We spent Monday on the beach. Tallin is a port town like Riga; you can see the sea from any hill in town. There are many beaches along the coast near Tallinn.
The most popular beach is called Pirita, so we headed there yesterday. As it would happen, yesterday was the first day of school here, so the beach was nearly empty.
The water in the sea near the beach was quite shallow. You could walk out 100 yards before it got to your waist. It certainly wasn’t warm, but it wasn’t too cold either–it seemed warmer than the ocean in southern California.
Nolan had a great time. He caught lots of jellyfish, but was unsuccessful at his attempts for fish. He reminds us frequently that he could catch a lot more stuff if he had a net (at home he never goes anywhere without a net).
Jane and Margaret had a great time playing in the sand and wading in the water as well.
I feel asleep and managed to get pretty sunburned. My chest and belly don’t usually see much sun.
The weather most of the day was great–another sunny day in the low 70’s. In the afternoon, a storm rolled in and brought rain and cold winds.
Today we started by visiting a local donut shop. The donuts were a little more like fry bread than the donuts we’re used to, but very good. By mistake, I also ordered a large plate of pickled herring and sour cream, so I ate that plus a donut for breakfast.
Our plans today were to go back to Lahemaa National Park, to a village called Kasmu. It turns out that after August, public transportation doesn’t run regular routes there. This took many hours and a few false starts to figure out. Instead, we visited the area north of Tallin, saw an old monastery and spent some more time on the beach.
The wind was blowing pretty strong today. There was a little marina and I sat and watched the sailboats leave the marina. Most of them were very small, meant for one person. A lot of kids manning the boats. The wind was blowing almost directly to shore, so it was incredible to watch these little boats sailing out to sea almost directly into the wind. They were of course tacking and had to angle back and forth, but still, they moved along at a pretty good clip even when they were sailing almost straight into the wind. It was neat to watch.
I said in the video that these boats don’t have a keel–they really do, it’s just a detachable keel so I didn’t see it in the boats that were trailered on land.
Pickled herring and sour cream for breakfast…🤢 Sounds like you are having a great time!!!
I’m always up for some local dish!
Mike asked the other day if your next step is a live aboard sailboat to travel on. After catching up on my reading and seeing this fascination thought I’d pass the idea along. He’s happy to talk to you about it if you want. 😊He has sailed around Asia, Caribbean, up and down the eastern seaboard of the America’s, Hawaiian Islands and from Hawaii to Australia.