Tartu, Estonia

#thelazycampers #kellysinestonia #Tartu #Estonia #tagurpidimaja #eestirahvamuuseum

Distance from Tallinn, Estonia: 185km, +- 2 hrs
Transportation from Tallinn: Train (Elron €26 for 2 ppl,one way)
Accommodation: Looming Hostel (€36 for 2 ppl, 1 night, double room)
Accommodation tip: there is a BnB/ Hostel in the centre of Old town called Terviseks, they have a much better location but were full when we tried to book.

Tartu, Estonia is the second largest city in Estonia and is considered to be the university town of Estonia. Only a quick 2 hour train ride from Tallinn made Tartu an easy weekend away with a one night stay. We boarded the train at 10am and were in Tartu by midday. Travelling by train is such a relaxing way to travel and I love watching the countryside whiz by.

Tartu is a cultural and arts place with lots of museums and monuments. We had heard from the tour guide at Kiek in de Kok Bastions (underground tunnels built for war times) in Tallinn that there is a pub in the Bastions in Tartu and so after disembarking the train we headed straight for lunch at the Gunpowder Cellar (Pussirohukelder) nestled in the Bastion in Tartu Old Town. This place was great, the atmosphere was warm, the food delicious, the hot wine had a serious kick and the beer was large - 1L large.

The streets around the centre of Old Town are buzzing with a multitude of cafes, bars and restaurants and there are so many great options: Tea and cake at Armastus Cafe Amore, over 100 options of beer from around the world at Keller (Ruutli Korp Ou) or a delectable breakfast of pancakes and omelette at Cafe Truffe. Also don’t miss the Leaning House of Tartu next door to Cafe Truffe, you might miss it if you don’t know it is there - we almost did.

1. Gunpowder Bastion Bar; 2. Old Town Square; 3. Breakfast at Cafe Truffe; 4. Leaning house of Tartu

The one and only night we spent in Tartu we decided we had eaten way too much during the day and that we would skip dinner but at 9pm Ross was craving chicken wings and so we went out on a hunt. After about a 45min search, in the freezing cold, we stumbled across a gastrobar called Willy & Rudy and had the most amazing sticky-chili chicken wings and a hummus/guacamole/salsa bread board. The restaurant was beautiful and so worth the roaming in the cold. We sat at the window and stared out into the Old Town square enjoying our wings and watching the people walking by and teenagers dancing in the square. This was a brilliant find!

We did not have loads of time to see every museum and monument that Tartu has to offer but the places we visited were well worth the stop. Not knowing too much about the KGB, other than they were not the friendliest people, we decided to visit the KGB prison cells. This was not as good as we had hoped mostly because we were hoping to gain more insight into the KGB in general but there was not that much information about them, however, if you are wanting to see what it must have been like to be down in one of these prison cells then this is good, short, stop.

The three most exciting stops and things that should be at the top of things to see in Tartu are the Toy museum, the Upside Down house (Tagurpidi) and the Estonian National museum.
The toy museum is a large museum showcasing toys from all eras from around the world as well as Estonia. This was a great trip down memory lane with lots of “Ooo, remember this”, “I had this” and  “I always wanted this”. The Toy museum is a great place for adults and kids but if you are planning on taking your kids remember to leave a little time for them to play in the play area, otherwise there might tears.

The Upside Down House was a fantastic stop and not to be missed. It is the perfect opportunity to get some goofy photos and have good laugh. The house is very well done and entertaining for the whole family. Even walking around the house is amuzing as the floor (well ceiling) is tilted at a 7° angle.

The Estonian National Museum is a fairly new museum and requires quite a few hours to really  make the most of this stop. The museum is spectacular and looks at the history of Estonia in an extremely interactive and technologically advanced way, as far as museums go. All information at the exhibits is on a tablet and when you enter the museum you are given a card for your language, when you get to the exhibit you touch your card to the sensor and the information will appear in your language...brilliant! There is so much to see in this museum so it is not worth the trip if you don’t have the time to really appreciate it. We ate a buffet lunch in the museum cafe as well which was delicious and gave us a chance to experience some traditional Estonian food. Don’t forget to top off your lunch with an ice-cream, I would recommend the Vana-Tallinn - Yum!

Upside Down House

Estonian National Museum

Although Tartu might not be on the top of your list of places to go in the world, if you are spending an extended amount of time in Estonia then Tartu is definitely worth a visit. There is a lot to see and I would have made the stop just to go to the Upside Down house.

