Baltic Blog

Baltic Blog

August 2. Well, the start of another organised tour, this time to the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania). It was to be a veritable Magical Mystery Tour as I had done no research on the countries, thus I had no preconceived ideas about them. Everything was going to be a surprise or disappointment. Which was it going to be? Read on..

Day 1

Flew into Tallinn, capital of Estonia, early afternoon, settled into my very nice hotel then took off to explore the Old City. What a delight. It was very Germanic, with "beer houses" everywhere and waiters dressed in lederhosen and waitresses in dirndls. But very charming, and olde-worlde. [I later found out that Tallinn is the best preserved medieval city in Northern Europe.] Not having eaten since 5.30 that morning in my Brussels airport hotel I was ravishing (I think he means ravenous) and looked around for something that wasn't too Bavarian or Italian. At last I found a restaurant that offered typical Estonian food. Feeling vampiric, I ordered blood sausages. I'd often been tempted to try them but not had the courage. Now I was hungry enough to eat anything. Had I bitten off more than I could chew? Was I a clot (a 'blood clot' or a Dorrie-clot?) for ordering such a disgusting dish? Well, the sausages turned up looking like two dark brown dog turds accompanied by sauerkraut, yam wedges, a large dollop of  loganberry jam, thick greasy bacon slices and cold cubes of pumpkin. (Are you laughing or barfing?) It wasn't too bad actually. I wouldn't say 'bloody' good (sorry) but different. The sausages had more than just blood in them of course (I shudder to think what) and had a haggis-like texture. Anyway, at least I can add blood sausages to the list of unusual foods I've eaten (like rat, horse, frogs, crocodile, worms etc.).

The old Town Hall, Tallinn

That night the Baltic Impressions group met in the bar of the hotel for a free bubbly and orientation. There are 27 in the group and half are German-speaking, so the commentary will be bilingual. (The young Latvian tour guide Janis looks suitably 'bi' himself.) Typically there are several Aussies - couples from Townsville, Newcastle and Sydney and myself. I will be avoiding them of course.

Day 2

A long day in the bus, so Janis took the opportunity to tell us a lot about the history of the three countries. I won't bore you with too many details but basically Estonia and Latvia share similar backgrounds, both being Protestant and dominated from the 13th century by the German Teutonic lords for 700 years. (This explains the Germanic influences I saw yesterday.) Catholic Lithuania, larger than the other two countries, was more independent and at one time the largest country in Europe, stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea. It was historically aligned with Poland, with whom it shares its border. The rich German merchants used to build lavish manor houses in Estonia and Latvia and hundreds still remain today, in various states of repair. Some are museums, some private hotels, some old people's homes, some are just ruins. Our first stop for the morning was to visit a particularly beautiful one which is open to the public. It was built in the 1700s in classical style and had lovely grounds, lakes and outbuildings, one of which was an exotic greenhouse. 

Palmse Manor House

All three countries have their own languages, totally incomprehensible to each other. The only way they can communicate today is through English, which is taught in all schools. (Before WWII the lingua franca was German; after the war under Soviet occupation it was Russian of course. But don't try using Russian anywhere today. It is definitely politically incorrect.) Though all members of the European Union, they each have their own currency, with Estonia the only one using the Euro. However, the others are set to get the Euro soon. Luckily credit cards are accepted everywhere so I'm not going to bother changing money or getting out local currency. (Hopefully I can control my bladder well enough not to have to use public pay toilets in Latvia and Lithuania!)

For lunch we stopped in Tartu, the second largest city in Estonia. It's a big university town with a nice historic square where they were running a music festival with one stage band playing after another. As I sat in a cafe in the square enjoying my liquid lunch and listening to the bands struggling with their scores, I couldn't help be transported back in time when I was a band conductor subjecting the public to similar tortures... (Actually some of the bands weren't bad.) Anyway it was free entertainment and very pleasant in the glorious weather, so enough with the criticisms!

