Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
08.12 It is morning in Tartu, Estonia. We have slept a night here at the Barclay Hotell (https://www.barclayhotell.org). Today we are going to start with hommikueine, it is Estonian for breakfast.
09.21 Even a travel day needs a good start. Shortly we'll walk to the station for the buses. To get thhere we will go through the pedestrian zone Küüni and then through the small mall Tasku.
09.47 Payment for our night here was not necessary at the check-out. We were told by the girl behind the counter that the payment should be done to booking.com instead. It might be that they have my account details and will withdraw a sum of money from my account.
10.18 A litre of diesel costs 1,089 Euros here in Estonia. We have just left Tartu bus station. Now something fell behind me. Our bus company is called Simple Express (http://www.simpleexpress.eu) and in front of us, we have around seventy minutes of the bus journey quite straight to the west. Right now, it has started to rain.
10.43 We are in Puhja. Of our voyage remains 52 kilometres. This is under the condition that one can rely on the signs that stand along the road.
10.59 We travel along the large Lake Võrtsjärv. The shallow lake is Estonia's second largest lake.
11.11 The time is 11 past 11, and 11 kilometres remains until today's destination. The next accommodation has a check-in from 14.00. May we, or in all cases the backpacks, check in before that? The sky is overcast but no rain right now.
11.37 Both we and the backpacks were welcome to Hotel Centrum (http://centrum.ee) in Viljandi, a small town with about 17 000 inhabitants. In addition, we got to check in and even move into room 16. At check in, we took the opportunity to order and compose/determine the breakfast, well not for now but for tomorrow morning. The hotel is located in a building which also contains a small shopping mall.
12.42 Viljandi town is small but it was actually a member of the trade association the Hanseatic League at one time. The eager to discover tares in our bodies, or is it just hunger? No matter what, now we will go out. I also need to take care of my watch, the battery starts to sing the last verse.
12.57 Amrita Café (http://amritacafe.ee) will quiet and calm our hunger. It is located in a beautiful wooden house on the other side of the street from the hotel. A nice waitress asked about our origin and gave us tips on what we should see in town (mainly the old castle) and served us a beer each.
13.52 We got enough food for a moderate price. Now we are on foot on the road toward the ruins of the old Teutonic castle. We are surrounded by greenery, wind and birdsong. We have seen distance signs to the town's twin (sister) towns. Härnösand, the county seat of the county we both live in, is one of these.
14.14 We strengthened ourselves with a wild strawberry each before we walked across the chain bridge towards the castle ruins. There is not much left of what was once one of the largest castles in the country. Estonia is the second country we had wild strawberries in our travels. The first was Sweden in 2009.
14.40 We have been wandering around among the ruins and have taken various photos. It might have been impressive here in the castle's heyday. The view over the Lake of Viljandi is great.
15.05 We have left the castle ruins and started the trek back. Behind us you hear the chimes from a church. To the left Johan sits on a horse. Johan has flowers. There are garlands of flowers at him. To the right is an amphitheatre of modern cut. Johan's full name was Johan Laidoner. He is here in form of a statue. Johan Laidoner became an officer in the tsarist Russian army in 1905, participated with distinction in the First World War and entered in the Estonian army as a colonel when Estonia was declared independent. He became the head of the Estonian infantry division who took part in the German operations in the spring of 1918 against the Bolsheviks in the Estonian war of independence. The same year he became head of the Estonian army, and after the German army's departure once again cleaned the country from the Bolsheviks. He supported the state elder Konstantin Päts in March 1934 in order to respond to right-wing forces, although he, after the referendum, could control the Estonia with the decree. Together with Päts, he was arrested after the full occupation of Estonia in July 1940. Laidoner died in captivity in Vladimir in the Soviet Union. Source: Wikipedia
15.47 We are back in the centre of Viljandi and in the shopping mall Centrum. We have walked around in the mall, which is in the same building as the hotel. I am on the lookout for a battery for my watch. I walked around between the different stores without any success. More successful has it been to get coffee and pastries in a tiny little cafe in the mall. Out there, the sky has opened up. The rain is pouring down.
16.20 We have returned to room XVI, as the ancient Romans would have written. We do not do much but it is nice to do less than it.
18.10 The sky is not good and nice, rather dark and threatening. However, we shall be out under it for new missions.
18.20 A new shopping mall, UKU Keskus, a new attempt to get hold of a battery and a new failure. They have abolished the batteries? Now we are going to see a little more of Viljandi. Eventually, we also need to eat dinner. We are thinking about some of the possible options.
18.40 An occasional shower of rain has chased us under a tree by a small lake with a fountain in the middle. It is called Paala järv (Lake Paala).