36 hour cruise to Stockholm

#thelazycampers #kellysinestonia #stockholm #Sweden #BalticQueen #cruisingthebaltic

Distance from Tallinn, Estonia: +-430km, 14h30

Transportation from Tallinn: Cruise Ship (Tallink €68 for 2 ppl,return, on a weekday)
Accommodation: The Ship

Tallink, Baltic Queen cruise ship

When looking for options for travel to Stockholm from Tallinn I was shocked to discover that a ferry would be quite a pricey venture at roughly €355 return for the two of us...Ouch. And then I made the mistake of converting that into Rands (roughly R5850) and I cringed. That is a lot of money for just transport for a quick weekend away. How could it be so expensive? We were definitely not doing a weekend in Stockholm. Then after a conversation with a few people who know how things work in the Baltics we were told to rather hop on a cruise to Stockholm. A cruise? Surely if a ferry is €355 a cruise will be exorbitant! To my surprise it wasn’t! A cruise to Stockholm from Tallinn was only €68 (for up to 4 people) and once in Stockholm there would be no accommodation costs because we would be staying on the ship, this sounds like a great way to quickly see Stockholm.

There is one big catch to the cruise, you cannot choose how long you stay in Stockholm, you have only 1 day (well 6 hours to be precises) to see as much as you can. Challenge accepted!

We boarded the ship at 5:30pm on Wednesday evening and set sail at 6pm. Because of the time of year we exited the harbour in the dark and watch the lights of Tallinn disappear into the distance and before we knew it we were out in the pitch black of the Baltic Sea, not a star in the sky and quite an eery feeling.

After a rather expensive and really tiny dinner we headed to the on-board supermarket to find some food to fill the gap, then on the the shows. We spent the evenings watching dance shows and the band in the Starlight Palace and then listened to the individual singers in the bars. We thoroughly enjoyed our evenings roaming the ship, soaking up the entertainment and enjoying each others company.

We reached the Swedish coast at about 8am Thursday morning and for the next 2 hours we watched the tiny islands with their quaint houses and little lighthouses slide on by. Although it was 0℃ out on deck, we sat outside and soaked up the picturesque scenery while enjoying a cup of coffee and a light breakfast. This was, for me, one of the highlights of the cruise.

With only 6 hours to see as much of the city as possible we needed a game plan. The hop-on-hop-off bus made sense but was a little out of our budget at €30 per person (it is roughly €20 in other cities) , we decided against going into the museums because of the amount of time required to really enjoy them and so we used an walking-tour app to see the city. The cruise ship does offer a 2 hour bus trip coupled with a one hour walking tour but it is only in Russian, and our Russian is non-existent. We hopped of the ship and jumped onto the metro to get to our starting point , the metro was an easy and quick way to get around, the staff were very helpful and friendly and a ticket is only SEK43 per person for 75min.  

4pm, we were broken! We had walked as much of Stockholm as we could in one day and had seen as much of the city as was possible in 6 hours: the Palace, parliament, Old Town, Sodermalm, churches, Katarinahissen viewing deck and had lunch at a fantastic restaurant (Corner Cafe) where we sipped hot wine and shared a viking burger and unless you are in fact a viking, I suggest you share this burger with someone. The darkness had started to set in so we boarded the ship and had an hour lie down before the ship departed for Tallinn. On departure we went back out onto the deck to watch the islands go by but this time the islands were elegantly lit up and twinkled as we drifted by. The beauty of the islands was like something out of a movie a I felt a little like a moth drawn to the lights. We stayed outside as long as we could and once frozen to the core we found a window seat inside the ship and continued to marvel at the lights dancing past us over a refreshing drink. A romantic end to a whirlwind cruise.

We had so much fun on this lightening cruise and I can imagine that in the summer months this cruise must be quite something else to experience with the sun only setting round 11pm and rising again at 3am. You might not get to see the dazzling lights of the houses on the Swedish islands but you will be able to see out into the vast ocean for hours on end and really enjoy time outside on the decks.

Nice to know for the cruise:

- This cruise was a great way to get to see Stockholm especially if you are short on time. The cruise experience coupled with the day in Stockholm is a lot of fun.
- If you are travelling in the off-season (like we did) don’t make a booking at any of the restuarants, wing it, when you get there read all the menus, visit the cafeteria and see what tickles your fancy.
- You can take your own food and cooldrink onto the ship with you. We took our own water and breakfast goodies but ate dinner in the restaurants and cafeteria.
- You can buy food and alcoholic beverages in the on-board supermarket and enjoy them out on the ship decks and in your room, just not in the bars/restaurants. We had a few drinks in the bars and a few on the decks.

