Vets for Charlie and a look around Haapsalu, Estonia

Zagan the motorhome is in a waterside car park in the coastal resort of Haapsalu (N58.95401, E23.52143) in Estonia. We’re about a kilometre or so north of the town on one of a series of islands which, having been linked by roads, now form a lake with slivers of land keeping it from merging with the Baltic Sea on either side. While the lake is much smaller than the one we ran around at Viljandi, it’s still worthy of a jog later.

Zagan parked up overlooking the beach – the flag was red (water is cold) it’s now yellow (not so cold?)

Last night Richard and Jenny came to join us by the beach near Parnu. Over a bit of pasta and a quite a few drinks we chatted until the orange glow on the horizon dimmed enough for us to know it was getting on for midnight. In the night the wind picked up and managed to blow out the gas flame on Richard and Jenny’s fridge. At 4am they were manoeuvring in the car park next to us to face into the wind while we slept through it all – we must have been gassed!!

Richard, Jenny & Carling the pooch

This morning we said ‘see you soon’, they are on the same path as us up to Nordkapp, and trundled off to the vets with Charlie. He’s fine, but so he can get into Finland he needs to have a worming tablet (the same as if he were coming back into the UK) and to prove he has had it a vet needs to give it to him and sign his pet passport. When coming back to the UK we use the same vet in St Omer, France every time and they give Charlie a thorough look over and his tablet for around €30, the vet in Parnu had quoted €20 – so we went there rather than wait until we reach Tallinn, which may be more expensive as it’s closer to the border.

Charlie on the scales – he’s been on a diet since we left and has lost a kilo – well done Charlie!

We were the only ones in the surgery, so the vet came into the waiting room, popped the tablet down his throat (he hates the taste of them), let me give him a couple of treats to ensure he’d swallowed it and then signed the passport. The cost €8.64, how happy were we?

If you need a vet we went to Parnu Vaikeloomakliinik, the address : Tallinna mnt 77, Parnu. We emailed to get an appointment but were told we could just show up, and they all spoke good English.  GPS for the road next to it where we parked (N58.40147,E24.49370).

Once pampered pooch was sorted for a bargain price, we hit the road and headed north to Haapsalu, famous for its curative mud and spa treatments. We parked up and had a bit of lunch before wandering into the town. As we made our way around the pretty town with its wooden houses and huge castle, we spotted several motorhomes parked up that had been out to the car park we were in and then chose to move closer to town – it looks like we aren’t the only ones loving all the free parking in Estonia.

The town is full of cute wooden buildings which are all through Estonia.

Look closely, the walls are externally clad with something like straw – it must get cold here in winter!

The castle has undergone restoration and now has a museum in it – we had Charlie with us so didn’t venture in.

Love what they have done with the inside of the castle, what would have been empty is now fun!

After exploring the town, and picking up a map of Tallinn from the tourist office, we headed out along the promenade overlooking the Tagalaht gulf. Here we found loads of pieces of artwork in the shallow waters of the sea, including a large orange goldfish floating on the water in a plastic box – sadly his box was all dirty so you couldn’t get a good photo of him. We did manage to snap some of the other weird and wonderful things in there though.

Vaike viik – the lake near us

Art on the sea, or is that polar bear in need of help out there?

I saw it move, that swan is definitely real

Tchaikovsky spent a summer here, so in 1940 they made him a bench, it even plays his music!

Back in Zagan the temperature has dropped and the rain started. This is our last Friday night in Estonia and we had thought about going out for a meal, but that is on hold now and we’ll treat ourselves to something in Tallinn over the weekend. The ferry to Finland is on Monday, so we’ll be there in time for the longest day and should get far enough north to see the midnight sun. Exciting times ahead.

Before I go I have two puzzles for you:

We’ve seen these on loads of houses here in Estonia, any ideas what they are?

Also seen a disproportionate number of small American campers in Estonia – no idea why!

Have a great weekend.

Ju x