The Baltics

We had always wanted to go back east since our big trip last year so we decided now was the time. We went to Riga – Latvia, Tallinn – Estonia and then caught a ferry to Helsinki – Finland and then back to Tallinn. We spent basically all our time in the old towns, seeing the sights, the markets and just hanging out. Riga seemed to still be a little behind the times. Tallinn was quite interesting, such a mix between the west, east, Russia and Scandinavia. And Helsinki was very Scandinavian, expensive and beautiful, the buildings were Victorian, its right on the water and for some reason there was the most amounts of punks I have ever seen in my life!
It was quite cool to see the sun setting very late again, in Finland I think the sun didn’t even go down; it hovered for a few hours at about 2am and then came back up again.

The main square in Riga, lots of cafes and bars

The old Swedish gate in the wall of the old town. Latvia was ruled by Sweden back in the dayA beautiful sunset in Riga at about 11.30pmA birds eye view of the town from one of the Church spiresMe being sillyL & S, it was quite cold for our whole trip. Not like last year at exactly the same time when it was over 30 degThe Grand main square in Tallinn, that is the city hall. The were lots of tourists in Tallinn over the weekendNotice the 4 spires marking the city wall on the leftUp near the castle looking back down to the old townSal trying to decide where we should go for dinner. We went to this yummy medieval restaurant and ate Boar, elk and a few other yummy animals! Oh and drank very strong beer that was made with spices!A cute poseLooking at Tallinn old town coming back on the ferry from FinlandOn a small ferry to see the island of Suomenlinna, 15 mins from Helsinki. The whole area is dotted with islandsA grand old church that looks over the whole of HelsinkiSal taking it all inA little bit Swedish, a little bit Russian - totally FinnishHelsinki from the sea