Kids had a weeklong spring break during the first week of April and we decided to do a road trip to visit Latvia and Estonia. Latvia and Estonia have complicated histories of wars and cultural mixes, are even smaller countries than Lithuania, but they have way more seashore of the Baltic sea. Admittedly, the water gets warm enough for swimming only for a few months per year.
The weekend was really warm and we started the trip with Panevėžys (town in Lithuania) being the first stop to get lunch. Panevėžys has about 90,000 people, the main square is large. Nevėžis, the river going through Panevėžys, makes a turn where the center is located. Prices are lower than in Vilnius and people are friendly. After another hour of driving, we saw the signs for the border. The fun part was the start of signs in the Latvian language. It is similar to Lithuanian and we could pick up the meaning of some words without a dictionary. I really like "grūst" and "vilkt."
Riga‘s oldtown welcomed us with a Milda‘s restaurant sign and cobblestone streets.
We took plenty of photos of all the churches and towers and found an awesome place for ice cream.
Next day – a walking tour in the art nouveau district in Riga. It is fabulous and so big. In the 1920s, Latvian architects got inspired by this architectural style and went a bit crazy (in a good way). Building after building and street after street are filled with gorgeous art nouveau buildings, each of them is unique and different. The beauty is in the details of ornaments and there are so many ornaments on the buildings!
We could have stayed for much longer, but we had a plan to drive to Tallinn that day, so we got ice cream at the same place and drove through the rest of Latvia all the way to Tallinn.
Estonia’s border is also symbolic for those traveling with EU license plates (no need to stop or show passports). Estonian language is totally different from Lithuanian or Latvian. The landscape is similar, maybe the trees aren’t that tall, but you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
Estonians, to me, seemed more like Scandinavians. Very polite and quiet, no loud speaking, everything is very orderly and peaceful. We had trouble finding our hotel in those narrow oldtown streets. And it was raining. So we stopped and I walked around looking for the entrance to our hotel. A policeman came and asked to move the car. Apparently, we were very close to the Russian embassy and since the embassy has been “attacked” by various protest posters and signs, no one could come close in vehicles, only pedestrians could pass by on the street. Well, we finally managed to locate our hotel and move the car. The policeman was very polite and gave us, the tourists, some time to figure things out.
Tallinn is completely different from Riga or Vilnius. It has a medieval old town with the remainders of very old castles that were never destroyed and are still standing. The weather didn’t cooperate with us, hands were freezing, so we only took a few photos.
I had a work related event in Tallinn. I met with Estonia’s Chief Data Officer and interviewed him about his job, role and impact he has had in Estonia. I met Ott Versberg in his office. He works in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and their address is 1 Suur-Ameerika, which translates as Great America. I think it is a symbolic, not a random street name. Again, Estonian style, the lobby was busy but quiet and friendly. No loud voices. For dinner, we met with my classmate from the University of Chicago who works at the US embassy in Tallinn and we talked about her perspective on Estonia’s diplomacy and approach to Russia’s aggression. It felt a very international trip.
On the last day we visited a Proto museum - a complete virtual reality world with lots of VR stations in a huge space. You could try to navigate a hot air balloon or shoot enemies in a submarine. It was fun and a bit overwhelming.
We had plans to see more nature around Tallinn but since it was cold and snowy, we went to Parnu - a sea town in southern Estonia (on the Baltic sea as well). It was empty when we came, but I am sure it is a pleasant place to be in summer.
Last spots in Latvia were Turaida castle and Rundales palace. Turaida castle wasn’t that impressive although this is a sign that one gets bored by castles when you see so many of them. Rundales palace is called northern Versailles. The palace is beautiful. Since we have seen Versailles, I agree, this place does resemble Versailles. What’s the difference? Basically - no visitors in April and the location is in the middle of nowhere.
We took nice photos outside and inside without other people. We didn’t go to gardens since it was so early in the spring. We were told it is a beautiful rose garden in summer. Maybe for the next trip?
We spent a night at a modern hotel close to Biržai but still on Latvia‘s side. The hotel was also located in the green fields. But they had a museum of antique cars (both US and USSR) and offered an amazing breakfast.
We came back to Lithuania and were greeted by blooming Sakuras in Vilnius. Kids went back to school. Last week we travelled a little bit again. The school organized a field trip for kids to Dresden, Germany (which they loved) and Vaidas and I went to Kaunas. We visited Art Deco museum, Yellow woman exhibition about Antanas Samuolis famous painting, the historic presidential house in Kaunas and did a tour of my school, which served as a Parliament place at some point in Lithuania‘s history (1920s).
Hope you are enjoying blooms and the spring sun. By the way, we completely missed the sun eclipse as we were on the other side of the planet.