Vilnius to Tallin via Riga

A temporary hiatus in the rail trip today as we took to the bus as there are no direct rail connections between Vilnius and Tallin. Until they come (via the ambitious Rail Baltica high-speed line co-resourced by the EU), it’s the bus via Riga. We left Vilnius in the dark and drove through long tracts of coniferous and birch forest between arable farms. Interspersed, small towns, many looking as if they were suffering from urban drift. We only stopped briefly in Riga to change buses, but the bus station area looked markedly more run town than the similar area in Vilnius.

It was strange to see buses doing the run to St Petersburg; although not too far, I thought those runs might be sanctioned.

From there on, more forest; a few glimpses of the sea (Gulf of Riga), more forest, more forest…and then the beginning of a slight Scandinavian look to the housing as we approached Tallin, which itself seems peppered with functional unashamed modernism. We’ll see what Tallin is like in more detail when the sun rises…Read more