From this day on, we will gradually return home. Before we leave, we'll stop at Patarei Prison. Then we'll move through Riga and Vilnius to Poland and home. The plan for this morning is as follows. Prison opens at 10:00 a.m. Bus departs at 1:00 p.m. We're officially supposed to leave the dorm by 12, but the lady said we don't have to be in such a hurry. We'll pack all our things in the morning and leave them in the room, with the understanding that they'll still be here after 12. After 9 we go out to the prison, which is about half an hour's walk from the hostel. We arrive at the place with a reserve and it is still closed. We walk through the areas of the prison that are open to the public and serve as art exhibition areas. In the meantime, the guy in charge arrives and after paying the entrance fee we can go in. The prison or museum gives me the impression that they have opened the place exactly as the communists left it and only a few arrows and labels have been added. Otherwise, one could go wherever one wanted within the route and wherever it was open. We managed to get some epic photos that way. Probably the best were the pre-detention cells, where only the mattresses and bedding were missing otherwise the equipment was completely authentic, including the toilet. The tour took us about an hour. After that we had to return to the hostel to get our things and then, at a leisurely pace, move everything to the bus station where we were supposed to take a bus to Riga. We are trying Ecoline for the first time today and are rather disappointed. Although the ticket is about ten crowns cheaper than the Lux express, the interior of the double decker bus is a lot more tired, and the coffee machine wasn't even working, so to our regret we couldn't indulge in our traditional travel cocoa. The journey to Riga took four hours and forty minutes. I cut the journey short by watching "Servants of the Nation" and it went by quite quickly. In Riga we say goodbye to Mark, who is already returning home a day earlier, but since his connection was about 2 hours late, we still managed to have a farewell dinner at Lido by the station. As soon as we say goodbye to Mark we go to the trolleybus that will take us to our hotel. We didn't take the hostel we had last time. You buy your tickets through one of the local apps and activate it on the trolley by scanning the QR code. After successfully checking in, all we can do is buy souvenir vodka at Maxima and then stay in our room until we fall asleep. Originally we had planned to swim in the sea in Jurmala during the morning, but the forecast and the clouds over Riga changed our plans. So instead we took it easy and had a generous hotel breakfast, then lounged in our room until our chek-out, which was at 11am. We then took the trolley to the Latvian Academy of Sciences building, which is built in the style of Stalinist skyscrapers like Lomonosov University in Moscow or the Palace of Culture in Warsaw. The building is used as a lookout tower and you pay 5 Euro to enter.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ3DiV6ORnJynTazecEHMtIaqajFZW5ssBoph4bILM4toU4TUD83hhXn2wMZ7DEGgCsg2jWFMzEntohZzbykkdAWkoz1LlFRazrOR2V40JEsWBGrPrv6BhPA0zR3FLmRclkkiFQxv-Zi3lUI4NJJ-eoDVUQvfinAIc_6EEvR1LIbNsy97AXCi2kAr-/s1600/20220806_164018.jpg)
What to say in conclusion. The Baltics are definitely worth a visit, but I don't think it's worth going back. Maybe later, when global warming causes the temperatures in southern Europe to reach such a level that it will be more pleasant to head north to the sea for the summer.
Useful links:
Patarei PrisonLiivalaia Apartment
Další hotely v okolí Tallinnu
Connection finder for Tallinn and surroundings
Ecolines
Accommodation around Riga
Kolonna Hotel Brigita Riga
Accommodation around Vilniusu
Lux Express
PKP Intercity
Czech Railways