Day 4
Sunday morning was still nice and sunny. First we took a ride to Piirsalu village with the old nuclear missile base (https://motocaching.net/en/cache/view/id6344)
Then we continued to Rummu Quarry. It’s an old mining quarry and a prison area but it’s been closed many years now. The quarry is filled with crystal clear water and I took a swim!
(https://motocaching.net/en/cache/view/id6257)
All the gates and possible routes through the old prison area were closed, so we choose to ride to the “backstage” and from there we could see the area nicely!
The white mountains on the left is the waste material from the limestone mining.
From Rummu we took a ride to Paldiski and the lighthouse on the north side of the (ugly) city. The cliffs to the Gulf of Finland are spectacular here!
(https://motocaching.net/en/cache/view/id5019) Nowadays you can also visit the Pakri lighthouse!
Then we had only the final leg to the Tallinn and a little time to visit Lennusadam -the seaplane harbour. This is a huge museum in a spectacular place. I really recommend to visit there! (https://motocaching.net/en/cache/view/id6950)
We had 4 days ride through Estonia and a small part of Latvia. It was 1100km’s all together and still I can say… If you ever come to Estonia with a motorcycle don’t expect too much about the roads… But what you really should do is get to know the possible places and sites in every village and city beforehand! There’s something very interesting to see almost everywhere!
Haapsalu
All posts tagged Haapsalu
Day 3
We started the day by going to visit the 2 nice castles of Sigulda.
(https://motocaching.net/en/cache/viewb/id6980)
And also the cave down beside the river, this cave has walls of sandstone with many signatures from long time ago. (https://motocaching.net/en/cache/viewb/id6955)
Then we started riding the route for saturday. First we took nice road from Turaida to Saulkrasti. This would be very nice… but the pavement is so bad condition that you have to concentrate to keep the bike in balance and you can’t really enjoy the long sweeping bends. (https://motocaching.net/en/cache/view/id6830). From Saulkrasti you can find a monument of finnish bomber Junkers JK-274 crash in 1943. It is quite interesting to find finnish language in the middle of Latvia! (https://motocaching.net/en/cache/view/id6124)
Then after many kilometers of boring Via Baltica we took the old road of Pärnu. It is more pleasant ride because of the many small villages, old wooden houses and small shops. This 35 kilometer long road gives you some alternative route to Via Baltica. (https://motocaching.net/en/cache/view/id4794)
In Pärnu we took a short lunch-break in Aleksandri Pub (https://motocaching.net/en/cache/view/id6338)
And in the north side of Pärnu we took a short visit in Villa Andropoff, this has quite interesting history but it didn’t give me any shivers. Looked like old Spa or something…
The Beach in this Villa was fantastic! Many kilometers of white sand everywhere.
Finally after a long and quite hot riding-day we arrived to Haapsalu. We visited the Haapsalu Episcopal Castle. Last time I was here (20 years ago?) it was only the ruins of the castle but now there was a museum and many different parts of the castle where you can enter. The bell tower, the hospital, the cathedral, the dungeons… we’re almost running everyhting through and still it took more than 1 hour! The entrance fee to the museum is 5€ and I really recommend to visit there!
(https://motocaching.net/en/cache/view/id6310)
For saturday evening we choose to eat Pizza. There is 1 very nice pizzeria in Haapsalu, Pizza Grande!
Our hotel was the Spa by the ocean so we also enjoyed some jacuzzi and sauna (in Spa Laine)
Quite many riders from Finland have been riding in Estonia too. But usually it’s only riding through as fast as you can! Riders from Finland are coming to Tallinn by ferry and then they ride straight to south!
But what if you’d stay for awhile?
It is true that there are not too many roads with nice corners in Estonia! But it doesn’t mean that riding here would be totally boring. The best curvy roads are in the coastline east from Tallinn (https://goo.gl/maps/n7Ej8PAaqb92) but you will find some nice roads also in Otepää area and in the Hiiumaa and Saaremaa islands. Sadly it is also true that if you find a nice curvy road it is quite possible that the pavement is not in very good condition.
But what is it then that makes the riding not boring? There are few good answers to this:
1. Estonia was a part of Soviet Union before 1991. There are many very interesting places to see: some abandoned nuclear missile bases, military fortresses, harbours, military airports or a submarine base.
2. Tallinn and Tartto are old Hansatowns. That means there are so many historical spots to see. There is also an old castle in Pöltsamaa, Haapsalu, Kuressaare and many, many other places too! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_castles_in_Estonia)
3. Prices are very cheap! Last summer (2015) me and my friend stopped to eat something in Rakvere. We parked the bikes in the centrum and we saw a restaurant. The price for a russian kind of meal (some potato sallad, vegetables and a meat-saslik) was about 8 euros!
4. The nature is surprising! There are some cliffs, waterfalls, beautiful lakes, forests, very nice sandbeaches and so much more surprisingly beautiful places.
5. Huge motorcycle meeting in July in Jögeva! Usually something like 2-3000 motorcycle riders meet every year.
Curvy road from Leesi to Hara
Go - Za 