Category: Northern Europe – Aug-Oct 2024

In the Fall of 2024 we visit Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands.

Riga, Latvia to Kaunas, Lithuania

I don’t know why traveling by bus is surprisingly tiring but it is. This morning we walked to the bus station and then took a five hour bus ride to Kaunas, Lithuania.

Our bus in Riga

In Kaunas it felt good to walk so although we were tired we enjoyed our 30 minute walk to our hotel.

In Kaunas walking to our hotel

Later when we went out to explore a bit, the sky was threatening but the weather seemed pleasant. When we were almost back to our hotel the skies opened up and we were caught in a torrential downpour!

Downpour

We had a lovely dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant, Piccola Italia.

Duke at dinner.

Riga day 2

After breakfast this morning we explored Riga.

We have a tourist brochure we picked up at the hotel. It has a map and description, in English, of all the sites.

This picture was taken this morning in the park across from our hotel.
And this picture was taken in very nearly the same spot on April 1, 2018 when we were here before

We started our exploration at Riga Castle. It’s the residence of the president of Latvia.

Riga Castle

Then we walked across the Daugava River to the National library

Walking to the National library
The National Library as we were crossing the bridge
Inside the library
That’s me with the blue shirt taking a picture from the 11th floor
The book wall in the library

After we left the library we walked around a bit before stopping in Dome Square for a beer.

Below is the house of the Black Heads. According to the guide brochure the original house was built in 1334. It was destroyed during World War II and rebuilt in 1999. The Black Heads were an association of young unmarried merchants, goldsmiths, and ship captains.

House of the Black Heads
There is Duke at our table enjoying his beer in Dome Square

The church in the background above is Dome Church. As we people watched from our table we noticed lots of people going by carrying their musical instruments. After we finished our beer we walked over to the church and discovered that tonight was the last concert of the 2024 Sacred Music Festival and tonight was a concert with the Latvian National Choir and the Latvian National Orchestra. so we bought tickets and went. We had a partially obstructed view but the concert ( a mass by Antons Brukners) was amazing!

At the concert

Tallinn, Estonia to Riga, Latvia

Today was a travel day. We took a bus almost 5 hours to Riga, Latvia.

On the bus to Riga
The European countries no longer have border guards. There is grass growing at the old border crossing station

In Riga we walked to our hotel.

Duke walking to the hotel
Me taking video of something in front of the opera house in Riga.

When we went out for dinner it was fun to see all the activity in the streets.

Lots of open air restaurants

Tallinn, Estonia day 2

Today we walked all over the old town of Tallinn. It is such an interesting and photogenic place that I just kept taking pictures! And there weren’t very many people, I suppose because we are into September. And the weather was lovely with a high of 72.

We started out with coffee and pastries at a small coffee shop.
The town hall was being renovated. See the down spout sticking out?
Here is a close up
We walked a long way along the wall reading about the various towers. Many were first built in the 1400’s.
The cathedral
This building was originally built by the Tallinn brotherhood of Blackheads in 1517. Below is a closeup of the door.
Door of the building above

For dinner we went to another wonderful restaurant near our hotel, Restaurant Härg.

Duke had the paella
I had the pork with a chimichuri
Duke really needed to study the gin menu!
The view from the bar at the top of our hotel

Helsinki, Finland to Tallinn, Estonia

This morning we walked and then took a tram to the Helsinki ferry terminal. From there we caught a ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn, Estonia.

It is interesting to look at a map. Tallinn and Helsinki are on opposite sides of the entrance to the gulf of Finland. At the eastern end of the Gulf is St. Petersburg. As you can imagine there is a large fortress at the entrance to Helsinki Harbor.

Our tram
On the tram to the ferry
Helsinki Fortress

In Tallinn we walked to our hotel the Radisson Collection.

The view from the window of our room

For dinner we had an excellent meal at Kolm Sibulat near our hotel. We started with olives and shrimp ceviche. Then Duke had calves liver and I had duck. It was all delicious.

Our starter
My duck
Duke’s calves liver