Jean and Barry Go Baltic

When I was planning this trip, I thought it would be fun to try to golf somewhere in the Baltics, and, as it turned out, I was right! I had researched and found a "Golf and Wellness Package" at Parnu Bay, which included two nights' hotel accommodation and a round of golf. According to the website, "Parnu Bay Golf Links is a links course in the true sense of the word: a coastal stretch of land with sandy soil and fescue grasses- a true test of every golfer's abilities". It's a well-designed course, well-maintained, easily walkable, in a lovely setting- all good. It was really great to get out and be active doing something besides walking tours! And lunch and a refreshing adult beverage on the terrace of the new clubhouse was also pretty swell. Back at the hotel, we walked around the town for a bit, then had a light dinner and another evening in the saunas.

We were immediately charmed by Tallinn, our entry port into Estonia and the Baltic countries. It's a city  about the size of Greater Victoria and is wonderfully diverse- Old Town dates back to at least 1154 and is surrounded by leafy neighbourhoods of predominantly wooden houses and modern architecture, too. We checked in to our hotel and then set out to walk through the adjoining park to the upper town.       We wanted to take in the Bastion Passages, underground tunnels that formed a part of the fortification of the castle in Tallinn. They date back to the late 17th century and primarily served to shelter troops  defending the city and to conceal the movement ofthese troops from one structure to another. The main building material is limestone. The passages are about 1.5 to 2.5 meters wide and 2.5 to 3 meters high. Through the years, the passages have been used for many purposes: often for storage space, for air raid shelter, for nuclear fall o