Hello Readers,
As mentioned previously, we travelled for two weeks to Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki and Pori, Finland. We had some discoveries, so I will write about it.
The nature of Estonia 1 (Tabasalu Trail)
Before visiting Tallin, my impression of this city was “a city with a famous historical district”. However we visited a natural trail found on google map as Aijka requested to visit nature. We also we joined a one-day tour of national park for the same reason. Thanks to that we could enjoy the fantastic nature of Estonia and learned the actually the historical district is not a part of the Estonian life but the nature is important part of their life. Some locals have not been to the historical district.
Here is a nature trekking route called “Tabasalu Trail”. From the entrance of the route we could enjoy seeing the blue-purple flowers, “Hepatica”. They were blooming like flower carpets almost everywhere along the route. As it was a rare chance for me to see them and, as has been written previously, such pretty flowers are my favourite. At the point close to the sea and cliffs there was a lookout point. The view of the panoramic bay and blue sky made us feel refreshed. After a while Aijka felt cold, so soon after the sunset we left for the bus stop. Though we could not stay there for a long time, Tabasalu Trail was impressive with its scenery, nature and sunshine.
Nature in Estonia 2 (Lahemaa National Park)
As Aijka is a lover of the nature, I contacted a tour company and have us guided for an entire day in the middle of our stay to a vast national park with 747 square km2. Surprisingly we took a tour with three of us with a saloon car, not a tour bus. Although the pandemic situation had eased, cancellations were on the increase due to the invasion by Russia. We enjoyed a local story from the guide about the danger of the swamp as some plant causes us hallucination. And we also saw a various scenery such as waterfall, swamp, bay and traditional folk houses.
Apart from the nature, we visited an 18th century manor house, which used to be owned by the lord of the land, to see it from outside. I later knew this manor house was partly a museum. So, I wished to visit again some day. *I will soon have a birthday. And here is what I suddenly got on my mind: I would take a helicopter from my home and head for Sagadi Manor House and stay over night. It was such a lovely place I now miss so much.
Kadriorg Palace and its surrounding area
The history of Estonia is complex and other European countries such as Denmark and Germany and Russia (Soviet) are involved in it. Kadrigorg Palace shows some aspect of it and was a summer retreat of Russian aristocrats. Today it is an art gallery and open to the public. But it was more than that. The interiors were superb with great ceiling decors, sculptures and so on. Also, in the area between the Palace and the city center had a nice atmosphere with a park with a fountain and old wooden houses. We found a vegan restaurant as well. Another place worth a visit was Kumu Museum. It is located near the palace and houses Estonian arts.
The Old Town of Tallinn
The old town of Tallin is famous and had wished to visit for a long time. The impression I had before when looking at the photos of this town was that old houses were nicely preserved like in Bruges. But when I actually visited it I could feel their history of invasions. I saw in fact relatively new buildings among old buildings such as the ones of communist architecture. That made me imagine the destruction by the wars. And an underground tunnel is now a museum, where we saw remains of historical buildings and what the tunnel and the town was like when Soviet troops used that tunnel like a pile of gas masks. From the medieval age to the modern times Tallinn either flourished or became a battlefield.
It is true we visited a beautiful church, the hill where the symbolic Toompea palace is located and the lookout points, but I felt I could see the various aspects of the history of this city. What left an impression was to me the shop staff passionately talked about a little of the history of this city when I asked for a sticker of the Coat of Arms of Tallinn.
The tour guide from Prangli Travel we used said the cancellations of the trip to Estonia is increasing due to the news of the Russian invasion into Ukraine. However like many other European countries Estonia is safe as of May 2022. I hope the tourists will visit Estonia without influenced by the negative images in association with the current affairs, and support the local businesses and those involved in tourism.
*I took videos during the trip. You are welcome to watch them at the bottom of this blog.
YouTube Videos:
Ocean view from Tabasalu Trail, Estonia: https://youtu.be/y7Hc0cmTZkk
Jägala waterfall: https://youtu.be/o1DoXWDFZwE
Lahemaa National Park (Pine forest and swamp): https://youtu.be/GE0Snex_MWo
Lahemaa National Park (Bay): https://youtu.be/64RHIiq75Ns
Tallinn City: https://youtu.be/G_iwgWQS064
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