Yet another bright, blue sky morning! Yesterday the clouds moved in while we were still on our morning walk, so some of our photos were a bit grey. We decided to return to some of the same locations in search of better photos in the sunshine and/or without so many cruise ship tour groups in the way. We also found a walking path outside the city wall that was sort of interesting.
Also, we hadn’t made it to the inside of the “dome church,” the Lutheran Cathedral of St. Mary. Since we were in the neighborhood, and our Tallinn Card still had a bit of time left before the 24 hour limit expired, we visited yet one more church. It’s filled with coats of arms of prominent families, as well as raised, enclosed boxes in which wealthy worshippers can stay warm and avoid hanging out with common folk. Quite interesting.
After our big day yesterday, we didn’t feel bad about going back to the apartment, taking our time with final packing, and just taking it easy for a bit. Then we checked out (that is, we dropped the key in a designated box and left — we never did see our landlord), and dragged our suitcases around the corner to grab a bite of lunch.
Our tickets were for the 2 p.m. bus to Riga, and we wanted to allow plenty of time to get to the coach station. The tram came quickly (though it was very crowded for some reason), and we had made no errors in the route, so we arrived at the station way early. We discovered there was an earlier coach to Riga that we might almost make, so we ran to the office to see if we could make the change. There was about a 50% change fee to be added, so we disregarded all that business about “time is money,” paid the extra fee, and got on the bus. It was a pleasant enough ride of about 4.5 hours.
The bus was full of Russians. May 1-10 is a holiday period in Russia. The Baltic countries are easy to get to from Russia, almost all signs and menus are in Russian as well as English and the local language, and the beer is very cheap in Latvia, so this is a popular time for Russian tourists.
From what we could see from the bus window, Latvia is very similar to Estonia, but perhaps not quite as prosperous. There are still a lot of bleak, grey, Soviet-era apartment buildings, very run-down farmsteads, and just less color. The center of Riga is not as charming as Tallinn. The restored old buildings are interspersed with lots of new construction. But there are some grand old churches here that we will visit tomorrow, and some other interesting history.
On a recommendation, we found our way (not easily, old Riga is a maze!) to a brew pub in a cellar, with many varieties of their own beer, as well as a fairly long menu of traditional Latvian food. It’s a popular place, and we were lucky to get a table.
A little more walking around the old city brought us back to our hotel once again to rest up for a big day of sightseeing tomorrow.
Also, we hadn’t made it to the inside of the “dome church,” the Lutheran Cathedral of St. Mary. Since we were in the neighborhood, and our Tallinn Card still had a bit of time left before the 24 hour limit expired, we visited yet one more church. It’s filled with coats of arms of prominent families, as well as raised, enclosed boxes in which wealthy worshippers can stay warm and avoid hanging out with common folk. Quite interesting.
After our big day yesterday, we didn’t feel bad about going back to the apartment, taking our time with final packing, and just taking it easy for a bit. Then we checked out (that is, we dropped the key in a designated box and left — we never did see our landlord), and dragged our suitcases around the corner to grab a bite of lunch.
Our tickets were for the 2 p.m. bus to Riga, and we wanted to allow plenty of time to get to the coach station. The tram came quickly (though it was very crowded for some reason), and we had made no errors in the route, so we arrived at the station way early. We discovered there was an earlier coach to Riga that we might almost make, so we ran to the office to see if we could make the change. There was about a 50% change fee to be added, so we disregarded all that business about “time is money,” paid the extra fee, and got on the bus. It was a pleasant enough ride of about 4.5 hours.
The bus was full of Russians. May 1-10 is a holiday period in Russia. The Baltic countries are easy to get to from Russia, almost all signs and menus are in Russian as well as English and the local language, and the beer is very cheap in Latvia, so this is a popular time for Russian tourists.
From what we could see from the bus window, Latvia is very similar to Estonia, but perhaps not quite as prosperous. There are still a lot of bleak, grey, Soviet-era apartment buildings, very run-down farmsteads, and just less color. The center of Riga is not as charming as Tallinn. The restored old buildings are interspersed with lots of new construction. But there are some grand old churches here that we will visit tomorrow, and some other interesting history.
On a recommendation, we found our way (not easily, old Riga is a maze!) to a brew pub in a cellar, with many varieties of their own beer, as well as a fairly long menu of traditional Latvian food. It’s a popular place, and we were lucky to get a table.
A little more walking around the old city brought us back to our hotel once again to rest up for a big day of sightseeing tomorrow.
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