Week 4 Littland Letauen Lestland where are we actually? (Latvia, Estonia)

Since the Baltic countries are not the largest in terms of area, we have already reached Latvia. First, we headed directly to Riga, the capital. Interestingly, in our other vacations, we usually avoid big cities and stroll through small villages or towns. However, in the Baltics, the big cities attract us magically because despite their size, they also exude relaxation. They are both beautifully old and historically significant, as well as modern and youthful with great ideas and innovations.

Now to Riga. We stayed at a campsite in the city again, from which we could reach everything on foot this time. The old town was on our way and was nice to look at, but didn't impress us too much. Apart from restaurants and souvenir shops, there was nothing worth seeing for us that invited us to linger.

So we continued to the former Zeppelin hangar halls, where a huge weekly market takes place 364 days a year. Only on Midsummer's Day, on June 24th, it is not held because it is celebrated. Since we are also huge fans of large weekly markets in Kiel, we were more than enthusiastic about this market. The dimensions are difficult to grasp, but it's a lot of fun to buy something different at every booth. The individual halls each have a theme (fish, meat, dairy products, spices and pickled products, etc.). And little things in between are super cheap.

In the evening, we went to the city center and enjoyed the atmosphere here very much. There was a lot going on in the streets, all the outdoor seating areas of the restaurants were occupied, but it didn't seem hectic at all. In the many Latvian parks, various sports and card games were played. For example, team frisbee. Everyone seemed to be active and enjoying being outside. We found the prices in Riga's restaurants surprisingly cheap compared to Lithuania. Except in the old town, of course.

As usual, a national park followed the city stay. In front of us was the Gauja Park, through which the river (Gauja) meanders. We could tell that we had now arrived in western Latvia, as everything seemed a bit more touristy. Even the smallest attractions, which you would be happy to discover by chance, were advertised here and many tour buses went there. Overnight stays in the Gauja National Park were only possible at campsites, and the prices were a bit higher again. Nevertheless, the park was beautiful and we hiked a few short distances.

The ground in this area consists of sandstone, which is why the washed-out riverbed has very soft walls. Many caves have been formed in these walls. It seems to be a kind of popular sport to leave one's mark in the sandstone walls here.

We spent one night in the Gauja National Park, and we wondered if the campsite owners were cannibals ;-)

We slowly made our way to Tallinn. However, we wanted to take a short break at a not-so-small waterfall to have breakfast. The waterfall was really eye-catching. And with the 25 degrees that we had again, the wet mist from the waterfall was a refreshing relief. Unfortunately, the river's water level is quite low at this time of year, so the waterfall was very narrow. Still, really cool.

We are very excited about Tallinn and will report back next week.