Day 11 - on to Estonia

We woke to rain which has unrelenting till mid-afternoon. We were off on good time and negotiated our way easily through Riga in a NE direction. The outskirts looked poor and rundown.

Our first stop was Cesis which looked a pretty open old town, even in the rain. There was lots of parkland and trees. It’s a popular place in winter. (Which it felt like today 11 degrees). We got free parking near the castle so walked through a grassy area to a pond then up round the castle to the town. Some of the buildings were painted wooden and others plastered, mainly yellow and white, several centuries old. Cesis was a walled town and member of the Hanseatic league. Also it has the distinction of being the birthplace of the Latvian flag. It is said that at the end of the 13th century and ancient chieftain was killed in battle and was laid out on a white sheet. His blood stained the sides leaving a white stripe in the middle.

We continued on and suddenly, in the middle of a town, we were in Estonia. Although EE is part of BT Mr C was getting 5G (free) on BT while I, on EE, and paying £25 for an EU month, got nothing, then only 3G. As soon as I can get out of the contract without penalties I’ll be off.

The scenery in Estonia was like the rest of Eastern Europe, flat. We found a P4N in Tarfu, a university city, for €3 in a car park by the river. Time was rushing on but we decided to walk along the riverbank then up Toombe Hill to a park. On the way we went through a lovely old cobbled square with a pink town hall at the end of the street which had outside seating for bars on one side. There was a fountain with a sculpture of a kissing couple under a brolly. A symbol of of Tartu’s student population, was designed by Estonian artist Mario Karin in 1999. (Influenced by Jack Vetriano it looked like!). From there we climbed the hill to the 19th century observatory then on to the monumental ruins of Toom Cathedral from 13th century. It was the largest brick Gothic church in the Baltics. The majority of it was destroyed in the Livonian War (1558-1583). I read some reference to the walls being destroyed by Crusaders so must investigate that.

We returned the same way, I prepared red onion, mushroom and cream cheese pasta and we had a drink in the sun while we discussed our next plan.

166 miles driven today and only 4 miles walked. It seemed further in the rain!

The blip is in Cesis, Latvia.