England/Scotland
Belgium/Netherlands
I am so far behind with this thing but will try to remember.. I flew from Amsterdam to Helsinki, into the land of the midnight twilight. I could not get used to the sun going down at midnight and then coming up at 3 or 4 in the morning. Helsinki was an interesting city with really nice architecture and a real nice vibe to the city. I stayed in the old Olympic stadium in a hostel there which apparently during its time (1952) was a stunning piece of modern architecture.
Had a few really nice day trips, the first being to Suomenlinna, an old island fort which was used to defend the Finns from all their various wannabe invaders. The another trip to Porvoo which was a beautiful old town set on a river with some really old-style buildings.
The next day I set off on the ferry to Tallinn in Estonia. Estonia is one of my favourite countries I have been to so far, the people are so friendly, all the towns are really pretty with some amazing old walls and buildings.Tallinn old town has one of the best preserved old walls in eastern Europe and the backpackers was the only backpackers I have stayed in with a sauna and jacuzzi!! Met some really great people while I was here including a couple of kiwi's and a Canadian who I travelled with for a bit. Had a few interesting nights out here enjoying the 1 dollar pints!
The next stop was Tartu which is a big student town and has one of Europe's oldest universities. The town was so amazing with a compact town square (lots of terraces), a fountain with a couple kissing under an umbrella and an old anatomy museum with specimens that were older than Australia. We managed to be here for the Champions league final and also to celebrate the victory of the local basketball side... this resulted in quite a large night out.. surprisingly!!
It was then onto Riga the capital of Latvia. Despite having a nice old town the town had a bit of a wild-west feel to it. Despite being repressed though for some many years by both Russians and Germans and then Russians again, the people have an amazing sense of self identity. Met some great people here and stayed at a really fun hostel. Being the weekend we got to experience a Saturday night out and 6am Hes burger!My next stop was the Cronian spit in lithuania which is actually a large moving sand dune. Me and my new Canadian buddies ventured out to find the place almost desserted, with the promise of bike hire etc.. we ventured to another town on a bus only to find nada! We then went in search of these elusive sand-dunes which I still think we found but who knows as they were covered in scrub. The highlight of this place was actually the nest of Cormorants, there were literally thousands of them and they had painted the place white with their poo. This place would probably be quite busy in summer but in late spring.. not!
Villnius was the next destination, and the capital of Lithuania. It rained basically the whole time I was there but managed to get some sunshine in. The most interesting thing was the old KGB headquarters which went through some of the atrocities of the Russian/Germans and also had an old KGB cell in the basement and execution chamber. Really sobering stuff. Had some great food here especially beetroot soup and some fantastic stews.
Got some great pics which u can check out by clicking here
After a few days it was off to Poland but that is for later.
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