Boat cruise in December

 We usually take the boat to Sweden a few day before Christmas every year. Now it wasn't possible because of the pandemic. Instead we went to Estonia with M/S Victoria, a boat that usually cruise from Tallinn to Stockholm. This time we stayed on the boat and watched Tallinn from the harbor, while it was a quarantine free cruise. 

It wasn't a bad experience at all. There was plenty on space on the boat. We had time to eat in the restaurant, meet Santa, do shopping, spend time in the playroom, take a massage, try the hack the boat -game, eat breakfast and stay in sauna and jacuzzi. Quite many things! 

Archipelago in November

 Cottage life is best to experience in Summer. Still it's not that bad in November either. We went to a friend's cottage in November by boat when it was completely dark outside. Something extreme. And the water was also a bit cold for swimming.

Can't wait for Summer when it's warm again!

Home and archipelago

 

While we can only dream about travelling, it has been good to enjoy time at home.

Here are some pictures taken this fall.

We went for a weekend to friend's cottage. Summer is my favourite. 

Fall is nice too, especially when it's not too cold.

Goodbye Summer

 Summer is almost over now. Schools have started and vacations are many weeks ago. I started new studies last week. More about that another time.

Now it is time to share some Summer pictures from Finland. 

Estonia and Latvia part 2

Now the part 2 of our trip to Estonia and Latvia.

We said goodbye to Riga and started driving towards Tarto, Estonia.

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Some kilometres from the Estonian border, we saw a sign with the text "Valmiermuiza" and decided to go there. We found a stable, brewery and a shop. The reason going there was that we had tasted their beer with pizza in Riga.

Valmiermuiza has a long history, and is worth visiting.

Tarto, Estonia

We have been two times before in Tarto with the kids. Now we took a walk in the city before going to the hotel. There was an event going on there with hammocks and things to do for kids. What I appreciate about Estonia, is that there is always something to do for the kids.

We stayed in Hotel Sophia

It was a easy to stay there, because it has straight access to Lounakeskus.

It was raining a bit, so we stayed inside the rest of the day, eating and shopping, or just looking around.

I went to the Adventure Park at Lounakeskus with the kids, and they liked climbing there.

Driving towards Tallinn

On our way to Tallinn, we had to stop again. While travelling with kids, there is usually a need to find a toilet, very soon. And we found one at Siniallika Trahter.

There was a path, and we followed it. I love these paths in the forest where you go, and actually don't know what you will find. This is one of the tree main sources, with water coming 20-30 liters per second.

Saula Siniallikad

Then we still had time to go to the Atlantis Aquapark. Fun for the kids, and fun for adults as well.

After the waterpark we had great burgers at Burger Kitchen, close to the waterpark.

Thank you, Estonia!

Estonia and Latvia part 1

The original road trip

This Summer we had originally planned to fly to Spain, and drive home with a droptop (which would become our own car) through Europe. Plans changed due to Covid-19. It was not possible to do the trip we had planned. Instead the droptop came to Finland, when brother-in-law and his wife had their flight cancelled in June and drove here by car.

Droptop, here in Finland

The road trip that we did

So this Summer we did a shorter road trip. We took the boat to Tallinn and drove first to Parnu. Stayed one night there, and drove to Riga. After staying two nights in Riga, we drove to Tarto. And the day after that to Tallinn, to take a boat home.

We had a very nice trip, and the kids loved it. There were five days filled with a lot of things to do. Actually we hadn't planned so much what we would do on our trip to Estonia and Latvia. We made up the program while traveling, which worked surprisingly good for us. It always depends so much on the weather what is possible to do.

In Estonia and Latvia there are many places worth visiting. 

Estonia

Driving in Estonia is easy, and the roads are in quite good shape. We drove first from Tallinn to Pärnu.

Before going to the hotel, we visited friends and had the opportunity to swim in Reiu River.

Pärnu

We have visited Pärnu many times. Now we were staying in a hotel close to the park, not far from the beach. The beach is really nice. 

Walking on the breakwater is one thing to do in Pärnu. The weather was a bit windy and the waterline high, so we took of our shoes.

It wasn't safe to walk to all way to the end of the breakwater, because so many stones were slippery and covered with water.

We would have loved to stay longer in Pärnu, but it was time to drive to Riga. And the weather was rainy and windy in the morning. 

It's always fun to find nice places on the road. We stopped at a beach with a bird watching tower. I believe that the best places are actually found by accident.

Riga

Riga is mixture of old and new. The city was friendly and we had only good experiences. This is the view from our hotel window. We stayed at Radisson Blu Daugava, by the river. The room was spacy  and not very expensive. And customer service was excellent.

Here are the places we visited during our stay in Riga:

Shopping

We did our shopping at shopping mall Alfa. There was a good variety of shops.

Shopping mall Alfa

Playgrounds

This playground was a perfect place for climbing running and sliding! It's free, and open all day. We took the tram here.

Center Sport Playground

Museums

Usually on our trips we visit at least one museum. This museum showed the history of fire fighting in Latvia. The entrance fee was very cheap, less than a euro. 

Latvian Fire Fighting Museum

A nice museum with old trains and a possibility to try a dressin, which we did. We found this museum close to our hotel.

Railway History Museum

Food

We found very good pizza here. The place was close to the hotel, so we walked there for dinner.

Picas Meistars

Also a recommendation for Olivers. We were hungry and stopped there to eat.

If you want to eat local food, there is Pipars at Alfa shopping mall, which had good food.

Thank you, Riga! We will come back. There was not time to see all we wanted.