Disappointment turned into a gift…

Although, we left Berlin with no planned route, no reservations at campgrounds and only general desires for our adventures. We did think that we would travel through Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. However, 8 days into the trip and on the move for most of everyday except one, we realized that covering ground and ticking new countries visited off the list was definitely not the happiest way to spend our time.

We were almost at the border to Estonia and had received great recommendations of places to visit from our good friends Lille and Joonas. After a night of sleeping on it, we made a promise that we would make a separate trip to Estonia to have a full experience instead of just a drive by and turned Olaf west to the coast.

Instead, we visited a cool castle ruin where we climbed a restored tower that gave sweeping views of the surrounding National Park (https://www.turaida-muzejs.lv/?lang=en) if you are interested. It also boasted a Lithuanian Folklore sculpture garden.

We ended up at an absolutely fabulous campground with spots right at the beach and an 180 degree view of the Baltic Sea. The day we arrived we were almost blown away but that didn’t stop it being breathtaking. We planned to stay 2 nights.

However, on the second day as we returned from an adventurous 12km bike ride that hugged the beach, took us on wide gravel logging roads and a 4km stretch of highway (where 18 wheelers blew past us!). We returned to find new neighbours to Olaf that said hello.

Their open and engaging friendliness was new to us on this trip. They were from Finland and bonus had a son around Jasper’s age. We all became fast friends. The boys tearing around the camp on their bikes and talking a mile a minute.

We shared fire, food, drink, laughter,conversation and the parents enjoyed that the boys were entertaining one another!

I see a trip to Finland in our future!