The town hall in Tartu

After lunch we continued southwards, crossing the Latvian border at about 5pm. What a difference between countries! Poor old Latvia hasn't moved out of the Soviet era. Everything is run down, colourless and charmless.Where is the money? [That was explained to us the next day.] That night we stopped at a large regional centre called Cesis and checked into our comfortable though frillless (new word with three ls, patent pending) hotel that had an excellent restaurant at cheap prices. For dinner I had wild boar stew with kiwi fruit sauce, sweet apple slices and spicy potato purée followed by Italian cheese cake, washed down with two glasses of French sauvignon blanc - all for €21. (A bit better meal than the day before, don't you think?) I shared a table with a nice retired German couple from near Ulm. Like all the German people on the tour they remain silent unless you make the first move. After that there's no shutting them up! Speaking of tour members, there's a Yank guy here with his teenage son and daughter (God knows why they would want to join a group of old farts on a nine-day tour of an unhip part of Europe). It turns out that the son is studying French horn at a prestigious music school, so of course that has led to some lively discussions. 

Day 3

Another long day in the bus with a couple of interesting stops, the first being an ancient Teutonic fortress (Castle Bauska) and the second, the beautifully restored Rundale Palace, built by the St Petersburg court architect Rastrelli (the guy who designed Catherine the Great's Summer Palace). 

Rundale Palace

During the long driving stretches Janis explained the financial and social conditions of the three countries. They're pretty grim. When the split from Russia occurred in 1991 the countries' finances fell apart and they had to introduce drastic austerity measures (unlike in Greece, Spain, Portugal who are all getting EU subsidies). Happily, these have worked and the economies are on the mend, increasing 4-5% each year. (Lessons to be learnt for Greece et al.) Unfortunately the countries are still incredibly poor, with the average monthly income about €500, which doesn't even cover the rent on their ugly Soviet-style apartments. God knows how they cope.

After lunch we crossed into Lithuania and at 6pm checked into our swish Raddison hotel in the capital Vilnius, where we were to stay only one night. Janis informed us that another 8 people were to join the tour that night, six more Germans and two Australians. The bus is starting to fill...

Day 4

Started the day with a morning walking tour of the Old City. Vilnius is a world heritage-listed city for its baroque churches (15 in all) and we visited a couple of the best ones, plus its ancient university buildings and other historic landmarks. Then we had a two-hour break to do our own thing. I joined a Belgian GP and a Dutch teacher who were interested in checking out the Jewish Holocaust museum and the local synagogue. (Well, it was something to do.) I'd never been in a synagogue before and it was a strange and exotic place - very Middle Eastern and mystical. Had to don the little Jewish skull cap of course. (Are you getting a mental image of this?) The Holocaust museum was particularly poignant as Vilnius had 70,000 Jews before the war, most of whom were liquidated by the Nazis. Now apparently there are just 700.

The impressive Baroque church of St Peter and St Paul

The afternoon was spent motoring on to the Baltic seaside resort town of Klaipeda. En route we stopped at the restored castle in Trakai, the medieval capital of Lithuania. Set on the bend of a beautiful river, it looks like something out of Camelot and is a major tourist attraction. The Soviets did a beautiful job on the restoration.

Medieval castle at Trakai

Day 5

Today was an optional tour - meaning a vastly overpriced rip-off excursion. Costing €80 ($120!), this one was to a nearby peninsula called the Curonian Spit that boasted a number of attractions including the Hill of Witches - a walk through the forest viewing weird fairy tale characters carved in wood along the way, the High Dunes - sand dunes so spectacular they were described as a mini Sahara Desert and Thomas Mann's summer house in Nida, the main city of the peninsular. Well, the wooden carvings were mildling entertaining, the sand dunes no more than what you'd get at any Australian beach and TM's house devoid of any furniture and interest. (Most of the Aussies had never heard of the German Nobel prize-winning author) I don't know why I let myself get talked into going. I guess it was because everybody else was doing it, and it was a day out in the glorious weather. I must be more selective in the future. Most of these options are not worth it.

Wood carvings on the Hill of Witches

 

Thomas Mann´s summer house

Does this look like a mini-Sahara Desert to you? They sure have a good imagination in Lithuania!

Day 6

After a brief walking tour of Klaipeda, the ex-German Baltic port whose glory days were well and truly behind it, we took off north back into Latvia to its capital Riga which we reached at the end of the day. Due to the fact that I'd overindulged on wine the night before and had had very little sleep, I dozed most of the day in the bus. We made a couple of stops along the way of course, the most interesting being the Hill of Crosses, which is exactly what its name suggests. Adorned with probably a half a million crosses of different shapes and sizes, the hill became a symbol of resistance to the post-war Soviet regime, despite the fact that with every cross that appeared the Soviets got crosser and tried everything they could to destroy the hill. In vain.