Riga, Latvia

#thelazycampers #kellysinestonia #riga #latvia

Distance from Tallinn, Estonia: 315km, 4h30
Transportation from Tallinn: Bus (Ecolines €66 for 2 ppl,return)
Accommodation: The Naughty Squirrel Backpackers (€57 for 2 ppl, 2 night, mix dorm)

City Skyline of Riga's Old Town

Travelling the Baltic States in October/November is not the best time of year: the days are short, the weather is a little frigid and the rain and snow can put a dampener on a day outside, however, we have still managed to have a fantastic stay. To be honest seeing the snow was a bit a of highlight and not so much a downer. We are staying in Tallinn, Estonia for a month and travelling the Baltic area on the weekends. This past weekend we spent two days in Riga, Latvia.

We booked our bus during the week after asking around which bus companies we should use and although Ecolines was not the highest recommended bus it was one of the cheaper ones and perfect of the 4.5 hour drive. We packed our dinner in a backpack, boarded the bus at 5pm and were off.

We arrived in Riga at 9:15pm and made the short walk to our accommodation, The Naughty Squirrel Backpackers. The location of the backpackers is perfect: only a few blocks from the bus station, situated in Riga’s Old Town, close to restaurants and near to the starting point for all the bus and walking tours. The backpackers is quite large with many options for accommodation, we opted for the mixed dorm. The backpackers was very well kept, the staff were very friendly, speak good English and were very knowledgeable about the area. After a quick intro and a shot of traditional black Latvian Balsum we deposited our bags in the dorm and were ready to explore.

The beauty of being in the Baltic is the general safety of the area and being able to walk everywhere, even if you are on your own; so walking around the streets until well after midnight is not uncommon and not unsafe. This is a refreshing situation, especially coming from South Africa where we would never saunter around the streets until all hours of the morning, at least not anyone in their right mind and especially not in small groups or alone.

Even in October Riga is a bustling place. Locals and tourist are jovially roaming the streets moving from pub to pub to club and the restaurants are filled with people enjoying a fine meal and the company of friends. Old Town, Riga, is beautifully lit up and there is a myriad of bars so finding a place for a drink is not difficult. After roaming the streets for about an hour we settled on the Oldest Bar in Riga, AKA, and warmed up inside with some Latvian beer and a glass of red wine. A great start to our weekend.

Due to the limited amount of time we had to see Riga we decided a 2 day pass for the hop-on-hop-off sightseeing bus was a no-brainer. Thank goodness we got the bus tickets because it rained the whole day Saturday and so we sat on the bus with our coffee and enjoyed the sights of Riga from our dry seats on the top floor of the bus. This gave us an opportunity learn a little about Riga as well as determine where we would like to get off and explore. After completing the green loop once and the blue loop twice, we decided to brace the rain and get off the bus to soak up the beauty of the architecture of the buildings around us. This is much easier done from the ground than from the bus. Riga has so much to offer, the buildings and monuments are grand and the rich history is so evident in all the buildings and parks - especially in Old Town.

Riga sights

There are many restaurants and bars that come recommended in Riga but it is always such a treat to discover a hidden gem that was not on the suggested list. On our second evening in Riga the rain had stopped and so we took a lovely walk down the streets of Jauniela and Rozena (as recommended online) which are lively streets of quaint little restaurants and we stumbled upon a gorgeous little underground restaurant call Balzambars in Torņa iela. We tried Hot Balzam for the first time which is a very tasty hot red wine with spices and Latvian Balsam, this warmed me very quickly after being out in the cold. We had a delicious meal in a fantastic atmosphere and this was a brilliant end to a rainy day.
On our last day in Riga we happened upon a medieval restaurant, Lasite, where we drank Latvian Cherry and wheat beer out of traditional black ceramic mugs and ate our scrumptious soup out of black ceramic soup bowls. Another gem where the food was great and the atmosphere even better.

4pm Sunday came upon us so quickly and we had to draw ourselves out of the medieval times and back to the 21st Century so that we could catch our bus back to Tallinn. We reluctantly collected our bag from the backpackers and made our way to the bus station, but not to despair, Stockholm and St Petersburg still await.

1. Hot Balsum, 2. Beer in the Medieval restaurant