The 31th of may we finally started our travel to visit our estonian Friends! After taking the airplane in Rome we arrived in the afternoon after 3 hours of flight in Riga, the capital of Lativa.A 30 minutes bus drive brought us to the hotel, which was located in the old town. Everything looks different here – the houses, the shops, the people, the landscape. After a short rest we started to discover the city center – there are many parks, a big river and colorful houses. A local woman that is selling jewelry made of amber recommended us a cheap restaurant for dinner, the food is so different than at home in Italy! A bit tired from the travel we came back to the hotel for another short rest, but there was sunlight till 11 o’clock and an ice cream was a good motivation to go out again. Tired and satisfied we went to bed curious about the days to come!
The second day we had time till lunch in Riga to discover more of the city. We were surprised by a traditional city party with a handicraft market, traditional dances and various free workshops! Then it’s time to head to Estonia, a 3 hours drive through forests and meadows. Our friends welcomed us in the school with a traditional smoke sauna experience! After some hesitation all of us entered and enjoyed sitting in the heated wooden hut in the forest. Afterwards we’re ready to sleep, tired from the long journey.
The morning after the children of the school arrived around 9 o’clock. We started with a circle to get to know each other’s names and exchange some favorite group games. For playing the language barrier was no problem at all, we even knew the same games. Afterwards the children showed us their workshop results in an exhibition they’ve prepared – ceramics, dream catchers, miniature traditional houses, theater costumes and traditional paper decoration.
In the afternoon we decided to go for a little trip to Voru, a small village next to a lake. Even if the sky was grey we enjoyed the beautiful playground and a walk in the village.
For the fourth day we planned a workshop exchange. While our kids could participate in a woodwork workshop for building traditional Estonian miniature houses with Hendrik, Bertie offers a bookbinding workshop for the Estonian kids.
The wood workshop space is impressive and building is so much fun! In the end we’ve created a small village, where everyone has its own piece of land with a little house, the roof is made of birch tree bark.
Once finished we shared lunch with all children and teachers. Afterwards we went to a national park for a little hike in the forest. The trees and plants are different than in our forests in Italy and time flied.
Returned back home we had some free play time and dinner in our flat.
On our last day in school we had fun singing karaoke all together and learning some breakdance moves with Estonians best break dancer. Before the school closed we all danced together on stage and witnessed the dance performance the Estonian kids planned for a final school event.
In the afternoon we went to visit a local handicrafts workshop, where we could see woodwork, hand woven carpets and belts, knitted socks and many more things. Each of us bought a little handmade souvenir. Afterwards we went to a park with an antique traditional farm house, that looked just like the miniature house we’ve build the day before.
In the early evening we went to have dinner all together, so much earlier than in Italy! And right afterwards we decided to join a traditional dance evening. A group of young people was playing music with traditional instruments while others were dancing folk.
Our last day comes to an end. The morning after we start driving back to Riga to take our flight back.
What a beautiful journey with many impressions, but we’re also happy to come back to Italy especially for the good food and warm weather!