19.08 The rain has stopped and now we are looking for a dinner restaurant.
19.22 The rain came back with a force and we fled into the pub Tegelaste Tuba. Here, we have ordered a variety of local dishes with different accessories. We are, however, united when it comes to the choice of drinks. We ordered the same kind of beers, Saku.
19.48 It is a nice atmosphere here at the pub. There are also the small cozy corners and booths for those who want to eat a little bit of privacy.
21.12 We have arrived home after a very good meal. On the way home we bought a few things at Rimi supermarket. Between the store and the hotel, we met an older gentleman with some blood in the face. He was supported by another man who also carried a black plastic bag. Here at home, we have learned that the United States Supreme Court, in part has given the OK to the president Trumps entry ban for people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The prohibitions do not apply to those who have relatives in the United States or those who receive a study place or a job.
22.14 Our TV plays music from Queen, Wham and Phil Collins. In the throats run evening beers from the brewery Viru. Pulse Kadakaõlu is the best Estonian beer I have drunk.
23.13 Our evening beers were flavoured with juniper berries. It may sound strange but it was good.
08.14 The sky is cloudy, a new salary has been deposited into our bank accounts and soon it will be breakfast here at the Hotel Centrum Viljandi. It is a breakfast we selected and composed together at check-in yesterday. That is how it works here.
09.13 Despite the order, it actually was a buffet breakfast. Maybe they wanted to know what they needed to set up and not. Oh well, we got breakfast and soon it's off again. So here in the beginning of the trip there will be short trips between and short stops in each city.
09.45 We are at the nearby bus station waiting for the bus that will take us from here to the sea. We're going to a place we travelled to by bus to the past, however, we were only passing that time.
09.57 Just before the yellow bus from the Simple Express arrived Christer saw an older gentleman wait for another bus. He had a jacket that on the back had the name of a Swedish TV series which was broadcasted 15 to 20 years ago. We wonder if he's been in the series or if the jacket was a gift.
10.43 Our road is surrounded by mixed forest. Sometimes it feels like nature at home. What disproves this are the signs in Estonian which sometimes can be seen.
11.37 The day's journey has reached its end. The bus did not stop where we had expected. We had pre-booked a hotel that is located near the place where the buses stop and depart according to Google Maps. However reality offers surprises. The place where the bus stopped feels like a temporary solution. We are right in the urban core, several kilometres from our hotel. From where does the bus depart tomorrow? How long does it take to walk to our hotel here in Pärnu?
11.42 We are now for the first time for real in Pärnu. In 2001 and 2005, we passed the city by bus, on the way from Tallinn to Riga, but then we did not see much. Pärnu is a health resort and a seaside resort and has about 40 000 inhabitants. It feels, however, larger because of all the facilities associated with the tourism here.
12.05 Some walking in a sunny Pärnu has taken us to the street Suur Kuke. According to the map data, we are now closer to our hotel than we previously have been.
12.25 It continued to run smoothly, and we arrived at the hotel, Hotel Emmi (http://emmi.ee). Now we have checked in and moved into room 23. It has in addition to beds, a refrigerator, a work desk and a two seat sofa. We are satisfied with the hotel and room, but not with the walking distance to the bus tomorrow which will probably leave from the place we came to earlier today.
12.55 The information in our papers from in your pocket was confirming what we thought. The bus station we came to is a temporary solution. A new station is on its way. The same goes for us as well. Now we are going out to find a suitable lunch restaurant.
13.27 We have now been ordering our food and are sitting in the warm sun on the outdoor terrace to C.F Hahn pub (http://www.villemipubid.ee/hahn-pubi). We are listening to relaxing jazz music.
14.18 It was a tasty and appropriate big lunch. Next we'll see more of Pärnu. We will also check to see how long it takes for us to by foot take us to where the bus leaves from tomorrow.
14.55 We have in the appropriate tempo walked along the street Riia Maantee back to where we got off the bus, more exactly, we are at the square Rüütli Place.
15.26 There are small, cozy wooden houses in the centre of Pärnu. Here as well as in Viljandi the boards lie down on the house walls. Now we have a bench break by a fountain in the Lastepark. On the way here, we have looked at the Orthodox Church Katedraalkirik and several cozy streets with beautiful wooden houses.
15.53 Christer just read suur kaffe in a menu. We have made a stop at Café Kohvihoovik. Suur is Estonian for big. This café has a décor designed to look like an Estonian home in the past. The house dates from the 1700s. We have, however, sat down outside, at one of the tables in their cozy little backyard.
16.45 We have completed our nice coffee break. We have placed ourselves on a bench down at the Pärnu River. In the flowerbed behind me, there are a few office chairs, the kind you can spin around with. They are painted and fitted with text, surely some kind of art installation.
