Side Trip from Riga: Tallinn, Estonia
With our EU Digital COVID Certificates in hand, we were excited to finally be able to plan a short trip from Riga to Tallinn, Estonia for a few days.
There are many ways to make the 300km journey. Instead of the direct 4-hour comfy bus ride we opted to take the scenic way there with Travellers Sightseeing "Bus". Self-described by them as:
A fun day exploring the Latvian and Estonian countryside and small towns
Climb the Soviet era Bobsleigh track in Sigulda
Discover the medieval Old Town of Cēsis and its picturesque castle ruins
Hike by the sandy cliffs of Sietiņiezis in the Gauja National Park
Visit Estonian history and military museum in Valga
Explore the romantic town of Viljandi and its crumbling crusader castle
We knew it would be our only opportunity to see the Latvian and Estonian countryside on this trip and knew it would be a small group since they advertise there will be no more than eight people on the minibus. We were lucky and ended up sharing the adventure with just three other people: Melanie and her two young kids, Alex and Max.
(Note, if you click on the photos in this posts, they will display full size instead of cropped.)
First up… the Bobsleigh and Luge track in Sigulda
The Latvian National Bobsleigh Team trains on this cool 1200m long bobsleigh/luge track. Of course, everything we knew about bobsledding before visiting the training facility was from the classic film Cool Runnings. I'm not sure I know much more now, other than there aren't many bobsleigh training tracks in the world and the Latvians are really good at it (they even have a couple of Olympic medals).
Cēsis
We had about ten minutes wandering around Cēsis before it started raining buckets on us. We had big beautiful umbrellas… that we had left in the minibus <eye roll>. I was excited to check out what is known as one of the best-preserved medieval cities in the Baltics, but not quite as excited to do it in the rain! The orthodox church, 13th-century castle, and the surrounding gardens were pretty, but the rain definitely dampened my excitement for exploring. My jeans were completely soaked, so you can imagine how enjoyable that was!
Sietiņiezis in the Gauja National Park
Yay for hiking in national parks! The hour drive to Sietiņiezis from Cēsis was bumpy and so very rainy. Downpours. But as we pulled up to the deserted dirt parking lot, the rain let up to a drizzle.
Our guide told us about how Estonia has more pagans than any other country the world. Forests are one of their most popular locations for weddings. Latvians and Estonians are forest forging people—mushroom hunting and berry picking are big past times. And like fishermen, they like to keep their favorite spots secret. Our guide even relayed a story of being blindfolded in the car by a friend when he went mushroom hunting with her.
Although Estonia and Latvia don’t have mountains, or even really any hills, they have gorgeous forests.
Estonian military museum in Valga
When you've been invaded as often as Estonia has, there is a lot of military history to see and hear about. From the Germans, to the Danes, to the Swedes, to the Russians.
Estonia has mandatory service in the Defence Forces for all healthy male citizens to learn basic knowledge necessary for them to act as specialists in wartime military units. The duration of the mandatory service is eight to eleven months. I can’t imagine if we did that in the US. Then again, if we were as small as Estonia and had as many invaders, I suppose things would be a bit different!
Viljandi Crusader Castle
Built in the 13th century and destroyed in the Polish-Swedish wars in the 17th century, the Viljandi Castle is now a beautiful park where you can wander. During non-covid times the former castle courtyard is an open-air stage where big music festivals take place.
While we were there, we found ourselves most excited by the snails and toads we found all around. I think of all our stops that day, our companions Max and Alex had the most fun here exploring and finding snails. I know I did!
Tallinn, Estonia
Fun fact: Estonia only has 1.3 million people! 400,000 of them are right here in Tallinn. 25-30% of them are Russian and do not speak Estonian although about 50% of Estonian’s speak Russian. The two communities are fairly autonomous and we were told that they do not mingle much—kids in the Russian community go to Russian schools where the lessons are taught in Russian.
We only spent a few (rainy) days in Tallinn, but stayed in the heart of their beautiful Old Town. Unlike Riga’s Old Town, Tallinn’s Old Town was not destroyed by bombings. Why? The Soviet Union accused the Baltic states of conspiracy against the Soviet Union and gave them an ultimatum: establish a government approved by the Soviets, or face war. The Estonian government decided, given the overwhelming Soviet force both on the borders and inside the country, not to resist so they could avoid bloodshed and open war.
