Blogs from Estonia, Europe - page 12

Rakvere in northern Estonia 15 August 2014 Rakvere is Estonia’s fifth largest city and situated in the northern region, 20 km south of the Gulf of Finland and approximately 100km east of Tallinn, Estonia. Its earliest signs of human settlement date back to the 3rd-5th century. When we arrived, we spotted the sculpture "Tarvas" which was located near the old castle ruins. It’s considered to be the largest animal statue in the Baltics. We climbed it and admired the view from the elevated site that the bull was on. Next to the statue, Rakvere Order Castle, which was completed in the first half of the 16th century, was a great castle to visit, with concerts, events such as archery, guided tours, the notorious "hell" chamber and you can also eat and drink here, meals are faithful ... read more

Kolkja & Lake Peipus on eastern border of Estonia 15 August 2014 After leaving Tartu, we drove east to find the 'Onion Road' as it is known by locals. This area of Estonia is very traditional and mostly of small villages which rely on small-plot primary production, mainly onions and tomatoes. We saw many little stalls along the narrow roads, with the elderly lady of the household, waiting for a sale. We stopped at one house and bought some onions. Apparently they lovely...which we discovered later, was correct. They have chosen onions as their main crop as they can be stored for a long time. All the 'sales ladies' were very short and cutely dumpy and many of them wore a head scarf or hat. The lady I bought onions from, we had a 'conversation' using ... read more

Haapsala on western coast of Estonia 14 August 2014 We got advice from the Tallinn Information Centre, to visit Haapsala in the west coast of the country.....and we are glad we did. The roads were excellent and we got there 9.30am after stopping off over night at a little town about 15 kms away. The town is known as the 'Venice of the north' because it is a wonderful seaside spa town with warm waters and an abundance of curative mud!!! The 1st Haapsalu mud spa opened its doors in 1825 and Russian aristocrats were the first guests. We parked our car easily and walked through the town's narrow streets, passing old but well maintained wooden houses along the way to the beach promenade. We saw one of the most beautiful buildings in Estonia, the Kuursaal ... read more

Parnu Estonia 14 August 2014 We arrived in Parnu in time for lunch. This is a resort seaside city, with a small harbour in the South-Western part of Estonia. We again visited the very helpful Tourist office which is built onto the restored Town Hall. We have some fantastic books on the country which makes it really interesting to look around a new area. This town has lots of restaurants and cafes as well as accommodation. The beech is of clean sand but the water is not very deep at all and we saw people walking a long distance from the shore and still only up to their knees in water. The city is famous for its spas, in addition to its beach and beautiful parks. It is also a popular place for conferences, theatre performances ... read more

Tartu is about 4 hours from Riga through country similar to what I have seen since Minsk, the very comfortable bus continued on to St Petersburg after I disembarked. First task was to buy my last bus ticket to Tallin, which I did before popping into Mcdonalds for a Royale with cheese (a very tasty burger). A taxi was next, it had a meter so no rip off for once, my hotel is a fair way from the centre but cheap in comparison to what I would pay in the old town. My room has no aircon and as usual I am cooking, I have decided to do nothing this afternoon as there probably isnt enough here to keep me busy for two days, so tomorrow I will go explore. I caught a local bus in ... read more