R2RI want to ride it where I like…Bicycle! Bicycle!” (Any chance to quote Freddy should always be taken.)
We certainly rode our bicycles..for 10 straight days. We rode over paved roads, on gravel roads, on a major highway, in sun, rain, and wind. It was the absolute PERFECT way to gain a great sense of Western Estonia. I also think the style of bike touring we chose was ideal. Every day we followed a well laid out route and map stopping along the way at small villages, OLD castles, museums and other points of interest. After an average of 50-60 km/day we arrived at our hotel for the evening. This meant we travelled with very little. As Matt is such a gentleman, he carried our 2 paniers with a change of clothes. I got to navigate and be the official photographer.
The part of Estonia we biked through was the Western edge of the USSR. During Soviet times only residents of the islands and top Soviet officials were allowed to enter the area. If you wanted to visit family you had to apply a year in advance and posess a letter of invite and I am sure endure some other long drawn out steps as well. Fortunately for us all we had to do was get on a few ferries! As with other parts of Europe there is lots of history here with ruins, castles, and lots of windmills.
Travelling at a slower pace allowed us to get a better sense of life in the small villages. In Estonia you purchase snacks and sometimes meat, cheese, and bread at a Pood. My favourite was the Potsie Pood. We also learned that it is acceptable to have a beer at 8:00am. The only available beer at the Pood is the 500 ml (half a litre) full test 5-6% beer. People were not shy about consuming these at all times of the day. Usually we ate a snack based lunch purchased at the Pood's but one day we did treat ourselves to an upscale restaurant…we smelt a bit out of place but it was lovely.
During the summer months western Estonia is the playground of the Finns. We were in the area after school starts in Finland so the tourist attractions we did get to were delightfully empty. On 2 or 3 occassions we were the only guests at the hotel we stayed at and in one instance they gave us the key to the entire hotel! It was nice to class up our hotel staying experience but perhaps it wasn't wise for us to start at this level…everything else pales in comparison!
There were many great stops along the route, and we certainly took advantage of playing tourist as much as possible. One highlight was the ostrich farm. Our guide was 12 and he had excellent English. We got to feed the ostrich's which felt cool, and pet a baby wallaby. There were emus, a zebra, horses and alpacas at this stop…yup..we were still in Estonia!
We finished our adventure in Latvia (which is the meat in the baltic sandwich according to Lonely Planet). This was the first time I have ever crossed a border on a bike! When we arrived in Riga, our bags were waiting for us at the hotel and neither of us were sad to say goodbye to our cycling shorts – although we both miss the freedom of travelling by bikes. Looks like we will be in the market for some touring bikes when we get home!
