Sleeping Beauty

Day 10 - from Baltic 'charm' to the hipster city

In the morning, we explored the area around Sigulda. There were two castles and three fortresses to see - but we didn't manage to see everything.😝

The animals immediately climbed the throne of the German Ordensruine, but then voluntarily vacated it. The Prussians - disguised as a German travel group - were clearly in the majority.😉

Krimulda Castle and its outbuildings are in a deep sleep, some of them probably in a coma. The plaster is crumbling extremely, the castle seems abandoned. But, wait: People in white coats can be seen through the windows.👨‍⚕️👩‍⚕️ There is a rehabilitation center in the castle!🙈 Hard to believe...😳

At the café next door, you first think it's closed. But then it scores with a great price-performance ratio!👍 Two coffees and two very good éclairs for 3.80€. Everything together, of course!😊

Now we headed north, the landscape became more 'Scandinavian'. Birch trees, nice small wooden houses...🇸🇪

Our destination today was Tartu, the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. About 98,000 inhabitants, a university town, everything is in great shape and already really nice, even hip.🤓 Many bars (of course, student city), cathedral ruins, a pretty crooked house and a lot of art everywhere. Of course, the price level is also higher. Cider in the hipster bar on the waterfront: 5€. For that, you get lounge music and a river view...😎

By the way, Metallica will play a concert in Tartu tomorrow.🎶🎸🎤 Our hotel is fully booked, the crew is also staying here and took over the hotel bar in the afternoon.🍻🍻🍻 But we didn't see the band... That would have been very surprising...😊

That was an interesting day. It is amazing how different the countries - in today's case Latvia and Estonia - are developed. Estonia is the most advanced of the three Baltic states. You can feel the proximity to Finland, everything is clearly 'more Western'. Let's see if this impression is confirmed tomorrow when we go even further north - back to the coast.🌊⛱