16.58 A collection of clouds seems to form a bridge across the sky.
17.20 After a good bench rest, we shall now move along.
18.06 After having passed through the Tallinn Gate and more beautiful houses in stone and wood with beautiful architecture, we are now down at the beach. It is not enticing to swim. Wind and waves make it everything but inviting. Tallinn Gate is the only surviving gate of this kind in the Baltic States from the 1600s. It was called the king´s gate until the year 1710. From the gate a bridge stretched over the moat, and from there went the mail route to Tallinn. The gate creator is probably Erik Dahlberg, who created the same kind of gates and bastions in Narva and Riga.
18.49 Our walk back towards Hotel Emmi has taken us past a stadium, Pärnu Ranastaadion, and a huge climbing frame. It felt 8-10 metres high. We have also seen various hotel facilities.
19.11 Our plans to eat dinner before going home have been scrapped. We wanted the home to gather stamina and plan in a quiet environment. We have probably walked around 10 kilometres today.
19.52 When it comes to the dinner we are giving priority to the simple in front of the tastefulness. There will be a light meal in the evening. It gives us time for the power loading in our rooms. The nearest "nice" restaurant is situated at least 2 kilometres away and soon it will close.
20.10 The dinner will be a Mega burger meal at the Finnish hamburger chain Hesburger. Sometimes you eat nicely, sometimes the food is good and sometimes you just eat. In the evening it will be from option three.
21.46 After the dinner we went to the supermarket Maxima XXX in the same building. Here at home, we are zapping between the TV channels and we have just found a Swedish sing along program on a Finnish channel. Everything is commented in Finnish. Also an Estonian channel offers sing-along. However, it is organised with more singing.
22.40 The evening beers are of Czech origin. The TV offerings is more varied as regards the origin.
23.38 We have been reached by the tragic news that Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist has died at the age of 56 years.
08.31 Sleeping in and a refreshing shower is a good start on the day. This with one night-stays in hotels is starting to become annoying. Luckily it calms down for a while after today.
09.47 Strengthened by the breakfast of coffee and something eatable, we will now soon return to the room here at Hotel Emmi. Today, we should not rush, but for the sake not be lazy.
10.15 Now, most of the necessary is taken care of. We will soon take a leisurely walk to the bus departing from Pärnu centre.
10.41 After a good fifteen minutes of walking, we make a short stop at a park bench. It is just silly to tire ourselves out. We will also be sweaty.
11.21 We are back on the Rüütli Plats, the square next to the street Ringi where the buses arrive and depart. A short distance away, our bus will appear soon. Until further notice, we take it easy on a bench.
11.48 On the display in front of me it says 30 and in front of Christer it says 29. We are on board on our seats. We travel with Lux Express (https://luxexpress.eu) bus with destination Tallinn.
12.58 The road we travel along is called the E67. We were travelling in the opposite direction during the trips in 2001 and 2005. The landscape is flat and dominated by small forest and cultivated land. Here and there I see sometimes some white silage balls.
13.12 Just now we passed an ambulance with flashing blue light, near it stood a car with crumpled front. We are once again on our travels passed a traffic accident.
13.28 Slowly but surely moves the bus through the Tallinn's suburban areas, in search of the target, the bus station we remember from the trips in 2001 and 2005.
13.50 Air, sun and seagull cries surround us. The bus is left in Tallinna Bussijaam (Tallinn bus station) and we are back in the Estonian capital. Here we have been before a number of times, usually in the winter though.
14.34 It was just fine to find the way to our accommodation, Dorell (http://hotell.dorell.ee). We were checked in by the Russian-speaking woman Yulia, and we now stay in room 307. From the outside it looks like any high-rise building with apartments, but on the inside it is actually a real hotel.
15.29 Now we are going to out and get reacquainted with Tallinn.
15.59 This started well. We walked along the street Liivalaia and had intended to revisit the classic Beer Tower (Õlletorn Pub). It is a lovely pub and restaurant with a wide selection of beers from several different countries. Where they were before, it is now a Chinese restaurant and Dao Hua. Where the Beer tower is available now, on the back of the same building, it was closed. Where is the world coming to? Now we have to quickly find another option for lunch. The clock has also become so much that it probably rather will be a dinner when we find something.
16.50 It gets lighter in the world. We are now in one of the LIDO restaurants which are available in the city. Food, there is plenty of it, especially here.
