Day 1 Tuesday | Thessaloniki - Riga
Arrival day from airport to hotel. Meeting at the airport ''Macedonia'', boarding the aircraft and flight to Riga. Arrival and departure with our bus to the hotel. We will leave our luggage in a special storage area of the hotel in order to transfer it later in the afternoon when the rooms will be empty and ready from the previous guests or after check out 15:00' and after cleaning the rooms gradually. Free time for shopping in two shopping malls and in the traditional ''the Riga Central Market'', coffee and lunch in person. Check-in at your hotel and time for rest in the late afternoon. In the free afternoon you can visit the new Riga Central Market and walk through the picturesque streets of the old town with its nice cafes and bars.
Day 2, Wednesday | Riga - Tallinn.
Breakfast and 08:30' with luggage on the bus, departure at 09:00' to the Latvian - Estonian border where there will be a short stop. The total distance is 300 km and the duration depends on the traffic on the roads of one lane only in each direction. Arrival at the hotel and immediate acquaintance with the small old walled city of Tallinn, easy access only on foot, as one understands there is no room and no buses are allowed to enter through the walls. Afternoon free to get acquainted with the picturesque town, nestled in a bay of the Gulf of Finland and across the river from Helsinki.
Day 3, Thursday | Optional day trip to Helsinki without luggage !
Today is a free day! But we recommend an optional day trip to Helsinki, the city that combines the past with the future, the capital of Finland! A day trip to the capital of Finland that also represents the best option to get rid of the expensive trip to this country of a plane ticket and then an expensive stay with all the subsequent full expenses.
So we have the opportunity with the price of 110 euros to include our transfer services to the port, the services of our escort - guide, the comfortable journey of a cruise ship through luxury ports, the transfer by tram from and to the port of Helsinki, the sightseeing walk, free time for eating in person, coffee, return to the ship with all amenities, shops, supermarkets, cafes... transfer to the hotel by tourist bus on the return to Tallinn. Meals and drinks of the tour are not included in the price of 110 euros ! In the capital of Finland we will see the massive station with the giants on the facade, the hilltop square of the liberator Tsar Alexander, the imposing white and blue Cathedral, dominating the square overlooking the southern old harbour, the eastern harbour with its characteristic sailing ships and on the waterfront the mansions of another era, the old sailors' restaurants and pubs, the hill of Our Lady of Uspenski of the Orthodox, the closed traditional and open-air market, Esplanade with its small shops and the Eira neighborhood with its neoclassical houses, the boulevard with its department stores, the square with its mermaid fountain and sea creatures, the old tram, the Belle Epoque café-café-restaurant ! And we will leave the old town, with the most modern tram passing by the sophisticated modern buildings, squares and harbour facilities reminiscent of airports of the future as well as the docking of the ships which is done with magnets and no longer with clapboards !
Day 4, Friday:
Breakfast and 08:30' with luggage on the bus, departure at 09:00' for the tour of Tallinn because in the afternoon we have a flight to Vilnius. We start with the outside the walls tour to reach the citadel and finally descend on foot into the heart of the medieval settlement. For the capital of Estonia is considered, by many, the "Queen" of the Baltic, which can easily turn our trip into a fairy tale. The medieval historical centre is enchanting, with its cobbled streets, markets and traditional houses. With the aura of the 13th century, visitors feel like protagonists in a medieval fairy tale, within well-preserved walls, squares and towers. We ascend to the impressive aristocratic Toompea district, located at the top of a hill offering a unique panoramic view-view of the city with its towers, tiled roofs and picturesque squares Passing from the Upper to the Lower Neighbourhood. Then we will cross the narrowest street in the area, where drunks used to stagger as they fell from the thread placed along the length. Passing by the Church of the Holy Spirit and St. Nicholas we will head to the only untouched Gothic town hall in Northern Europe and walk through the medieval part of the Lower Town, a place untouched by time. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and European Capital of Culture in 2011, Tallinn is strongly reminiscent of a Scandinavian city while the skyscraper-clad New Town, predominantly home to IT companies, gives the area a dynamic dimension of a rapidly growing region. Crossing the most picturesque path, St. Catherine's Passage, drinking a beer in a dark cellar or in a flowery courtyard, we think that time has stopped somewhere there. In the Kiek in de Kök tower one can see walls, cannons and various exhibits concerning crime and punishment and life in Tallinn a few centuries ago. Among the important sights are the Toompea Castle which today hosts the Estonian Parliament and the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky, built in 1900.
Day 5 Saturday:
Breakfast and departure for the Trakai castle located on Lake Galve, 29 km west of Vilnius, was the first capital of Lithuania, built on the shore of Lake Galve, with its magnificent wooden houses built by the Crimean Jews. On arrival, we will visit the exemplarily restored medieval castle of Duke Vittautas, built in the 15th century on an island in the lake, which is undoubtedly one of the most important historical and architectural monuments of Lithuania. While the museum, divided into different parts of the castle, contains one of the richest collections of pre and post medieval times !
Return to Vilnius where we will tour the sights of Vilnius, built at the confluence of the Villnele and Neris rivers, which seduces the visitor with its baroque architecture. The city is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List and is also among the greenest capitals in Europe. During our tour we will see, among other things, the panoramic view of the city from the hill of the three crosses, which symbolize the casting of the first missionaries by the pagans, the baroque church of the Apostles Peter and Paul, The Dawn Gate of the 1500's and the city's impressive Orthodox churches such as the Black Virgin, a pilgrimage of Orthodox and Catholics, the Holy Spirit, St. Teresa's, with its rich baroque decoration, St. Peter's, St. Peter's and St. Paul's, and St. Peter's, with its rich baroque decoration.
We will visit the University of Baptist Church, the University of Bishop Kaptsuka of 1579, with the bronze carved door with a reference to the first printing press, the Bishops and Kings of the Polish-Lithuanian Union, the Presidential Palace, the baroque St. Catherine's Church, to finally emerge in the square of the Palace of Kings, and the Cathedral with its magnificent paintings, in the shadow of the castle, where King Gediminas Avenue begins and ends at the bend of the Neris River. After the third separation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Lithuania became part of the Russian Empire. Poles and Lithuanians unsuccessfully rebelled against Russian authorities in 1831 and 1863. The avenue is adorned with fine public buildings, shops and the Museum of the Genocide of the Lithuanian People with many names written on the outer walls.
Day 6, Sunday: Vilnius - Riga
Breakfast and 08:30' with luggage on the bus, departure at 09:00' to the Lithuanian-Latvian border and then within Latvia stop and tour the palace, Rudale, which is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful architectural masterpieces of the Baltic. The palace was built for Tsarina Anna by Rastrelli, the architect of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. We continue to our same hotel in Riga.
Day 7, Monday |- Riga tour - Return flight to Thessaloniki.
Breakfast and later at 08:30' we will have to place our luggage in the special storage area because the rooms will be cleaned for the next guests while we will depart at 09:00' for the Riga tour and return in the afternoon for the departure to the airport.
