Monday, November 24, 2025

Castles abound in Latvia

3 November to 5 November 2023

Onward by bus to Riga, Latvia. Our first whole day was our free walking tour using Guru Guides (Latvian guide Tomn), as has been our pattern recently when available. We found out that this is a city infatuated with black cats due to a building with black cats on the roof, said to be placed bum out towards the guild building when they would not let him join (only Germans could join the guild & the building owner was native Latvian). The landmark caught on with many business’s taking the black cat name and theme scattered throughout the city eg Black Cat Tattoo. In the afternoon we visited the Art Nouveau section of the city to admire the architecture.

Our second day we took a bus out to Sigulda to see some castles and nature. An hour bus ride deposited us in the town, which was about 5km from the main castle, Turaida. A visit to the tourist office set us up with an itinerary and so off we went, walking. First stop, Sigulda new castle. It was pretty on the outside but did not look special enough to go in. Behind it was Sigulda Livonia Castle. Mostly just ruins, but quite extensive remains with many built up areas as lookouts to see the surrounding countryside and river below, Gauja.

Then quite a long walk across a bridge, through forest and along a road to get to the main castle. Along the way we passed Gutmans Cave, a cave bearing inscriptions from the 17th century. Finally, Turaida castle which was more a complete complex with the castle itself in various stages of ruin and repair. We got to go up one high tower with multiple landings with chandeliers and smooth orange walls, one even had a family of pigeons in a corner. Great views were seen from the top all the way around. Then a walk around a part of the extensive gardens scattered liberally with interesting sculptures.

Riga

Sigulda

Friday, November 21, 2025

Estonia beautiful old towns and a vast bog

28 October to 2 November 2023

We boarded a Viking Ferry for the 2.5 hour trip to Tallinn in Estonia from Helsinki. Once we had settled into our hotel we tracked down tourist information to plan out our next couple of days.

Our first booking was for a free walking tour. This was a top notch free walking tour. The guide Dominic was full of knowledge and stories and the old town is really stunning and extensive. From the entire history of Estonia, to its religion, stories related to all of its major buildings and historic events to quirky stories about its flag, national anthem and even an atheist that convinced a church to bury him at a doorway so people have to walk over him all the time and the executioner that became a monk but kept up the trade on the side. Super entertaining and lots of great spots and views. After dinner we had a wander on our own through old town to see if anything was happening, unfortunately it was a bit quiet but the buildings look great at night.

After a successful day exploring old town we took a guided day trip out to Laheema National Park (Spanish guide Jorge). We first went to Jagala Waterfall. This was a really wide crescent shaped waterfall but not very high. Water was low so was only running over about a third of it and the water had a yellow green colour due to the foliage in the water.

After the waterfall we went to Viru Bog. Quite interesting, as the further you get into the bog the smaller the trees are due to the acidity of the water. These are water reservoirs and as such their were icy pools of water everywhere interspersed with all of the flora and moss and small trees. You walk over it on a wood footpath which takes you to a tower viewpoint. We then went on further on a much narrower path, barely a person wide, while the guide went and got the car to meet us on the other side.

We then had lunch at a bistro, but not before having a swing in a village swing (Kiik). These are large swings made for multiple adults and they even have a sport based on it where the swingers have to make it go all around called Kiiking. After a really cheap lunch we went on to see some Mansions, originally owned by Germans when they ruled Estonia and then on to an old fishing village.

Next day was wet so we started out around 11am and first went to St Olaf‘s church to climb the 258 steps to the viewing platform. Narrow circular staircase with high stairs. Lovely views of the expansive old town. Afterwards we went to the oldest continuous pharmacy in the world. Going since 1422.

After cake and coffee we started climbing stairs on the outside to go up to views from the wall, ended up inside and wandered around to see our favourite spots and find new ones. More wall wandering and then to the markets to do some shopping

The next day was a travel day to Parnu in Estonia. This is a little town down the west coast. We travelled by bus and walked to our hostel by the beach. The receptionist queried why we came here when it is so cold and admitted we were virtually their only customers. After unpacking we took a short stroll to the beach.

After breakfast the following morning we went walking, armed with a map and advice from our friendly receptionist. First down the beach until we hit a 3 km long narrow breakwater made of stones. Legend has it that lovers kissing at the end will be together forever. We thought it more likely we would slip and break a leg and be in pain forever, so skipped that tradition.

