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| Sunshine!!! |
It’s been a while since my last update, but I
have been inundated with great weather, great company, and great food… and that
leaves little time to worry about blogging! Today I have, however, managed to
combine these all together, and I am writing from beneath a beech tree, lying
on the grass beside the Vilnius Cathedral Square, munging into a selection of
thigh-increasing chocolates and lollies, watching the world pass me by. I have
been in mainland Europe now (I still don’t know where Russia belongs!) for just
over two weeks, enjoying the mild (and now even warm!) weather, learning about
the history and culture of the Baltic states, meeting countless amazing people
with amazing stories to tell, and getting back in touch with the many western
comforts I had come to forget about in my 3 of travel so far.
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| Tallinn, Estonia |
Arriving at the Tallinn Airport, I was met by
Kaspar – a couchsurfing host – and his friend Martin, who he had managed to
persuade to leave the warmth and comfort of home in the dreary weather, to
drive me around the city! Kaspar and his dog live in a typical soviet style
flat in the suburbs (it was damaged by Soviet bombing in WWII), about a 20min
walk out of the city centre, and offering many beautiful features – including
brown vinyl quilted front door. Very stylish!
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| Tallinn City Wall |
After spending my first afternoon captivated
by the English words on products in the supermarket (something I had very much
come to miss!), I spent the next few days walking the streets of the beautiful
Tallinn old town, admiring the gothic architecture, learning more about
Estonian and soviet history, and devouring a few too many of the world’s most
AMAZING pancakes at a dirt-cheap café called The Kompressor. The old town is
built around a hill, Toompea, on which lie the government and parliament
buildings of Tallinn, and a number of spectacular lookouts in which you can
look down on the old town, and the sprawling new town and suburbs below. The
town is a wonderfully disorganised network of cobblestone lanes and walkways,
leaning buildings and gothic architecture all mixed in with state of the art
technology (Tallinn is where Skype was invented, and has the most extensive
public wifi network I have ever seen!), high-end fashion, luxury vehicles and
countless ‘boutique’ coffee shops and cafes. A perfect mix until your stiletto
gets caught in a cobblestone…
Heading out of the city for a day, I found
myself at the superb Tallinn TV Tower, a recently re-opened tourist attraction,
and a site made famous (well, among locals at least!) in 1991 when the tower
was locked down and protected by the radio operators, barricaded against the
Soviet troops, and protecting as the only form of communication the Baltic
States had with the outside world. The tower is only very recently reopened to
the public (after concerns for safety closed it down in 2007), and was well
worth the almost 2 hour wait to get inside. On entering the tower, tourists are
ushered into a small cinema and information display, before taking a lift (I
know… lazy!) up to the 170m viewing platform. The viewing platform is state of
the art, with countless interactive displays and moving parts, and has 360° views of the city, suburbs, botanic gardens and
Gulf of Finland below. My absolute favourite part of the tower however was the
glass sections of flooring, which were completely opaque until someone else
nearby would stand on a sneaky button built into the carpet, which would turn
the glass completely transparent – often taking someone by great surprise as
the floor beneath seemed to suddenly disappear!
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| Seconds earlier it was completely opaque! |
From the TV tower, I wandered through the
Tallinn Botanic Gardens, before finding myself in the local cemetery – one of
the most beautiful places I have ever been! Unlike cemeteries in Australia, in
Estonia (and I have now discovered much of Eastern Europe) cemeteries are built
on un-cleared land, with graves placed in any direction between trees and
rocks, interspersed with gardens, plants and statues, with many graves bordered
by wooden seats or a park bench in which family can sit and spend time. I spent
an hour or so walking the many winding paths and stone staircases of the
cemetery, as was incredibly surprised by how many people were there. There were
old ladies, dressed in their Sunday best, with posies of flowers from the
garden, their were young couples sitting under the trees, enjoying the nice
weather, there were young children running around playing chasey, and there was
even a young boy with his mother, learning to ride a bike on one of the small
walkways between graves. In comparison to Australia, where cemeteries are
ultra-organised, open spaces, this cemetery was amazing – it was a place
families went to spend time together, to enjoy nature and the outdoors… and a
place to remember their loved ones in a positive way! Book me into that
cemetery I say!
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| Capoeira with Susan |
From Tallinn, I boarded a luxury bus (making
the most of the free wifi and coffee machine!) to Tartu, a small university
town in the south of Estonia, and home to Susan – an expat from Egypt, working
as a scientist in Estonia, after studying in Denmark, who took me to a Chinese
restaurant for dinner, then invited me to the Hungarian film festival… and who
is learning ‘capoeira’ - a Brazilian martial art from the 16th
century. What a mix! I stayed with Susan for one night, joining her for her
capoeira class (thank goodness I didn’t join in – this body is not made for
that sort of flexibility!), and learning all about the life of an Egyptian girl
living in Europe. I spent the next morning wandering the local parks and
tourist sites, and enjoying the Tartu café culture before jumping on yet another
bus, and making my way to Riga – the capital of Latvia.
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| Riga, Latvia |
Riga is home to around 650,000 people, and is
a bustling city centred round the beautiful old town district, bordered by the
Daugava River and a number of public parks and gardens. The cobblestone streets
are home to the usual array of souvenir shops, cafés and restaurants, however I
was particularly impressed on my first day to walk out of a small shop to be
greeted with a full brass marching band, walking the streets of the city
playing Beatles songs!
Joining a free walking tour (I am on a budget
after all!), I made my way through the Riga Central Market – built inside five
WWII aircraft hangers – the ‘Moscow Suburb’, and the old town of Riga, learning
all about Riga’s history as a sea-port for the Soviet Union, the supposed first
place trams were operated, and the city burnt to the ground while defending
Napoleon – who was never actually in Latvia at the time! My afternoon was spent
climbing the tower of St Peters Cathedral, wandering through the Art Nouveau
district, and enjoying the many stodgy, fatty foods the country has to offer.
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| St Peter's Cathedral |
The next day I was fortunate enough to meet
up with couchsurfer Santa, who not only took me to the hardest-to-find, but
most amazing coffee shop in the world (I can’t guarantee this claim, but it was
a cool coffee shop!), but also invited me for drinks with her friends that
night in the suburbs. Santa and her friends were great, introducing me to
Latvian culture, sharing stories of travels and life, and even taking the
gathering to the local cemetery (where I came across a wild hedgehog) to
continue the drinking into the night.
Up early the next morning, I boarded yet
another bus, this time headed for the Latvian coastline, where couchsurfer
Ingrida was waiting with a never-ending supply of stories, conversations, and
most importantly… food!!!
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| The Tallinn Botanic Gardens |
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