Busing Through the Baltics

Coming from sunny Andalusia where summer was in full swing and because it was July, I imagined the rest of Europe to be in summer. I was wrong, I wasn’t prepared for the weather in the Baltics and felt it as soon as I arrived. I arrived to Estonia at one in the morning to 10 degree weather (celsius); more than a one third difference between what it was in Spain. I hoped that maybe the next day would be different, but it wasn’t. It was cloudy and cold, to me it felt like winter and all I had brought were shorts and short sleeve shirts. Luckily I had accidentally forgot to pack my sports coat in my suitcase my parents took home. It would be my savior. While writing this waiting for the train stop I realized I forgot it in my train car so I went back and got it just before I had to get off. Had I forgotten it I would have been devastated. My second day I also bought a pair of pants that were well needed and used to their fullest, but sadly I would later forget to pack them when coming home from Berlin.

The Baltic states have a very interesting and diverse history starting hundreds of years ago in the middle ages and continuing until they were part of the Soviet Bloc during the Cold War and now as independent states

Tallinn is an amazing city and incredibly underrated. It’s architecturally beautiful and has one of the most intact medieval walls out of Any city in Europe. It’s cheap, the food is good and the people are extremely nice. In case you don’t know where it is it’s located just across the Baltic Sea from Helsinki, if you don’t know where Helsinki is, look at a map. Tallinn today is a mixture of legacies from those who use to rule it.  Throughout the centuries it changed hands many times between the Germans, the Dutch, the Swedish and the Russians until they gained their independence on August 20th 1991.  It is a city that is definitely worth visiting

After Tallinn I went to Riga, Riga is in Latvia, which is just below Estonia, which is where you can find Tallinn which can be found right across the Baltic Sea from Helsinki. The reason I wanted to go to Riga was because two years ago on my second journey to Spain, I sat next to a couple, an Irish guy and his wife from Riga. At the time I’d never heard of Riga, but he talked about how beautiful it was and if I ever had the chance I should visit it. Fast forward to when I was planning this trip, I knew I wanted to go to Riga, I’ve always wanted to visit Poland, I heard great things about Tallinn (I don’t remember how or where), Vilnius and Berlin; so it all came together easily being that they’re all right next to each other. Riga like Tallinn is a small city with a big history. It’s beautiful and green with plenty to do and see. One of the highlights was midnight kayaking around the river that runs around the old town. You get to see the city in a different light and I saw beavers! Riga was also the city where I got the drunkest. I did too many shots of vodka on one of the bar crawls.  After the night of too many shots I attempted an escape the room with two others from the hostel. We unfortunately didn’t escape and I wouldn’t blame the state I was in, it was a really hard room. Latvia has more escape the rooms per square kilometer than any other city in the world (I made that up, but they have over 200 in a city of 650,000, they have professional teams that do them.  The record time for the room we did was 23 minutes, we didn’t even get out of the first room in 23 minutes and there were four of them.  Riga, like Tallinn is an underrated city that has a lot to offer.

After Riga I went to Vilnius, Vilnius is located in Lithuania which is located right below Latvia which is where you can find Riga, which is just below Estonia, which is where Tallinn is, which is right across the Baltic Sea from Helsinki.  Until the beginning of last year I had never met anybody from Lithuania, but in September I met a girl from there who was teaching English in Jerez for a few months and we became friends. Before meeting her I had already had the idea of going, but she made me even more excited to go. Unfortunately the day we planned to meet in Vilnius, the weather decided otherwise.  Up until that day I was very luckily with the weather. While cold, it hadn’t rained like the forecast predicted and even that day it was sunny until five. I went to Trakai island Castle with a bunch of people from the hostel. We rented paddle boats, drank, swam and sunbathed. It was beautiful! Until it started pouring and we had to walk to the bus stop (about 30 min) in a rainstorm. A rainstorm that continued throughout the night. Like Tallinn and Riga Vilnius is a small city, it’s beautiful, cheap, has good food and beer and like all the countries in the Baltics, the people are great.

Oh, and the best way to get to each city is by bus and they are amazing coach buses.  They have more leg room than a plane, free wifi, a bathroom! free coffee and tea, and screens behind each of the seats with a pretty in depth movie collection.  If you ever find yourself in the baltics, go with Lux Express.