From there we headed into town following a trail along the coast, then around a canal and back to the coast. Passing along and over bridges, lovely parkland and old buildings. Next we headed to old town but first we needed to find cake. After some research we found Pastoraat Cafe. We shared 2 different delectable gluten free cakes to give us energy for the next part.

That started with a walk along old town Main Street and then down to the river for a walk along the bank. We walked for about an hour and a half, watching the ducks and enjoying the crisp cold air and wide river with reeds. We turned around as we knew it would be time for dinner by the time we got back to old town.

We ate at Cafe XS sharing a pizza, pasta dish and a tomato and strawberry soup with ice cream for desert. By the time we tucked in for the night we had walked 25,100 steps and just over 17km, a new record for this trip.

Tallinn

Laheema National Park, Jagala Waterfall and Viru Bog

Parnu

Monday, November 17, 2025

Santa Claus brings us a sky full of lights

17 October to 27 October 2023

We arrived in Kirkeness, Finland were we departed a very rocky boat. We only stayed in Kirkeness long enough to organise our transport down through Finland, looking at a mixture of transfer, bus and train. So of we went to our first stop on our way down to Ivalo. Lovely scenery on trip with lots of snow. Finished at Hotel Ivalo. Large hotel, medium price but included a sauna, jacuzzi and pool. Did not follow Finnish Sauna etiquette which is in the nude. Did not know. Luckily had it to myself. Saw minor northern lights outside our hotel window, which overlooked just forest and lake. Lots of snow and ice.

Then we were off again to our next stop, Rovaniemi. -5 temps when we went out to catch the bus. Bus trip went through mostly forested dense snow scenery. Several times along the trip the bus had to slow down for Elk on the road. They made me think of the road issues with kangaroos in Australia. At Rovaniemi we had to hang around 2 hours for the public bus to our accommodation, which turned out to be a big van. So the bus system here uses the vehicle that fits the destination. Our accommodation was the Arctic Snow Hotel and Glass Igloos, quite a way outside town. Here we are sleeping in glass roofed igloos with the hope of seeing the northern lights in comfort. My aurora trackers and weather apps said our chances were good here over the next couple of nights.

The first night did not produce any lights, except for a brief burst while we were having dinner which caused everybody to run outside and clicking photos with their flashes on, Aarrggh. We had not booked or planned anything for today. We asked if their were any hiking trails but were told there is only the road that runs along the lake. The lady said she saw reindeer along that road the day before. We decided that was our plan. We headed off and found it a nice walk with the snow covered forest and nearly frozen lake providing endless views. We followed a few side roads down to the lake, I stood on it and did not fall in, and saw many barking dogs and cute snow covered roof houses with ladders leading up the sides. No reindeer though. It ended up getting late, especially since we forgot to order dinner, and we needed to turn around, but decided to aim for a part where the road met the lake. We turned a corner and were blown away by a whole herd of reindeer. Many photos were taken. We got to the lake and found a lady with her friendly dog eating snow. On our way back the reindeer had moved across the road and then started walking back as we were approaching them. At one point one reindeer came on to the road were we were and just watched us going past. Once we had past he went back into the field. We got the impression he was the leader and protecting the herd. The snow at one spot looked like cauliflower and was really light.

That night was intense, the lights started late but brief. Then we were woken at 2am to see a show of lights for about half an hour. At 4am we were woken by the aurora alarm again and then saw Aurora’s for over the next 2 hours continuously. They would be all types, going bright in specific spots and then lighting up across the whole sky, to coming down in waves and shimmering like ribbons. It was exquisite. Photos do not do them justice as I only had my mobile phone. We got very little sleep. Not a problem though as the next day was a travel day to the town of Rovaniemi.

Next day we went to the official home of Santa Claus. We got a picture with the big guy, visited his home, stood on the border of the Arctic Circle, and played with his huskies. The guy was very friendly and struck up a great conversation. The place is about 30 minutes out from the town of Rovaniemi. It was super cold, in the -5+ category. Luckily our apartment has its own sauna and that did a good job of warming us up.

Following day we decided to go for one of our exploratory walks. At first we tried to walk to Koivusaari but with a few false starts trying to find the bridge and then endless road we decided to turn back and go to Koskipuisto Park on the other side of the smaller bridge. Not much to see, mainly just snow and ice. Not much scenery or stand out buildings. Did see a squirrel with a huge nut run across our path and up a tree.

