Cēsis Castle
We’re on the road again on our way to our third Baltic country, Estonia. But there’s two more stops before we say Uz redzēšanos! to old Livonia. Our first destination is Cēsis, a small town known for its medieval castle and the castle gardens. Here we combined a bathroom break with adult recess in a medieval playground.
The Cēsis castle history has been a wild ride. To sum it up succinctly, it has been destroyed and re-built numerous times and has passed through many hands. Now it is in the possession of the tourists (like us) who come here for the full-on ruined fortress experience.
For example, as part of our castle encounter, we were given lanterns to light the darker passages as we climbed our way up into the upper room of the cone-capped Eastern Tower. Once at the top, though, there wasn’t much else to see or do. I guess it was “the journey” that we are to appreciate.
A Box o‘ Lenin
For me, the visit’s highlight was discovering a large wooden crate (or coffin?) off to one side of the grounds that contained a discarded statue of Vladimir Lenin. Like other examples of “monumental propaganda”, it must have been removed as part of the decommunization of Latvia once it had shed itself of the Soviet yoke. (Personally, It was a symbolic bookend to the socialist “comrades” that still graced the Green Bridge in Vilnius when we were there.)
Latvian Nine Pins
Before leaving the castle grounds, our group played a bit of medieval bowling. Using a wooden lane with a gentle upward slope, the balls are rolled in an attempt to knock down nine heavy wooden pins. We all took a shot or two. Every one and no one was the winner!
Back on the road again
Exhausted by our romp in the castle, we continued on to our next stop, lunch at a roadside restaurant, Braslas Krogs. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves cuz I cannot remember what we ate.
(An update on the restaurant: It’s history. Apparently, it burned down and closed some years after we were there.)
Of course, being the oversize children we are at heart, Rob and I couldn’t resist riding the nearby teeter-totter.
Tere Eesti! Entering Estonia
We made a brief (and wet) stop in the rainy Estonian resort town of Parnu to stretch our feet, answer nature’s call and get some refreshments before completing the last leg of our trip to Tallinn.
Aida popped in another video to get us through that final stretch. And I do remember this one! It was a documentary on the “Singing Revolution” from the Estonian perspective. Encompassing a series of events from 1987 to 1991, the term “Singing Revolution” was coined by an Estonian activist reporting on the spontaneous mass evening singing demonstrations held at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds in early June 1988. Those events culminated in the restoration of independence for the three countries.
Our introduction to Tallinn
After checking into our very modern hotel — it was like staying in an IKEA showroom — we took a walking tour of the town with Aida, shooting pics of the interesting architecture before sunset.
Our Baltic Adventure 