Approaching Tallinn … and the End of Our 5-Week Bike Trip :(

During the past two days, our bike trip has taken us through sparsely populated Estonian countryside, first on the Baltic Sea islands of Saaremaa and Muhu, and then crossing by ferry to the mainland. The whole country of Estonia, in fact, is sparsely populated: 1.3 million inhabitants (almost half of whom live in Tallinn) in a country of 17,400 square miles, corresponding to 75 people per square mile (less than a tenth the population density of Massachusetts). As a result, we have encountered very few restaurants and bathrooms during our four days of cycling through Estonia. For lunch, we have generally stopped at a food market and bought yogurt, fruit, and candies, and then eaten while sitting on a bench or stone wall beside the market. Our typical bathroom stop has been behind a tree on the side of the road.

Tonight (Thursday), our accommodation is the magnificent Padise Manor that was built in 1766 and has been beautifully renovated  into an 8-room hotel and restaurant. It sits immediately adjacent to an extraordinary 13th century monastery ruin. Perhaps we'll hear the faint sighing of the reputed ghost of a woman from the 18th century who lived in the manor.

Tomorrow we cycle to Tallinn, the endpoint of our 5-week trip.

Cycling past an old farmhouse

Once a functioning windmill, now a tourist attraction

Boarding the ferry back to the Estonian mainland

A church -- probably boarded up, since Estonia is the least religious country in the world

A pretty, and rare, roadside restaurant

A roadside stop

Approaching Padise Manor

Padise Manor

Our room in Padise Manor

Ruin of a 13th century monastery, beside the hotel