Cesis & Tartu

On the way back to Tallinn, stops in two cool and very different towns.
Cesis in Latvia is a charming small town with a castle dating to the 13th century. The castle tour gets you down into the bowels of the structure while sharing its history in an illuminating way. Really interesting stuff.
Just outside Cesis is the Gauja National Park, the largest park in Latvia. One of the park's signatures is the cliffs and the one pictured, Eagle's Cliff, was particularly stunning in the May sunshine.
On to Tartu, a university town in Estonia, which was named a European City of Culture in 2024 and is celebrating with elan. A concert stage takes up a prominent place near the school. The neighborhood by the school has restaurants, which were packed with diners enjoying perfect weather and the kind of energy you'd expect in a college town. That's a rendering of Oscar Wilde on the bench. Dinner in an old munitions plant was delicious. Before leaving, a visit to The Upside Down House.Read more