We headed to Helsinki, Finland this morning, which is the fourth and final country on our agenda. This trip necessitated taking a ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki, roughly a 2 – 1/2 ferry ride. When we say ferry, it wasn’t the type of ferry you might cross the mighty Mississippi on. It’s the size of a small cruise ship and has amenities onboard such as duty...
As suspected, this wasn’t a slow day. Pretty certain our step counters were the highest ever today! This was despite the unanimous consensus that breakfast (the fuel for our highest step count ever) was sub-par. The atmosphere in the hotel basement was however outstanding (and worth sharing). Despite a poor breakfast, we eagerly set off for the day’s adventures...
(Fair warning, this will be a long post with a lot of pictures… there was a lot to see today.) Our time on Saaremaa ended this morning and we headed for Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. We again had to take the ferry, which is thankfully only a 20 minute ride. Once we arrived in Tallinn, we hit the ground running, which seems to be the only way we know how to...
We left Riga today for Saaremaa Island. The drive to our next stop was a couple of hours and uneventful except for the fact that we crossed into Estonia, the third country on our trip. We stopped in Parnu, Estonia for lunch and a quick look-see. Parnu is a beautiful resort town that explodes during peak season because it’s such a popular destination. We were there in...
Hard to believe, but we just passed the halfway point of our trip. That said, we aren’t slowing down!! We started the morning off with a brisk walking tour of Riga Old Town, led by local ‘Rita from Riga’. Brisk because it was 38 degrees out, sans windchill. Thanks to the buildings and the architecture, Riga Old Town has a Unesco designation, and is absolutely amazing...
(Fair warning… We’ll probably inundate you with pictures, as there was a lot seen on this day.) Klaipeda was a cool town, and we would spend more time here given the chance! We stayed at the Old Mill Hotel, on the water and across a swing bridge. Here are some shots of the Inn along with adjacent buildings. As we were packing up the van to head out, one of the two...
Today we said goodbye to Rinno Hotel, their amazing breakfasts, and the beautiful city of Vilnius. We truly enjoyed our few days in Vilnius. The plan was to drive 4 hours to Klaipeda and then ferry to the Curonian Spit. But as we traveled, the traffic on the motorway came to a dead stop. Tomas checked traffic and found that the motorway was closed so we had to divert...
Somehow Jay has been elected as the front seat passenger/asker of questions. Poor Tomas…. He just doesn’t know what he’s in for, but we’re all in for an education!! One thing we did not mention about our guide is that he has experienced two major changes in his 40-some years on earth – the fall of the USSR/the independence gained by Lithuania and then Lithuania...
Our first day was so hectic that we didn’t mention much about the hotel. On this trip, we’ll be staying in boutique hotels. These are smaller hotels, no name brands, that are a block or two off of main thoroughfares. The Rinno Hotel is charming and the rooms are very spacious. We are sure we’ll be comfortable here for three nights. Before starting out for the day, we...
We normally do not combine days and only report on travel days if there was anything significant. Day 1 bled into Day 2, so we can barely delineate between the two. Oh yeah, that and it was significant in that we were nearly to the point that we weren’t sure we would be making the journey! Oh yea, one other unique difference in this trip… it’s not just us, but 3 of...