Discovering Pärnu - Estonia

Sunset in Pärnu, Estonia

As you guys remember, I had two over-night travels last year. The previous blog post was about my travel to Vilnius, Lithuania, where I was visiting a pen pal of mine in the change of April and May. That journey was planned more precisely compared to the second travel in early August. That time my mother and I had planned a trip to Hamina, where my grandmother lives. However, due to some car problems, we had to find an alternative way to travel. Hence, we checked last minute traveling possibilities and ended up booking a travel to Pärnu, Estonia.

Our journey began from the bus station in Hämeenlinna, where we got in to a bus, which went directly to the port of Helsinki. There we hopped into a ship, which headed towards Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. As it was a group journey, we had to look for our bus in order to arrive to Pärnu two hours later.

Just outside of our hotel

We stayed at Spa Hotel Viiking for three nights. The hotel was rather calm, however, we found it kinda confusing. Nevertheless, the breakfast was filling and varied, which is a clear advantage of the hotel. Once we managed to wake up early enough to go morning swimming to a section of the hotel. We enjoyed the silence in the swimming area, but the sauna was way too hot for us. The hotel also included a water & sauna center “Viiking Saaga”, which was relatively new. My mother and I weren't too keen on that, because the air was a bit challenging to breath and there wasn't really room for swimming. It was an interesting experience to share the locker rooms with males even though there were separate little rooms for changing the clothes. Overall, the cost of the hotel met the quality of it.

Who wouldn't enjoy sitting close to the water and admiring the sunset?

What comes to Pärnu itself, it's a lovely seaside town, also known as the ''summer capital'' of Estonia. We enjoyed the small cafes and restaurants across the town center. We ate out a couple of times and let me tell you, the food was delicious! I was also a bit naughty as I ended up buying desserts and cakes. Oh well, that was before I truly started my fitness journey.

The shopping possibilities are also very good as there is even a free bus going from the hotels to the larger shopping center a bit further away. I found lovely trousers, a top and super amazing shoes. Of course, the beach is also amazing. As you may know, I'm not the type of a girl, who would enjoy sunbathing. I find it super boring and due to that I may have energy to do it for max 10 minutes and then I'm off doing something else. Anyhow, I enjoyed swimming in the sea, because the water wasn't too salty and the seabed was soft for your feet.

Overall, the four-day trip to Pärnu was totally worth it, especially as I got to spend quality time with my mother. Pärnu is a great place to visit, at least during the summer time. Go for it!

My Journey to Lithuania

As mentioned in the first post this year, I wanted to create a post about my journey to Lithuania even though it's been almost a year since I traveled. The main reason for it is that the memories will be always available for myself as I can check the blog. Furthermore, I want to show the beauty of Lithuania through the pictures I took, as well as tell you why it would be such a good destination for your next travel. 

On my way from Helsinki, Finland to Vilnius, Lithuania.

During every single flight, I can't stop myself from taking a look out from the window and taking a few pictures given that the weather is good enough. I don't know why, but perhaps it has got something to do with the fact of it being something rather unique, which doesn't happen every day - not even every month. 

The flight was very short, I believe the second shortest flight during my travels. It was a morning, when the plane landed in Vilnius, where one of my long-term pen pals, Almante, was waiting for me. Straight away she helped me to get myself a bus card and then we headed to her home. We didn't stay long as the plan for the first day was to do some shopping. Hence, we went to a shopping center close-by, where I found some lovely clothes. 

Trakai Castle

Always bring a lovely umbrella, so that you can take great pictures.

On the second day we took a train to the town of Trakai. It's a lovely place full of cute streets with wooden houses and of course, the Trakai castle. We didn't go inside, however, we wondered around it and took several pictures. It's totally something worth seeing, when traveling to Vilnius, as it's so close and easy to reach.

The third morning was spent for quickly taking a look at Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. It was a quick look, because we headed to a botanical garden. To be honest, it wasn't really my cup of the, because I'm not such a gardener even though I have worked on a grave yard three summers in a row. That being said, it was spring, so I believe it could have been much more beautiful some weeks later. 

When traveling elsewhere in Europe, I tend to find myself visiting multiple churches. I suppose, it's because I find churches abroad much more decorated compared to the Finnish ones. Hence, most of the fourth traveling day was spent visiting churches and walking around the capital.

During the same day we also climbed on two sightseeing hills, which were very close to each other. It was relatively easy to go on top of those, because the view was the motivator for the journey. I was hoping for a better weather, however, I still enjoyed the view.

On the last day we didn't do much, because I had some packing to do and we had to make sure of me catching the flight. I liked the destination as it was somewhat similar to Finland, yet so different. I also want to say thanks for Almante for hosting me - it meant so much, thank you! 

What comes to Vilnius, and Lithuania as a whole, I'd say it's a fantastic destination, where everything seems to work and the prices are reasonable (rather cheap compared to what I have gotten used to in Finland). If you are wondering about something, please ask, however, I have to apologize for not remembering exact names for the churches and other specific places. 

Trip to Athens – part 4

Saturday was the last full day in Athens, because on Sunday morning we had to be at the airport already at 4 am. Haha. We started the day by posting out the postcards and actually found a nice supermarket at the same time, which we decided to visit later in the evening.

We headed towards the areas close to Acropolis, as we had tickets that covered those places. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to go through them all, but I guess, there would have been more pillars and rocks of some kind. We did see the Hadrian's library and the Ancient Agora of Athens. I wouldn't say that they differed a lot from the historic things we saw a day earlier, tho.

Surprisingly, it was a time to look for a restaurant again, and it was as difficult as before. I was very pleased with the one that we found because the food was good and the place was nice, maybe a bit crowded.

This day we didn't do very much actually. After lunch/dinner we walked a bit, visited stores, bought bus tickets to the airport and drank some coffee at a café. Before going back to the hotel, we went to the supermarket, where mom bought something to bring home and cheap red wine for us to drink in the hotel. Haha. 

Earlier I said I would write something about the hotel, so that's what I'll do now. I was very pleased with their service. The staff was always smiling and very helpful. They agreed to call us a taxi, which would pick us up at 2:30 am on Sunday morning – What a lovely time. Over all, everything was what you could expect based on the price. The breakfast was small, but filling if you ate enough. The room was also clean, maybe a bit outdated, but there was a TV. I got to watch Greek TV shows for the first time, though we mainly tried to look for something that was in English. The bathroom, well it was super tiny, especially the shower. But the water temperature stayed the same all the time, which was awesome, because in my shower in Thessaloniki the water temperature keeps on changing from super-hot to cold. 

That actually concludes our last day in Athens. During the night we tried to sleep a bit, but when the alarm clock rings at 2 am, it's almost impossible to sleep. Haha. Out taxi drive to Syntagma Square went well, and also the bus drive to the airport. We were a bit too early at the airport, but we spent time eating something small and drinking coffee. It was kinda stupid our planes left from different parts of the terminal, so I had to wait for my flight alone for a bit longer time than I had expected – my flight was an hour later then my mom's. It was rather stupid to return to Thessaloniki, but at least I got to see some nice views from the plane.

Over all, the trip was very nice! :)