More about Tallin

Our hotel here is most interesting. It is the first hotel to have a bee colony on the roof and uses the honey in its food. Definitely honey for breakfast!  Latvia was certainly into eco friendly produce, so let's see what else Esthonia has to offer!
Today we went by coach to look around the outer part of the city. It was quite  chilly and autumnal but fine til this afternoon.
We passed through neighbourhoods with wooden houses and large grey communist blocks too, all three countries being similar in that respect. I am currently reading Colin Thubron's, Beyond the Silk Road, which is reinforcing everything I'm learning here except on other frontiers, with China and Afghanistan. There is this imminent proximity with Russia and it's unpredictability.

We started from a lovely park, where local schoolchildren were having PE, what a great idea, since many of our schools have lost their sports fields! There were also people doing Nordic walking, well we are in the right territory! We saw Peter the Great's cottage and the Baroque Kadriorg Palace and the separate houses for cooking and cold storage. Apparently a special fur coat was made to keep the food warm in  transit. He last was here in 1723.

Neighbouring the palace was the president's palace, where we walked into the drive way, there being a couple of guards outside. Apparently it is relatively straightforward to get an audience. But she is not popular. It is one of these systems where a president is chosen or sometimes more than one potential candidate and there is a vote by deputies. This one was an EU employee with no political experience. The people do not vote but think they should.

We visited the inside of the cottage, which was restored by Tzar Nicholas for the people and us now a museum. Then we returned to visit inside the palace with more ornate interiors and paintings. Peter the Great was a good artisan, going to work in various workshops across Europe to improve his skills. Could we imagine Putin  or Trump doing that? He also sent Artists out to improve their skills. There were a lot of portraits here by those who had honed their skills abroad.

A foray into the coffee shop was interesting. The sign said it opened at 11am, people entering were told 10 more minutes, so waited patiently in the seats. She  she finally decided to open, two people, obviously Estonians, walked to the counter and got served. The British queuing culture stood for nothing! I suppose if you've queued in communist bread queues you aren't going to let anyone get in front!

During our walk we also saw the KUMU gallery, a new building set into the hillside, that is the largest in the Baltic area. There was a Michel Sittow exhibition and I decided to return later. It is called the Titanic because of its appearance.

We stopped off at an amphitheatre and monastery ruins and various other landmarks before returning to the hotel.

I ate with Edna and Michael who live near Epping and have a friend in Billingshurst, connected  to the Rotary.  We decided to have a quiet lunch in the hotel, soup and salad. I couldn't face more tourists meandering through the old town, and lots of handicrafts galleries enticing me to spend, so opted for culture and quiet! After all We have seen three old towns I  the last week!  It felt like a day to slow the pace and take stock. We decided to try the trams, and firstly got on for the wrong direction. Then with the help of passengers discovered how to pay! There is a little flap by the driver, in which you place the correct money, then a ticket appears!!

 We arrived safely and I parted company with them as I had a deadline for a massage later, at the hotel. I visited the Sittow exhibition which was most interesting. Small, well executed portraits, and there is one in London and Banbury I discovered!

I did a fairly swift trot around the rest if the gallery and was amazed at the variety although confess to recognising no names. I was particularly interested in those exhibitions portraying life under communist rule. The building inside was fascinated and it was easy to get lost! Someone speaking the local language asked me, then in English, said I try to get out!

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 I walked back to the hotel, I am interested that people wait patiently at traffic lights to cross the road, with  no attempt to skip the lights as a pedestrian or driver. In fact there are no buttons to press.
When I arrived for my massage, the lady began talking in Esthonian, so after I had tentatively smiled and said English, she said, my English not good. My Esthonian, non existent! At the end she said, therefore two tips, and I thought she was going to suggest I rest and drink plenty. But instead, she said, those who like massage and those who don't! Ahh types..... I had really enjoyed it and managed to doze off, and came back to the room for another little rest. I took my book to the bar and had a glass of wine and plate of chips, in the absence of any other snack to take my fancy! A quieter afternoon and some downtime before heading off to Helsinki.

Moving to our third country Esthonia!

