Last Day

On the last morning we went by coach to Porvoo some 55 km east of Helsinki. It has a very old medieval centre with many old wooden houses.

Later, we flew back to Gatwick. Weather was perfect with excellent views from the plane.  We got a lift home in a Saga taxi.

Helsinki and a boat ride

This morning we did a city tour, including the rock church and the cathedral. After lunch in Stockmanns (nice café in book department) we did a harbour and canal cruise. This was 90 minutes long around the eastern archipelago. We saw several (I believe) arctic terns as well as great crested grebes. It was quite cold on the exposed upper deck when well away from the quayside.

Off to the Opera?

They also do ballets at the Helsinki Opera House near our hotel. Let's hope these geese weren't wanting to see Swan Lake. As it was a public holiday, it was closed.

These are Barnacle Geese. They are smaller than Canada Geese. In the UK they are winter visitors but they seem very common around Helsinki. As you can see, these have young.

Tallinn to Helsinki

Today we travelled by ferry across to Helsinki. It took just over 2 hours (76km). On board we had an excellent free lunch with free drinks. Even the food in the "pay for" section looked nice. The ferry was smooth and inviting.

The journey seemed quite short. We arrived in glorious sunshine, although it was not that warm. The hotel is the Scandic Park Hotel. The room is quite a decent size, although the view is of rooftops and a carpark.

Tallinn Old Town

After an early breakfast we "did our own thing" walking around the old town in Tallinn. We started at the north end and worked our way south. Apart from more tourists it is not much changed from when we last visited in 2001. We had a cup of coffee in a café in the old town. Prices were reasonable too, probably this cafe was a bit "out of the way". These days Tallinn is quite a popular destination for long weekends.

After returning to the hotel for a rest, and snack in the hotel café, we did a second visit to the old town. We managed a couple of hours before the rain came down. It was very windy.

One of memories from our last visit was graffiti spoiling some walls in the old town. There seemed less this time, but there was some sadly.

Riga to Tallinn

Today we had a long drive up to Tallinn from Riga.  Quite a few white storks were seen including  one on a nest with young.

On our way we stopped at Parnu, which is the second largest city in Estonia. Lunch cost just over 4 Euros! We ate in a very reasonably priced place.

We arrived at our hotel (Raddison Blue Olumpia) at about 5pm local time. We have stayed here before. Our meal was a good buffet. We'll eat here tomorrow night. Nice hotel about 20 minutes from the old town.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia

Jumala on the Gulf of Riga

After a walk around the old town and Art Nouveau district in Riga this morning, we went to the (classy) seaside at Jumala this afternoon. The place was spotlessly clean with no litter. I was expecting it to be "trippy" but there were some fine houses, lots of trees and generally exclusive. In many ways it reminded me of New England - not sure why.

This evening we ate pancakes in the old town district of Riga.

On every count Riga has exceeded expectations. It is a great city.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Nouveau_architecture_in_Riga