The next day was a bus then a train to Helsinki. Due to the weather our main activity on the first day was a Sauna at Loyly Sauna. This is a sauna built right on the ocean so that you can overheat and then cool down by plunging into the Baltic Sea. The 2 hours went surprisingly fast. They had saunas inside, a smoke sauna in a building outside and a sauna that was right on the edge with a large window giving views of the ocean. Just outside of this one were steps leading down to the sea. It was good fun.

We spent the next day on the island of Sveaborg to visit the UNESCO listed heritage site of the Suomenlinna fortress, with its colourful history of being owned by Sweden, and then Russia and then Finland. Great day wandering the complex seeing great landscaped grassy mounds covering connections and guard quarters, tunnels and big guns pointing out to sea and magnificent views. We wandered afterwards to check out and time how to get to the Viking ferry.

On our last day we went on a free walking tour in Helsinki (Iranian guide Hoda). It was very informative in history and culture but there did not seem to be a lot interesting to see except churches and libraries. It was enjoyable nonetheless though I did nearly freeze and lost feeling in my toes in the zero degree temps. Afterwards I was desperate to warm up so we went to the 4D theatre on the pier and watched a film on Finland. It used 3D glasses and moving seats plus air, water and snow to provide a fuller experience as you zoomed around Finland.

Ivalo

Rovaniemi

Loyly Sauna

Sveaborg

Helsinki

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

Norway and the Hurtigruten

5 October to 16 October 2023

We spent the next couple of day getting over to Oslo in Norway. Once there we hopped on the train from Oslo to Bergen, but stopped at Myrdal to do the fabulous Flamsbana railway trip to Flam. It was an uncharacteristically dreadful rainy day, but that seemed to add mystery and atmosphere to the Oslo leg, which had fabulous scenery that went from green fields and mountains to snow covered houses. The Flam journey had a lot of tunnels initially but did open up to fabulous multiple waterfall views including the Kosfossen Waterfall. The train stops for this one and let’s everybody get off and take pictures for 5 minutes. We did, but not for long as the rain was gushing down.

Still gushing by the time we got to Flam we found ourselves in a quandary. We were going to walk, but it was a good 20 min walk to our overnight accommodation and not near any food options. We decided to eat in town first and then because the rain had settled down we walked to our accommodation.

We were only in Flam for the one night and then had to catch the train to Myrdal and then to Bergen. Before that we had enough time to try to get to the gushing waterfall we could see from our room. The trek was quite steep and we got a good way but had to turn around because we were running out of time for our 10am checkout. After grabbing our bags we did hike back a bit and then headed on back to the town to catch the train.

We got there early and got good seats on the right hand side. The good weather completely changed the train trip with fabulous, expansive landscapes and many waterfalls. Likewise the trip to Bergen had fantastic scenery.

Busy day today as we tried to beat the weather and fit in as much as we could. After going to the tourist office and getting some maps and advice, we went down to Bryggen Wharf, a historic harbour district. This had lovely colourful old buildings with a few of them leaning with funny angles on the doors. Not sure why. We then continued on down to the Bergenhus Fortress with buildings built from the 13th century and surrounded by lovely gardens.

We then headed to the Funicular, called the Floibanen here, but I had trouble finding it on google and could only find Fjellveien Stasjon which was described as a mountain cable car so I thought that was it. I started to get suspicious when it was all uphill. The walk did take us through some awesome old buildings and character filled streets and a perplexing couple of missing cat signs, so that was good. When we got there we found that we were at one of the stations already a third up. While having trouble purchasing a ticket we decided to walk it. It was a bit tricky as streets were going in many directions so we got help from a couple that were hiking to the Ulriken, an over 13 km hike away from the top of the Funicular! They took us to the top and then continued on their hike. We had a good look around, had a coffee and some food and then took the Funicular down.

We then used the info from the tourist info to catch a train to get to the cable car that goes up to the Ulriken Mountain peak. This time I found it correctly and we took the cable car as our legs were already sore from our other walk. Had a great walk around the many lookout spots on top with great views of the city and surrounding areas. Took the cable car down and went back to the city, were we took a walk around the lake before dinner.

We had one more day in Bergen and since the next day was still fine (despite threats to the contrary), we decided to tackle a hike recommended by Adrians friend Hendrick.

