Journey: Tallinn – Haapsalu – Matsalu National Park – Pärnu
If I ever wake up with a crick in my neck I know why – but how cute he wants to be close ❤️ We woke to pouring rain and the forecast was for it to last all day. Mark confessed he was happy to skip today and just stay in the van but I was eager to explore and a little rain never hurt anyone, so with big coats on by 9:30am we were pottering around Kadrioru Park along with two coach loads of tourists.
I then drove over to the hip up and coming area of Kalamaja where there is a great food market called Balti Jarma and the warehouses have been made into art collectives of independent shops/cafes. It’s got a great vibe and I loved the street art.
After lunch we walked into the centre – it’s so compact you can just toodle round the maze of narrow old streets and see all the sights in an hour or two. If I’m honest I hadn’t expected it to be so touristy, despite the rain it was heaving and 95% of the shops were selling tourist souvenirs. I definitely preferred the Kalamaja area.
Our next stop was Haapsalu Castle, where we stumbled upon an amateur dramatics play – we couldn’t really get into it though as it was all in Estonian – last we saw a lady was being dragged away for being naughty…
Keen to give the dogs a more exciting walk I drove on to Matsalu National Park. It’s a wet land peninsula and I’d wrongly presumed there would be walking trails. Turns out just a handful of little houses…we got an odd look from a local who obviously wasn’t used to seeing motorhomes come down here and three dogs come tumbling out. After a brief potter we had to concede there was nothing much there. On the plus we found the derelict Kiideva Manor house with some wonderful texture contrasts in the materials used. It wasn’t possible to go inside as it’s been boarded up with surveillance (indeed Mark wouldn’t even come look at the outside), but I really liked it’s decaying beauty.
We really weren’t expecting to do so much or drive so far today, but having just arrived in Pärnu, I’ve promised Mabel a beach walk tomorrow.
SofaWolves 