http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Estonia en-us Sun, 08 Nov 09 19:05:35 +0000 Sun, 08 Nov 09 19:05:35 +0000 Roxie went on a tour of ldquoOld Town cobblestone streets and lots of hillsrdquo while Roger rested and Judy I took a shuttle to ldquoOld Townrdquo and walked around on our own. As we got off the bus and walked to the street we needed to turn on I fell over a semicircle rock. My left knee is bruised up pretty good but other than that Irsquom fine. We were approached by a young http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-438782.html Excerpted from my book OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA AMAZON.COMThe following day we traveled to the nearby island of Saaremaa.Connected to Muhu by a causeway across a shallow inlet Saaremaa isEstoniarsquos largest island almost 1700 square miles. Saaremaa like Muhuwas declared a frontier zone during Soviet occupation therefore travel toand from the island was severely restricted. Saaremaarsqu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/blog-434078.html Our last stop in Estonia was Prnu affectionately known to locals as Estonia's Miami. Truth be told on a cool day at the end of tourist season it felt more like Estonia's Hyannis which is actually a bit more my speed. We checked into our room for the night which was as spotless as we'd been led to expect and was perhaps the roomiest accommodation I've had in a hostel. Then we headed out http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Parnu/blog-432413.html Yes it's true our time in Tallinn and that gorgeous apartment needed to come to an end. On the morning of the 26th we looked at all of our stuff that had migrated out of our backpacks over the last couple of days and hastily shoved it back in did one last pass of tidying up checked out and headed out to the bus station. Due to our experience with Altja we'd already quadruplechecked our tra http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tartu/blog-432367.html We are determined to see one national park in every country we visit so today we headed off to Lahemaa National Park. Looking at the guide it seemed we could use any of three towns as a base all of which were on the same busline Ksmu an old captainsrsquo village Vsu a popular beach town and Altja a tiny fishing village at the end of the line that has a swing on a hill. Apparently s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-431861.html Ah our first full day in Tallinn The beginning of this was marked by the best thing wersquod seen in a while the inside of our eyelids. We slept like champs. We slept like we hadnrsquot seen a bed in over 36 hours which as we calculated was approximately true.After waking up and having a leisurely breakfast a poor manrsquos version of what the Danes call smrrebrd dense bread Ed http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-431857.html last day so what do I do spend half of it in the shops I went down to the Bussijaam to organise my tik to Riga tomorrow at 6.45am its now 10.30pm I should not be writing this and get somewhat sidetracked by the big shopping malls down there designer label shops like Gant no sale Pepe Jeans sale bu they want how much for wrecked jeans etc and bought a very nice shirt in the E http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tartu/blog-431673.html Tartu 26 Augustgotta keep that production line going. No real text with this that can wait just want to upload the general views of Tartu at night this evening after dinner.Which was eaten at the Barclay Hotell its 5 floors or whatever but the evening desk guy told there are only 17 guests today no wonder they offered me 25 off And I was therefore the only dinner guest. A classic bor http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tartu/blog-431433.html about Parnu but now in TARTUwhat with the doom and gloom of the Great Wallet Loss Disaster of Parnu of 2009 what else to report did I actually see anything was there anything worthwhile to see well yes sort of. The main thing it was famous for they are not still open but the building is still there down at the Strandbeach is the Mud Baths a snap of the pink and white building is http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Parnu/blog-431424.html now Tartu in the SE of Estonia the express bus from Parnu took 2 12 hrs so here around 3.30pm its now 5pm and I am blogging its sad isnt it Discovered that always ask before leaving the Bussijaam bus terminal for next step the bus to Riga in Latvia abt 4 hrs only goes twice per day 06.45 ouch or 17.45 bit late to be getting in there. So staying at some of the more attrac http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tartu/blog-431335.html Parnu Estonia 26 Augustit is 11.45am as I start this sitting at an outside table at the Cafe Piccadilly which is supposedly a wine bar but which also does minor food and coffee. So I just had some ham and mushroom quiche for breakfast really as my hotel Hommiku Hostel did not supply breakfast mid you for 600EKr for a single room one cannot have everything. It was easy enough to g http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Parnu/blog-431286.html After returning to Arlanda airport in Stockholm we breezed our way back through security have I mentioned how much less painful it is to travel through Europe at the international terminal and perused the dutyfree store picking up tasty candy morsels.Ambling toward our gate for the ARN gt TLL flight we started to experience a sense of dejavu. We got to the gate 45 minutes before the fl http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-431273.html do they att. pic bought in Hong Kong white flower etc embrocations etc fix money headaches too select few know about this for the rest all will be revealed they claim to fix travel headaches maybe not this one coughs fever etc. no claims about terminal cancer thoI can post becos I can http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Parnu/blog-431045.html so this was Kuressaare on the full second day with sunshine after day of arrival when I ended up rreading my book and then spending the rest of the evening in the Vinoteek see separate bibulous account Barbara said I thought was A. A. Milne had to Wikipedia that one as I thought he was the bloke who wrote Winnie the Pooh and other stories or maybe he did that AND wrote about food for th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Saaremaa/Kuressaare/blog-430855.html hopefully this time things will get rolling they are banked up here and after complaining a bit to the webmaster and them saying it might be up the upload speed hey this is Estonia maaan and these are specially created with another camera small 100kb or so files not 3 mb monsters at last the plugblockage appears to have been pulled enjoy this is the end of Tallinn can we move http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-430759.html I am now on Saaremaa island the largest in Estonia in a place called Kuressaare which is the biggest town here but we are only talking about 11000 people so WAY smaller than anywhere else I have been. It was quite a surprise to come somewhere so small. However I was ale to use my initiative and found a pretty reasonable hotel not mentioned in the LP Lonely Planet the Arabella which was http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Saaremaa/Kuressaare/blog-430389.html photos seem difficult to add sometimes so map only here central Tallinn the green area to left is labelled Toom park in Estonian its Toompea where all the important things like the Parliament and a couple of very interesting churches are Alexander Nevsky Cathedral still trying to upload pix of those and that of St Mary which is completely different lovely organ which was playing http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-430100.html tie dye no hippies really just running out of titles for these things. This is my 4th night in Tallinn and I have not seen a lot really as too slow to get going and so forth knowing that it is not dark til 10pm really means that you can justify sort of not getting out of the hotel room til 3pm like today but I was updating my photo blog Mum gimme a break. well another photoblog upda http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-430023.html OK folks in Tallinn and this day 3 and I leave tomorrow to go somewhere better have a read and work out where that is going to be I expect as I have been so slack in getting myself organised to do the sights I had to book an extra nite but its very nice here anyway of course medieval city blah blah in the St Olav's hotel more on that later on the net via ExpediaAU as it is way chea http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-429901.html From my book OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA AMAZON.COMItrsquos ironic that my second historical interest on Muhu spans those800 years with the battle of 1227 representing the beginning of Estoniansubjugation and a deserted Soviet air defense missile site representingthe final shaking off of Estoniarsquos foreign occupation. Muhu was off limits to all but the islandrsquos residents for the almo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Saaremaa/blog-427372.html