The Hill of Crosses

That night I attended an organ concert in the Riga cathedral, an optional activity I'd prebooked It turned out to be more than that: there was a quartet of kokles (Latvian zithers) as well. However, with my ear problems I could barely hear them. The organ pieces were good though. After the concert the Ulm couple and I ate in an elegant but cheap Russian restaurant. I had tongue, as that was the only Russian word on the menu I recognised! 

Day 7

The morning was spent checking out Riga on foot. We started off in a part of town where the buildings were built prior to WWI in an art nouveau style. (In fact 15% of the city's buildings are in this style and are described as "the  finest collection of art nouveau buildings in Europe"; because of this it is world heritage listed.) We then checked out the extensive Old Town which is historically interesting, relatively unscathed by the war, and very, very nice. Riga is definitely the highlight of the tour so far.

A typical art noveau building in Riga

Riga Old Town

The night's rip-off optional activity was a trip to a fine-dining restaurant called La Bohème. The only reason I shelled out my €45 ($66) was because there was to be a concert by a young kokle virtuoso who won a TV talent quest. (If you think they milk the kokle here you'd be right.) However, when we got there they announced the guy wouldn't be coming as he'd missed his plane to Riga. Damn this Late-vian! The five-course meal turned out to be excellent but of course not worth the money. At the end we all got a small glass of Riga Black Balsam, the 45%-proof Latvian national beverage made from 24 natural ingredients, including herbs, flowers, juices, roots and berries. The recipe was created in the 18th century by Riga pharmacist Abraham Kunz. Once the drink was tried by Catherine the Great, who was cured thanks to it during her stay in Courland (now part of Latvia), it quickly became a favorite at the Russian court and all over Europe. It tasted like a very sour liqueur and pretty revolting but at least we could say we'd tried it. (It's pushed pretty strongly as a medicinal drink in all the tourist sops of course.)

A kokle ensemble

Day 8

A travelling day - back into Estonia and ultimately Tallinn again for the last two nights. Our only stop was at the Baltic Sea summer resort town of Pärnu, first at the beach (which was pretty deserted because of the cool, cloudy conditions), then in the Old Town. Apparently the place is very popular, not only with Estonians but also with Finns because it is so cheap. However, "cheap" is the word - it all looked rundown and Soviet-era to us.

 I don't think Surfers Paradise need lose any sleep over Pärnu.

 Day 9

The last full day of the tour began with a walking tour of Tallinn's Old Town. It really is a wonderfully preserved medieval city. The narrow streets wind in and out and relics of the Middle Ages pop up everywhere, from Gothic churches to apothecaries, still trading after 600 years! For lunch we tried out the honey beer, a special brew of the Bavarian-style Beer House. Delicious! 

Tallinn Old Town

The afternoon's activity was an optional excursion (which i did) to Kadriorg Park that has quite a few excellent attractions, including a huge open-air amphitheatre where singing festivals are held, the KUMA Art Museum, the presidential palace, the small baroque palace of Peter the Great with its pretty rose garden and the Swan Pond. (I'm particularly fond of swan ponds.)

The huge amphitheatre at Kadriorg Park

Peter the Great´s Summer Palace

That night there was a an optional meal in a medieval restaurant, which I declined because of the cost and because it sounded too touristy. However, Tom the Belgian GP begged me to come as it was the last activity together. I continued to resist and in the end he offered to pay for my meal! How could Dorrie the Jew resist? (In return, I offered to pay for all the drinks.) The evening turned out to be fun: reasonably good food and drinks and entertainment that included sword fights, belly dancing and minstrels singing Spanish and Italian love songs. The only thing missing was anything remotely Estonian! (I was right about the touristiness aspect.) Still, a nice end to a nice tour.

So, summing up, my Baltic Impressions tour left me with many positive impressions. The scenery on the whole was not particularly memorable but the background of the three countries was incredibly interesting and I learnt so many new things about European history. I would advise anyone interested in this part of the world not to do a tour but simply visit Riga and Tallinn. (Vilnius is only of interest if you are into baroque churches). They both have wonderful old towns and great attractions both in the cities and in near proximity. A week would do them justice.