Today we left Riga with a journey of around five hours to reach Tallin. Our guide kindly gave us two coffee stops today, the second because the driver had to have a restbreak. At the first the server was rather gruff and spoke only in German. I thought she wasn't going to serve me as I didn't have the correct change, so I tipped out my coins on the counter to prove it. And the sweets I bought to suck turned out to be chocolates, not what I had expected at all! So not the most successful stop. But I will enjoy the blackcurrant filled  chocolates!

Ilsa filled much of the time on the journey giving us more details about Latvia and passing round books and materials for us to look at. I did copy a couple of recipes, cucumber to dip in honey sounded like an unusual canape, and the crumbled bread with berries also sounded like a possible simple sweet. 

 Probably quite useful to pass the time as the scenery was pine forest and yet more pine forests with very little in the way of habitation in Latvia, but a few more farm animals and villages in Esthonia.

So what did we learn- well we passed the KGB building in Riga, enough to strike fear into anyone who had lived through the Soviet era. Those who entered never left! Latvia unfortunately has a declining population, as many have left for other parts of Europe due to limited employment opportunities. One of their claims to fame was the Minox spy camera, and here in Tallinn we are staying opposite a building that had a hidden floor with listening equipment. Pharmacology, Tourism and fish are amongst their products but all hang on a whim from Russia, who by sanctions and changes of policy can have an enormous effect. Hence Latvia is  trying to protect itself with more independent energy production. Post communism there was 1000% inflation, so funds saved for a car or house would have bought a small domestic item. The older generation have suffered awful financial losses but I imagine accept it stoically for their freedom.  Joining the euro has triggered further inflation.

Esthonia our next country, means Eastern lands, Baltic means white! Like blanc and blanco...There is a lot of cross border trade and commerce, Esthonia benefiting from income from Finland where wages are higher.

We arrived in Tallin at our lovely hotel, the Nordic,  which has a super  pool, spa and full facilities free, unlike the last hotel. So I have made use of the pool and Jacuzzi after the afternoon walking tour!

We met Anastasia, our new guide. 

We explored the old medieval buildings in the old town after lunch, and I later returned for tea and cake in the cafe of the marzipan shop, by which time the protestors opposite the Russian embassy had gone. They were chanting with 'we hate Putin' banners, unsurprising after what we have heard.

  We passed through one of the medieval restaurants where you eat by candlelight and everything is themed, a bit touristy. Then we visited the old Town hall dating from 14th century.

Here there was a map and information about the Hanseatic league, and I hadn't realised that there had been more than 100 towns. I don't think we learnt them all in school. From here we walked around the alleyways and cobbled streets, then went to the upper town to see the Orthodox Church and the Nevsky cathedral.

 That area also contained diplomatic and parliament buildings, and some views of the town and gulf of Finland, with the ferries going in and out, that I will be catching in a couple of days time. Think I will need my vest, it's certainly cooler here!

Parliament building

After a little wander and my tea, forays into a couple of shops I headed back to the hotel, having to cross a police barrier ( no idea), and then to the pool followed by a glass of wine in the bar. No supper again as we had a delightful lunch on arrival. As well as museum's, I think there will be plenty of local handicrafts to look at tomorrow!

Riga and beyond

When the day started I could have been forgiven for thinking I was in Nicaragua. The water in the shower was cold. I later discovered it was a local issue and not the hotel's fault, but I completed my ablutions anyway and managed to have a quieter, more civilised breakfast. I had slept well after borrowing the duvet off the spare bed and making a hot water bottle. I had turned up the air conditioning so the room was cool and the duvets are rather thin!

We left Riga to head for Rundale Castle in Zemgale, the valley of Silence. We drove through very flat countryside with occasional hamlets.

 We gathered that houses in the city are 9 sq m and in the country 20 sq m. Many of the villages were military villages and still have underground bunkers. So the Russians who stayed on after independence have never claimed Latvian citizenship. They can claim pensions in both countries and travel freely across borders,whereas the Latvians need a visa to go to Russia and the older people have no pension from their time under Russian control, rendering them very poor.

It appears Latvia has been disadvanted by the EU too, having been forced to give up their sugar beet cultivation in exchange for Rape and Canola. They are not happy!

