.

Bro posing with iconic view of Old Tallinn as seen from Toompea Hill.

Today was a very long day, filled with exploring Old Tallin.  In fact, it was such a long day and I took so many photos that I'm going to split this posting into two parts - what we did in the morning and then what we did for the remainder of the day.  What a great day it was!

Tallinn! Settling Into Our Apartment.

Bro sitting at the dining table.  Perfect little apartment for the two of us!

As we were lunching in Haapsalu, I emailed our Airbnb host, Jurgen, in Tallinn to tell him that we were still in Haapsalu and that it was unlikely we would be in Tallinn by 2p. He was such a nice guy - said he only lived a 15 minute drive from the apartment so we could just take our time and enjoy our visit. I replied back to tell him that I would email or call him when we neared Tallinn so he would have an idea of when to expect us. It was nice to know that we could take our time. Not that we would as I did want to get to Tallinn but with our driving and our maps, who knows if we would get lost along the way. Not to mention that we had to make our way to the Old Town and actually find the apartment - most likely easier said than done.

Roadtrip to Tallinn. Pärnu and Haapsalu.

Walking along the beachside boardwalk in Pärnu.

Our morning began with breakfast at the Klaara Mani. Last night, we had agreed on a breakfast time so we made sure we got up and made it to the dining room at the agreed upon time.

Downtime in Estonia. Smoked Chicken and Apples.

So happy he gets to pick apples....for free!

From the Visitors Center at Soomaa National Park, we had the challenge of getting ourselves back to the Klaara Mnani. A few u-turns here and there and one of us recognizing a landmark here and there and we eventually managed to arrive back rather painlessly....far less painless than the reverse trip.

Hello Estonia! Bogshoeing.

Exploring a bog in Soomaa National Park. Love the footwear!

It was an early wake up call this morning. Our first destination of the day was Soomaa National Park in Estonia. We had to be there (not sure exactly where in the Park) to meet up with Aivar Ruukel, a well known local guide who has made Soomaa his area of specialty. I had seen quite a lot of information about Aivar on the web including this highlight and was looking forward to spending time with him.  Though Ieva had listed all the driving distances on our itinerary, this would be our first driving foray in to Estonia and so I had no idea what the road conditions would be like, what the road signage would be like and therefore, how long it would actually take us to get from Valmiera to Soomaa. Better to arrive early than miss our time with Aivar.

Knit, Purl Estonian Style.

An Estonian knitted lace shawl with the classic Lily of the Valley pattern. (Image from letissierdesigns.com)

I've been knitting since I was a very, very young child; my mother was my first and only teacher. My love for knitting has been a life long one and once I caught the bug from my mom, I advanced by teaching myself to read ever more complex knitting patterns and producing one sweater after another.

Beavers, Bogs, and Canoes. Soomaa National Park.

Cute European beaver (Image by stevehdc)

Here's a phrase that I never imagined I would when looking for things to do in Estonia - "Beaver Safari".  Of course, once I saw those two words, I had to do more research.

Turns out that Estonia is home to the Eurasian beaver or European beaver (Castor fiber).  Once a widespread species of beaver, it was hunted to near-extinction for both its fur and castoreum, a secretion of its scent gland believed to have medicinal properties.  By the 20th century,  the estimated population of beavers dwindled to about 1,200 beavers and in many European nations, the beaver went extinct.  Thanks to reintroduction and protection, the population of beavers has gradually recovered well over half a million and beavers can be found from Great Britain to China and Mongolia, although it is absent from Italy, Portugal and the southern Balkans.