Holiday Travels Pt 1

Well.... as you can see by the title (and as I mentioned last time) I will back-track - or should I say "reminisce over" - a wonderful 6 week holiday I had last September with Hayley and Megan....this will mainly be made up of a small selection of the many many photos I took!! 
Hayley & I left together and after a 10 hour flight enjoyed a night in Japan.......

......... the following day another 10 hour flight onto Helsinki where we had a 3 hour wait at the airport......................

.....before finally arriving in Estonia to be met unexpectedly by Megan who had told us that she would be arriving from England the following day but had decided to surprise us!! It had been 18 months since we had last seen her!! 

Estonia is where my heritage lies - both parents are Estonian and this was Hayley's and my first trip to the "homeland" - Megan had just a few days there in 2014. 

We stayed in the "Old Town".........the oldest part of the capital, Tallinn.... and spent many hours walking along narrow, cobbled streets and lane ways within the medieval town walls discovering old merchant houses, hidden courtyards, winding stairs leading to views over the city and lots of cafes! 

behind this door and up the stairs was our renovated, modern apartment for our stay in Estonia

 Enjoying pickled cucumbers, various cheeses, beaver (yes, beaver)  and a house wine -  from Australia! 

We traveled out of Tallinn along the northern coast stopping off at one of their popular beaches - not very enticing with a freezing cold wind blowing!!

 A photo taken of all 3 of us in a town called Haapsalu......

And then there were the relatives to visit..... so we headed out of Tallinn to Rakvere not quite 2 hours away......surrounded by relatives we had never met we set out to do some sight seeing of the town my dad grew up in.....

..... the house where dad lived and  some relatives still live! ....including his 95 year old cousin...and where we had lunch! My girls were very impressed that I could converse with the relatives in Estonian as some of them did not speak English!

Like most towns Rakvere also had its medieval castle.......

Another day.... a bus ride out of Tallinn... and we were at the Open Air Museum. In beautiful forest surroundings some of Estonia's oldest wooden structures can be found - depicting 150 years of rural life....

...an old school house....

Having lunch at the old wooden tavern serving traditional Estonian cuisine....

A few women in traditional costume had just finished an exhibition of folk dancing.... 

Another "tourist" destination was the baroque style Kadriorg Palace built between 1718 - 1736 by the Russian Tsar Peter the Great for his wife. 

a final look over Tallinn......and after 9 days

the time had arrived to say "Goodbye" to Estonia as we made our way on the ferry across the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki from where we were flying to Rome to continue the rest of our travels ! 

 

And so ends Part 1 of our travels together.......

Till the next installment ...... Asta