Lithuania

We caught a bus from Riga to Vilnuis in the rain. Not quite the beautiful European summer I had bargained for. We were immediately greeted by our airbnb host, who was lovely. The place was so quaint and beautiful; and definitely enhanced the stay in Vilnuis. The location could not have been better as we were right in the town square of the Old Town and surrounded by delicious restaurants!

 There are over 40 churches in Vilnius. There is basically a church on every corner as you walk around the town, all beautifully and uniquely designed.

The beautiful view over Vilnuis. The other side of this hill was the completely modern business area. Very interesting to see. 

This was the art district known as Uzupis in Vilnuis. 

This was all at Trakai Castle, which was a highlight of Vilnius and Europe in general. Of course, it did help that the weather was beyond perfect.

 We went to the most beautiful restaurant for dinner. They refilled our bread dish multiple times with the tastiest bread I have ever eaten, ie the best place in the world! What I would do for some of that bread right now...

 A Jewish memorial shrine at the Ninth Fort.

I got the most beautiful shoes handmade to fit my tiny feet. If you are in Vilnius I definitely recommend this shoe store. They made these shoes in under a day for me. Excellent customer service!

I loved Vilnius; the food, the buildings, the knowledge I gained. I could not recommend visiting the Baltic countries enough. Although, I would recommend travelling in Summer. I travelled in June, but I'd suggest to go even later in July or August just because it still is a bit cold and you do want to enjoy your European summer and not wear jeans and a jacket everyday. 

Latvia

The 8-hour road trip, complete with plentiful stops, lead to Riga, Latvia. We drove through the town over the bumpy cobbled stones, arriving at our destination around 8pm. The sky was still bright because well, the sky never gets dark in the Baltic countries apparently. 

So, if I am to be brutally honest, while completing my travels Latvia was probably my least favourite country I visited; in saying this, I did visit some very beautiful countries/places, to which the standard was extremely high. However, I will enlighten you as to why this place wasn't among my favourites.
1. The weather. Now I know this is no one's fault and it is out of my, your, everyone's hands but without a doubt, the weather can either make or break your holiday. And while it didn't break the holiday, as I still enjoyed Riga, it did dampen my doorstep. (Although, as you can see in the photos we did luck out at times and managed to capture a handful of beautiful sunny moments on camera).
2. The accommodation.  For some reason, the accommodation in Riga was the hardest to find, despite the Baltic countries being very reasonably priced. We opted for an airbnb, and the host of the apartment had lead us to believe he was happy to meet us outside his apartment and help us carry our bags up the 5 flights of stairs- this did not happen. We also had a lot of trouble getting onto him due to phone troubles, but luckily the lovely girl working at the youth hostel called him for us. The host never showed up to help us carry our bags and simply told the hostel worker our key was under the door. To this day I don't know how we would have known this had we not had someone who spoke Latvian help us; a most disappointing start to Riga.
3. The old town. (The first picture of this post) It wasn't nearly as beautiful as Tallin and a lot smaller. However, the actual city of Riga was quite large, and definitely bigger than Tallin.

So now that I've said the negatives, Riga was still an extremely interesting place to visit- as is almost any place in the world that you've never been. Four of my favourite things that we did in Riga were;
1. Going to the opera! I have never done this before and I got to see one of the most famous operas, Rigoletto and even though it was in another language it was just so fantastic. The interior of the building was just magnificent; such a special experience.
2. The KGB museum and tour. I consider myself a little bit of a history nerd, as for those who do not remember the past, are condemned to repeat it! While I did learn a lot of European history in school, I never got to study communist Russia and all that happened, so this was very interesting and informative. I even got to see where the USSR kept their prisoners, i.e. those who had even a little bit of money.
3. Art nouveau buildings. These buildings could be found all throughout Riga, but especially on one main street and it was breathtaking! The architectural beauty is just out of this world. The craftsmanship and creativity is just amazing. Even luckier, the sun was shining as we walked the street.
4. Big bad bagels. These bagels just reminded me of New York (home to the best bagels in the world). I have never eaten so much cream cheese in my life, and then instantaneously regretted it (damn being lactose intolerant). Definitely worth going if you love a good bagel, and let's be real, who doesn't love a good bagel?

^ The beautiful opera building, gardens and interior. 

Estonia

Next was Tallin, Estonia to which we caught the ferry over from Helsinki which in itself was fun. After all there was a duty free make-up store on the boat, so basically a good excuse to shop for an hour, am I right? Yes. The answer is yes. 

Do you ever watch a fairy tale and think how perfect and sweet everything looks? Then as you drift off to sleep that night imagine what it would be like to actually live in a real life fairy tale? Well, buy yourself a ticket to Tallin and you won't have to imagine anymore. Everything was beautiful, and I mean everything. 

I had never seen an old town square before in my life, and oh my, did my heart flutter the first time I stepped into the cobble-stoned, pastel-coloured town square. It was was like nothing I could have ever imagined, and the weather was simply beautiful adding the atmosphere. I think one of the best things about Tallin is that it is still a hidden gem. Not many people frequent the Baltic countries compared to many other European cities, so not being surrounded by hundreds of tourists made it feel like the town was your own and you could explore freely. It really felt like a home away from home!

Delicious restaurants were situated around the town square and all through the streets and alley ways. I ate the best risotto and grilled vegetables of my life here! I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

This Russian Orthodox church was the only Russian remembrance the Estonians kept of their awful time under communist Russia because of the beautiful architecture. 

I stood in awe when I reached the top of this view. Simply stunning. 

Kadriorg Palace in Kadriorg Park was lovely. 

Around Kadriorg park. Here I also visited KUMU art museum which was huge and the building holding the art was extremely modern which was a nice juxtaposition to the Palace just a few metres away.

The road from Tallin, Estonia to Riga, Latvia

I honestly could not recommend visiting Estonia more! It was absolutely beautiful and it definitely has a special place in my heart. The buildings, people, food, atmosphere and everything else was absolutely wonderful. Estonia is also very nicely priced for any Australian's travelling trying to make some bang with their buck.