It was a one way hike up a steep slope in the bush. Lots of very steep steps and stones. It is a bit of a challenge hill and the male record is around 7 mins and Women’s around 9. It took us 49 mins. This was called the Stoltzekleiven, or Stoltzven for short. At the top we needed to find another way down. I had found a site on the internet that gave directions for an alternate route down which we followed. This ended in a final leg that could only barely be called a track, stumbling through loose rocks and mud, but it did have the advantage of following the river down through the forest. We were presented with water burbling over rocks, super green foliage and moss all the way down. Well worth it. At the bottom it was still another 40 minutes home. Tomorrow we hop on the Hurtigruten ship for our cruise up along the coast of Norway all the way to Finland.

First full day on the ship was mostly a leisurely day getting used to life on the ship. The morning was a briefing on excursions coming up. We sat up on deck 7 for a good portion of the day, running out the back in the outside cold periodically to take pictures, as we meandered around the fabulous scenery of the fjords. We stopped at the end of one fjord for trips to a town but as it was so wet we decided to stay on board.

At 6pm the ship parked at Alesund to let people get off for a few hours to have a look. We got off then. Alesund was mostly burned to the ground by a fire in 1904 and rebuilt. As such it has a lot of Art Nouveau buildings as was the style of the era. We headed to the main areas for the best examples of these buildings. We had periods of nice weather and periods of rain.

After breakfast the next morning we stopped at Trondheim. We got off to see the architecture and specifically the Nidaros Cathedral which was started in 1070 and built over the remains of St Olaf, who converted Norway to Christianity. During our 2 hour walk we saw it from virtually all sides, close up and from across the river, quite impressive.

First up after lunch we went to a talk on Viking history and learnt way more than we wanted. Lol, the speaker was very enthusiastic on Viking history. We spent the rest of the afternoon up front on deck 7 watching the scenery pass by.

The next morning we crossed the Arctic Circle at 7:49am at 66 degrees 33‘ . The Antarctic Circle Monument was a sphere and a load of people were outside to watch us cross it. I think it was about 3 degrees. Later on in the morning they had Arctic circle baptisms were, if you were so inclined, could get ice blocks and freezing water poured down your back in exchange for a sweet spirit drink. I was not so inclined but Elizabeth was eager to go through with it. Luckily she had exercised late and was still in exercise gear about to have a shower. So her timing was perfect. I held her jackets and gloves and beanie and she got to get 'baptised and then go to our room and have a warm shower.

I watched the scenery for awhile and then we went for a dip in the Jacuzzi before lunch. Because everybody else had gone to Bodo both were free. The Jacuzzi‘s are outside at the back and you can watch the scenery while relaxing. After, we went to lunch and there was only about 3 couples in the lunchroom so we had free rein of the buffet. The rest of the day was watching the scenery.

That night we got the call out for Northern Lights. Going outside the Northern Lights developed into shimmering green streaks across a whole swathe of sky, changing position and effects. Could not capture it well on the phone but it was cool to watch. Eventually I started freezing and went downstairs to get fully clothed up and then came back and watched some more.

Next stop Tromso, the capital of the North. Leaving the ship we continued on to the bridge, past the church and up to the cable car. The cable car being $60 ea we decided against it, especially since we have done it before and would have only had about 20 mins at the top. So not worth it. We decided a nice walk and look around was enough since we had been here before.

We continued up the coast of Norway, finally getting to the northernmost city in the world, Honningsvag. This title is contested though because Hammerfeat disputes that it is a city. There are also more northerly towns such as in Svalbard but their places do not have enough population to be classed a city by Norway standards. This is a little town and we had a wander through it. We went back to the boat for lunch.

After lunch we decided to go in the Jacuzzi again. We stayed in there for about 40 mins as the boat backed out, spun around and then took off for the next location. As the boat went into the open sea it hit bigger winds and we started really bouncing off the waves.

Adding to the above, dinner was a roller coaster. The waves are giving us the clothes washer effect going up and down and side by side. Things were falling over everywhere at dinner. A liquor trolley next to us fell over, luckily most of the bottles did not break. Trays of glasses at the back fell over, books fell off the shelves behind me. People were struggling to walk, some being sick some getting wheelchaired out by more stable members of the crew. Crashes were being heard in the kitchen, but as they say, the show must go on, and we got all of our dinner before they closed the kitchen and sent everybody to their cabins as safety could no longer be assured. It was an interesting night.