Start point. Karlova Sadam Camping, Tartu, Estonia.
Finish point. Rundale Camping, Bausha, Latvia.
Distance. 200 Miles.
Total. 3430 Miles.
I was up with the Larks this morning, if the Larks had a lie in till 9am, the Estonian National museum that was so handily closed yesterday doesn’t open until 10am so there was no rush to leave the campsite as it’s only a 10 minute drive back through the town.
I still managed to arrive 10 minutes early but that gave me time to tidy the van a little as it all seems to get cluttered up as soon as you leave in the mornings, the doors opened and as you head to the reception desk you really start to appreciate the size of the building, it is huge, everything from the main entrance, to the lobby and on into the main exhibition hall, it’s all on a grand scale. The shape of the building corresponds with the size of the runway it is built on and is like a giant wedge or for those that remember the aircraft carriers that had the Harrier Jump Jets on, it resemble a ski jump.
Once at reception you pay your exuberant 14€ and they give you a guide pamphlet and a ticket, not just any ordinary ticket, this is a special ticket, virtually all the displays have mini E-readers either in the display or outside it, you place the ticket on the corresponding point and the E-reader displays all the information in English, It’s magic you know.
There are larger displays that are also touch screen, you put your ticket next to the spot and then every time you touch the screen its all in English, and the theres pointers all over the screen so as you touch one the information for that area comes up, excellent fun.
There are permanent exhibitions there and also an area is reserved for temporary exhibits so its possible that if you visited a second time there would be something different there. It took me a good 4 hours to wander around and read a lot of the history of Estonia, it would be possible to spend all day there as theres a cafe and a restaurant . They’ve done a really good job of organising the different areas, with different styles of display, even down to the mundane like the furniture theme over the last century.
One of the themes was School Uniforms. Unusual but very bright.
Another was the “Echo of the Urals”, also very colourful.
One small display that was quite strange was of a young student, Ann Vihalem.
After the museum I took a walk across the road to the Upside Down house, its very much a kids theme but I couldn’t help but wonder how well they had done the inside. Well, I was really impressed, they had made a cracking job of it, and with the sloping floor to put you at a disadvantage I’d did feel weird. Like I said kids would love it and this kid got a few selfies whilst in there.
It was time to hit the road again and head towards Riga, Ive had my fill of towns at the minute so decided to pass it by and start heading south, I got to a place called Bausha, inside the Latvian border, I had to endure the craziest driver I’ve seen on this trip yet, cars, vans, buses and lorries overtaking towards oncoming traffic I’m surprised there wasn’t at least one accident, and it was like that until I pulled into Bausha, CRAZY…..
I’m hoping that tomorrow’s traffic is a bit calmer..see you then.
Delscampertour 