Tartu, Vudila, and our first glimpse of the Baltic Sea

Two thousand kilometres total are behind us and we’re in Estonia, at the northernmost point of our trip: Viinistu, inside Lahemaa National Park.

We set off from Latvia straight for Estonia’s second-biggest city, Tartu. We barely noticed the border crossing — Latvian Valka flows seamlessly into Estonian Valga along a single street.

Tartu won us over. The Singing Bridge, a charming square and town hall, the ruins of the cathedral next to the university, the adjoining park. A place worth lingering in. But parking was free for only two hours and we had places to be — so we kissed on Kissing Hill and drove on to a children’s park, Vudila Playground.

The kids did a few laps on ATVs, climbed the usual structures, we all cooled off in the pool, then they played some arcade games — Kubík calls them “boxes with screens”. Hours vanished, and we needed to push north again.

This time to Lahemaa National Park, where we’d spend the night. At last, the seaside weather is cooler, and our window looks straight out to the sea. We’ll fall asleep to waves tonight.