On our 3rd day in Estonia, we booked a group tour to the Lahemaa National Park, which is the largest park in the country. It’s only about an hour or so from the capital of Tallinn. On the way, we visited Estonia’s largest waterfall, the Jägala waterfall. The Viru trail was an interesting and educational hike, and we also learned about abandoned/restored manor houses, like the Kolga manor and the Sagadi manor afterwards. The final destination in the tour was the Laiakari rand or coast.

Meetup at 9 am, and since this trip happened in june of 2019, I can’t remember how many we were in the small group. But we did fit in a black van. Carl & I took a little stroll in the city while waiting.

After a 45-hour drive, we reached our first stop: the Jägala natural waterfall. It is Estonia’s largest, as mentioned, with a width of 50 meters and a height of 8 meters. It’s like a beautiful backdrop to a fantasy episode.

At 11:30 am, we were by the start of the Viru bog trail. This was a memorable part of our entire trip to Estonia. We learned about bogs and how it occupies the northern landscape. The guide shared some stories, myths and facts about the history of the bogs that date about 10,000 years. I wondered how the ground compared to the board walk, but we stayed on the path, sometimes in one pile, and everybody respected the beautiful and mystical nature around us. I would recommend visiting the bogs in summer, so you can really see what they look like. I could even imagine the episode in The Lord of the Rings where Frodo and Sam were being led by Gollum in a secret shortcut field with many bogs. Frodo stared in the bog and saw a dead man, then, he was pulled in the water. Lol. Similarly, these Estonian bogs could hold dead bodies and such.

After about a 30-minute walk, we reached the observation tower, built in 1987 and reconstructed in 2013. It is 7 meters in height and gives an amazing overview of the national park. The first 3 meters are accessible by wheelchair users.

The hike continues.. sometimes the trail was just a couple of board planks. When we reached one of the “deeper” bogs, we saw a couple of men swimming in it. Anyway, so much wildlife in this place, lots of plant species, insects and birds.

Carl & I reached the end first, and so we got to sit by a tree root and rest for a bit. Then, we were on the road again to visit some abandoned manor houses, some were owned by the Swedes. For instance, there’s the large Kolga manor with big columns on its front facade. It was owned by a military personell, then by the Stenbock family – an old Swedish noble family. During our visit, the house was being restored, and a guided tour was possible.

Our group then traveled farther north and reached the old fishing village of Altja, which is still part of the national park. We had lunch, and to help digest the delicious goodness we ate, we took a stroll towards the stony coast of Laiakari. This coast in Altja is a different hiking trail to explore, but I guess it wasn’t part of the tour. So we just inhaled some fresh Baltic sea air (more of the Gulf of Finland area), and went back to the itinerary.

Our last stop was the pretty pink and white Sagadi manor. Built in the 1800s, it was turned into a museum, and hotel and restaurant, with a beautiful forest garden.

Summer in Estonia made us remember this Baltic country as green and refreshing. On our 4th day, we got to know the capital city of Tallinn better. So, more about that in the next entry 🙂 ALL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS ON THIS BLOG ARE MINE.  🙂 #spreadloveandpositivevibes