17.30 In the mall where we found the LIDO, Solaris, I found a watch store. In it was a near-sighted man. With the help of a microscope he changed my watch battery. The mall was left behind and now we are at a house at the address Sakala 14. This was once our first accommodation in the city. The year was 2001 and the simple hostel was named Helke. Now it is 2017 and Helke is not existing anymore. The wooden house where it was seems deserted.
17.58 After passing a church and the Occupation museum (Eesti okupatsioonide muuseum) we have now looked up at the tower, Pikk Hermann, and the Estonian pink parliament. We take a bench break in a wooded small park, Lindamäe Park.
18.42 We have been walking below the city walls and past the pond Snelli Tiik. Some persons are playing basketball on the fields directly below the parliament. We are having a nice bench break.
19.18 After having walked into the old town via the Suur-Kloostri, we have passed through the older city parts. Now we have walked on the street Pikk out through a gate in the old city walls. Outside we have taken some photos of the memorial monument Broken Line. It was erected to commemorate those who perished when the ferry Estonia sank in September 1994. It is a large metal rail that is located on the ground on a hill and sticks out a bit in the air. The cut off part is hovering on a pillar a short distance away. Beautiful.
19.39 We're moving in and around the port area. Not much, no, almost nothing is the same compared to what we saw on our first visit here in 2000 and 2001. We are on the lookout for a place where we can get some evening coffee.
20.33 We found that there was no café in our taste down in the port area. Most of it was closed. Instead of looking ahead so we went home. Before we went in we visited the grocery store, Comarket. We think it was the same store we visited together with our friend John in 2000. Then we felt that the store was moving, an effect of the sea voyage we had done earlier. Almost at home we met an English speaking gentleman who at the sight of our bags asked if there was a food store nearby. We confirmed that this was the case.
22.20 On the bed tables are our evening beers. On the TV it is football, the semi-final of the Confederation Cup in Russia. Portugal face Chile and it is 0-0.
23.38 It had to be a penalty shootout to get a winner. After three rounds, Chile led with the impregnable 3-0. The Chilean goalkeeper saved all three penalty kicks.
Our yellow bus is waiting patiently in the background.
Comfortable bus trip through the estonian countryside.
New town, new hotel, new internet connection.
Viljandi
Amrita Café, Viljandi.
The Swedish town Härnösand is one of Viljandi´s sister cities.
We looked at the church Jaani kirik.
Wonderful lush greenery in Viljandi.
Christer on the bridge leading to Viljandi castle.
Christer is sitting close to a part of the old castle wall.
Even flat countries have wonderful views.
Peter and a view of Lake Viljandi.
Lauluväljak, a place for singing and folk music, very popular in Estonia.
The green way back.
Johan Laidoner with flowers.
Hotel Centrum, Viljandi.
Paala järv (Lake Paala).
Excellent dinner at the pub Tegelaste Tuba.
Tuesday 27th of June
We didn´t have much company during the breakfast at Hotel Centrum.
We didn´t expect to arrive here.
Pärnu Kuninga Tänava Põhikool.
Peter is prepared for a long walk to our hotel.
We are walking along Karja street.
Red house at Suur Kuke street.
Hotel Emmi, Pärnu.
Lunch at C.F Hahn Pubi (Carl Friedrich Hahn Pub).
There are many wooden buildings in Pärnu.
The pedestrian street Rüütli.
Lastepark, Pärnu.
Pärnu Suurmärter Katariina kirik (Catherine´s orthodox church).
Kodanikumaja, a wooden house from 1740.
Café Kohvihoovik, indoors.
Café Kohvihoovik, outdoors.
Christer is relaxing by Pärnu river.
Ammende Villa, a very nice hotel.
Information to the people.
Stairway to heaven?
The beach in Pärnu.
Is this really safe for children?
Wednesday 28th of June
Rüütli plats, Pärnu.
Interesting playground.
We have arrived at Tallinn bus terminal.
Peter is writing about our arrival to the capital of Estonia.
Dorell is the name of our home in Tallinn.
We are walking along Liivalaia street.
Õlletorn Pub turned out to be Dao Hua.
The new modern Tallinn is expanding.
LIDO in Solaris Shopping Centre (Solaris Keskus).
Yet another LIDO meal.
Christer is finishing an excellent meal.
We are remembering. We stayed in this building in June 2001.
This stone is here in remembrance of Estonia´s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
This tower (Pikk Hermann) is the national symbol of Estonia.
Snelli tiik, the pond beneath Toompea (Cathedral Hill).
The street Lai in old town, Tallinn.
Pikk street continues through the old city wall.
The monument "Broken Line" is about the Estonia ferry disaster in September 1994.
You can see 58 photos from June 26 in this photoalbum.
You can see 73 photos from June 27 in this photoalbum.
You can see 67 photos from June 28 in this photoalbum.