Tallinn - Back in the Middle Ages

'Visitors from all over the world come to admire the beauty of Tallinn - the best-preserved medieval city in Northern Europe with Gothic tower spires, winding cobblestone streets, and enchanting architecture. Once prosperous merchants from Germany, Denmark, and other countries lived here.' (visitestonia.com)

Highly RECOMMENDED and there is not much to add. Tallinn is modern, medieval, loud, bustling, yet calm and manageable. It has beautiful churches and other noteworthy buildings, a great old town, and the only downside for us is the masses of tourists, mostly from Germany, who seem to be spit out by giant cruise ships... even at 6 in the morning, as when we lazily mount our bikes on Saturday to catch the ferry to Finland, we are already greeted by the first cheerful hikers in search of their knightly ancestors and a cheerful 'Good Morning' on their lips...urgh!!!

The evening before, my watch shows 24,543 steps, our feet are tired, the children are hungry and tired, and before going to bed, we reflect on what we have taken away from 26 days in the Baltics: it has been a great journey so far, we have covered almost 960km. The people in Latvia and Estonia are friendly, helpful, but not intrusive. The landscape is beautiful: wide open land with untouched meadows, forests, and almost deserted sandy beaches. The aforementioned relaxation has fortunately always caught up with us again, as we often had to leave it behind during our rides ourselves. The cycling network in the Baltic countries is simply not well enough developed: better in the larger cities than with us, but in the countryside, you can only make progress on the so-called highway, often accompanied by the fear of survival when the 40-tonners pass by. So next time, travel by camper or plan shorter stages so that you can ride through the villages more.

Goodbye, Thank you & see you again!