MAY 20 - Head out east from Tallinn along Route 1 (E20) for about an hour to the Lahemaa NP visitors center. There is a ton to read about, but most of it is in Estonian. We watch the slide show instead. There are many trails and sights in this park, several full day’s worth, but our time is really limited so just pick a few.
Lahemaa NP covers a huge area along the north coast of Estonia, but isn’t just solid park as it contains many towns and farms. The Baltic German nobility built several large estates, many of which are now preserved as tourist attractions. Some old growth forest is preserved, along with several large bogs. The topography is mostly flat limestone, but with a terrace several kilometers inland that defines a past coastline (before the land rose). One interesting point brought up in the visitors center was how the Soviets were careful to restrict development in this area, given its important ecosystems. For that reason it is so well preserved today.
Turn in the car at the airport, was a rental for just 24 hours. Unlike Finland and the UK (where I just dropped the keys in a slot and then left), the rental guy spends about five minutes going over the vehicle, and I can only leave when he gives the OK. I get the sense that there is a lot of abuse of rentals here. For one thing, they placed a EUR 1300 hold on my credit card when I drove it away yesterday, which caused all sorts of havoc with my card limit.
We eat some vaguely Italian food in a bar and back to our somewhat dilapidated hotel. There is a lot of revelry in the night, people going in and out, banging doors and shouting, until maybe 3 am. This is the first place we’ve stayed in our trip so far when it was hard to sleep due to other travelers.
Estonia