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

Vilnius to Riga

We like Riga. It has thrown off the yoke of communism and Russia and now looks west like in its Hanseatic League past.

It still has some buildings from its Stalinist past as well as any new buildings.

The journey up from near Vilnius was quite long, but we saw lots of white storks including 5 in the air and one on a nest with a baby stork.

Vilnius and Trakai, Lithuania

Actually we were a bit disappointed in the old town in Vilnius. If you like highly decorated baroque architecture fine, but give me a simple, round-towered flint Norfolk church any day!

I gave the castle at Trakai a partial miss as the steps were too much for me these days. When in Trakai castle it started to rain and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees Celsius. Up to then it had been hot and sunny.

In Lithuania a beer set me back 2 Euros, much cheaper than Sweden.

Trakai Castle

Our hotel outside Vilnius has been good with big rooms, good food and a great view.

Flying to Lithuania

After a brief walk around Stockholm today, we flew to Vilnius in Lithuania. Our hotel is a few miles outside the city (Grand Resort Vilnius). The room is big and airy with a view over fields and a lake. Within 30 minutes we saw 3 storks. They seem quite common here, as are house martins.

Vasa Museum

This afternoon we revisited the Vasa Museum. This houses the Vasa, a ship from the 1600s that sank after travelling about 1.5km. Several were drowned.  The ship took several years to restore.

Outside the museum were Canada geese with their young.

In the morning we did a coach and walking tour of the city.

This evening we ate a Chinese buffet (all you could eat) with a couple of glasses of wine. Very good value at 451 kroner in total. £38.64 at current exchange rate.  This is not much different from the UK. Generally, things are more expensive  than in the UK.

These old books were outside the Vasa Museum. I am not sure if these were for sale.

Getting to Stockholm

We travelled to the South Terminal to join our Norwegian Air flight to Sweden.

We ate breakfast at a Jamie Oliver place at the airport. Smooth flight (2 hours) to Stockholm. Hotel basic, but central (Downtown Camper). Walked to Gamla Stan (old town) but got lost as we could not find hotel! Asked a few people who hadn't a clue.

Getting to Gatwick by train

Bill and Jackie kindly gave us a lift to the station in Cambridge. Our direct train (Thameslink at 1354) was suddenly cancelled, so we had to go to Stevenage to join a train to Gatwick. At Cambridge station it was a disaster as no-one had a clue! The Premier Inn Hotel at Gatwick was fine although the room was too hot.