Portugal, Spain and Baltic Cruise: Estonia & Latvia

We arrived in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, on Tuesday morning and embarked on the usual tour of the old city with a local guide. This tour was mostly on foot rather than in a bus but there were also 2 other ships in port (1 carrying 4,000 passengers - we have 107) and this made for very crowded streets. We visited the upper and lower parts of this city that goes back to the 13th century. Estonia has been invaded by the Danes, Swedes, Germans and Russians but has now been a free and independent country since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

John took a bike riding tour around Tallinn with 15 others which also took them over the cobbled streets of the walled city. We enjoyed a free afternoon in the city, having lunch in the main square and exploring the side streets. Jim of course, climbed the town hall bell tower!

That night we sailed to the Estonian Island of Saaremaa which was so peaceful and quiet as we were the only ship in port. It was a beautiful sunny day as we set off on our chosen activity - John went on a nature tour and walk; Bob, Anne, Jim & Fi went on a tour of the town and castle; Jan, Jenny and Susie went to a cooking class on a neighbouring island (over a causeway). The cooking school was on an old Estonian farm in an idyllic setting. We spent at least 5 hours there putting together a 4 course lunch under the instruction of a French trained, Dutch chef. It was a lot of fun and we all (about 17 of us) learnt more about the art of cooking. Jenny said it was the highlight of her trip so far.

Once again sailing overnight, we arrived this morning in the Latvian capital of Riga. We had chosen to do a wooden boat ride along the canal and river that surrounds Riga. This was very pleasant and afterwards we stayed in the old city to explore it. Riga has some amazing buildings in the Art Nouveau style and as inTallinn, they are still restoring old buildings that were damaged or neglected in WW11 and the Soviet era. A highlight was listening to a midday organ recital in an old Lutheran cathedral. We enjoyed a lovely lunch in one of the town squares and then coffee and cake in a very quaint medieval building. After going up a church tower (by lift) we walked back to the ship, once again doing more than 12,000 steps, which is very necessary considering how much we eat!