We stopped en route to see Bauska castle, which was part of the fortifications between Lithuania and Livonia between the 1300s and 1600s.

Latvia has never had it's own king, only Dukes, so has constantly been under the rule of other countries, Poland, Russia, Sweden etc. They do seem to have had a pretty disadvantaged history.

We arrived at Runsdale to see an impressive palace much like the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, and it was created by Rastrelli the same architect. Although this was his first work and therefore he was more hands on. It is a fine Baroque palace built for the Dukes of Courland.

It was surprisingly quiet, so we had a comfortable tour visiting many rooms including the ballroom and various reception rooms, now used for events. 

It was spectacular and reminiscent of Versailles. There was significant symbolism in the plasterwork. Extensive renovations had taken place and it was now complete. The Russians had used it for storing food and badly damaged and neglected it, amazing given they too have wonderful buildings. But I imagine that during the strong communist era this was deemed inappropriate as utilitarianism was the order of the day.  There were 138 rooms in total.

All were magnificent and each had their stories. The parterre garden was still being created and in parts looked too new, but no doubt in time it will weather in as a fine example of the period.

We had an excellent lunch together at the castle comprising goats cheese salad, fried meatballs and creme brulee, all delicious and setting us up for the rest of the day and a siesta on the way home!

I left the coach at the market and perused the food stalls, my favourite being the fish hall- what an array of fish and so cheap, and the mushroom stalls.

I then walked to the art museum, where I saw a fairly unimpressive collection of paintings by artists I have not heard of.

I finished the day later with another walk to the art nouveaux district where I had a hot chocolate and marzipan tart in Il Capuccino. Now it's an early night as we leave at 8 am tomorrow!

Interestinglybthe hotel has a European conference for adhesives and sealants what a strange topic! Do they stick or don't they. Well let's hope the delegates stick to the task in hand....

A day of surprises

Why a day of surprises- well I have learnt so much about Latvia and it's history. I had no idea of the terrible time the Baltic states had experienced during the 20th century, and how amazing it is that they have become such an advanced and apparently balanced country now. They have lurched between long periods under Russian domination and short periods under Nazi control, with loss and displacement of huge numbers if their population. We saw where the synogogue of oeople were burnt.

Our new guide Ilsa ( who sort of dings as she talks)and our driver George met us in the lobby before taking us on a tour of the city warts n all.

We began the day with a tour of all the city, visiting both the poor and more affluent areas. The poor areas contain the traditional wooden houses and the Kruschovian flats, with very little space. The story we were told is of a nation completely controlled and during totalitarian Stalinism, no allowance for people's individuality.  We learnt how much the Latvian people love the forests,  build their houses in them, go out into them and construct their cemeteries within them. They have no problem about living near  cemetries. Their ghosts come from other places!

What is lovely is that flower shops are open 24 hours per day, and you always take flowers to visit, odd numbers for normal occasions and even numbers only for funerals. So not a dozen red roses for a loved one here!  

I was relieved that I had not tried to arrange this trip independently as apparently a few hours bus or road journey can be a whole day by train. 

The railway system has changed in and out of the European gauge and is currently different! 

We drove past Stalin's tower and heard it was good for a sunset view, however later, Lindsey and I discovered the Skyline bar was even better at the 26th floor and what's more, there was no risk of silicosis from the asbestos.  And that was without leaving our hotel.

We visited the island, which has lots of relaxation and outdoor activity and is so accessible to city people. We drove around the art nouveaux area which I visited later with Lindsey and included a visit of the art nouveaux museum. We were constantly looking up at the amazing buildings.

Our guide kindly gave us a mid morning coffee break before taking us to the Cathedral for an Organ recital from  very special organ with 7000 pipes! Very atmospheric. 

Lindsey and I then sampled the student's cafeteria and ate for around 3€, very tasty and nourishing food, and felt like locals. But any money we saved got spent in the chocolate shop or the Latvian gift shop, where I left with local tea, a bottle of balsam liqueur and a ton of sprays. All  very strange but there are local food and I will enjoy them,  while favouring theses mementos.