Riga

The last stop of the journey with my parents in the Baltics. The capitol city of Latvia is a gem of Art Nouveau architecture. A very European city with a well preserved historic center. The city's main marketing theme is that Riga, as a former member of the Hanseatic League, is still very much a medieval city. We ate several times in basement restaurants that looked authentic and also only served food, which would have been available 500 years ago. Circled by walls Riga easily translates into modern times. Outdoor cafes are the norm.

My grandma on my mothers side got increasingly sick during the time we were there. My parents were considering heading home early because she was about to die. Because the time difference between the booked flight and the next option was only 2 days we decided that they should stay.
We went to the cinema, visited the market which is housed in the old Zeppelin hangars, the traditional soviet cake and spend some time in the sun along the channel in the city center. We discovered remote parts of the city to see all the beautiful architecture. Rigas art nouveau is among the best in the world.

We also made a day trip to Juermala, which is the beach town of Riga. Foggy and cold is not how I picture a beach. But the locals digged it. And my parents liked it as well, as you can see in the picture.
Eventually we had to say goodbye. Afterwards I checked into a hostel for the night and checked the Internet. My grandma died about the time my parents had left for the airport. Rest in Peace Grossi

Pasvalys

I do not remember the name of the country style mansion where we slept. It was in the middle of nowhere. A three stories villa with high ceiling roofs. A huge garden around it and many workers trying to renovate the place which was already in a very good state, all financed by the European Union.

The next day we went to Latvia to a place called Rundale Palace. A baroque mansion built in the 18th century. We discovered the elaborate rooms and bedrooms of the dukes that used to live here with plastic bags wrapped around are feet. A true masterpiece in the middle of nowhere.

We also visited some ancient hills that were artificially put together by medieval villagers, to built their houses upon them. Afterwards they fortified the hills with wooden defences similar to the one visible in the movie The Thirteened Warrior by Antonio Banderas.

Vilnius

The capitol of Lithuania is a big place with many one way streets. We had to hassle a lot until we found our hotel. Which we upgraded to an apartment. We spent 3 nights here and were able to rest for a change. The schedule we gave ourselves was quite ambitious. But because of that we were also able to see a lot. There are many historic buildings throughout the city. Soviet buildings are almost not to be found in the center. Many orthodox churches with golden roofs are scattered everywhere. People are generally quite religious and do the cross on the chest, if they pass anything of religious value.

We ate at good restaurants and had wild pigs and other stuff we don't really know back home.

We also visited the obvious castle from where its easy to overlook the city center. Cars try to squeeze through the narrow streets. The Cathedral of Vilnius at the foot of the castle hill resembles a roman temple. After three days we went on to the country side again.

Kaunas

After a too long ride from Nida and some rain on the way we arrived in the university city of Kaunas.

As second largest city in Lithuania it is the centre of economic activity and Lithuanian culture. First we had to mess around with the one way streets, than we had to organize a map and finally managed to find the hotel. It was a pleasant surprise to see, that the hotel was a ritzy place and had all the amenities you could think of. I took bath in the bathtub. We took a short stroll, but were already to tired for sightseeing.  

The next day we went to the Trakai Island Castle which is a fairy tell castle, with a museum inside. I enjoyed that very much and recommend to visit it.

Nida

Nida is situated on the Curonian Split, a narrow piece of land reaching from Russia (Kaliningrad) all the way to Lithuania.

After taking the ferry to the island we headed to Nida. A village with 1600 inhabitants who live in funny houses at the Russian border. We stayed in a rather narrow room. The temperature was still quite low, but we managed to get out several times. First we visited a little bird sanctuary. The noise of all the birds was overwhelming. Later we visited the border to Russia. Some fierce fighting took place in the 20th century. Then we visited the Baltic side of the peninsula, which is much more windy than the Curonian sea side.

All settlements here are on the eastern side. One ill fated village got buried under a moving sand dune. It is now a small park with great views from the top. Thomas Mann spend some time here in the early thirties.

After just one night we went on to Kaunas.

Palanga

In the morning we drove to Liepaja which is a major port town which got a lot of attention from the Soviet government. They set up their Baltic naval base  and built warehouses for nuclear weapons just north of the city.

The city is trying to reinvent itself and is doing pretty good at it. We enjoyed the main sights with the exception of the naval port, which can only be visited with an appointment. Nice churches, a lively market and pedestrian friendly common space surprised us positively. After another warm soup we headed south to Palanga.

It is the Latvias busiest sea side resort and has a beach that lasts for 18km. There is also a wonderful city park in which we could even see deers grazing. Only a few of the many restaurants were open when we passed because the high season starts later. We drank a few beer after strolling the city and ate good.

Kuldiga

My mother had to drive all day from Karli around Riga up to the most northern point of the Bay of Riga and then down an outrages road down the west coast to Kuldiga. There was not much to see initially besides a huge dam south of Riga. After getting lost while driving along the bay we stopped at several places up to the tip of the peninsula. There mom took a short bath in the water which was close to freezing.

The road south from there has not seen any EU money yet and was in a poor condition. After driving carefully (slow) we finally arrived in Kuldiga. The apparent hotel, which was more an apartment didn`t look like much, but inside we found a newly furnished flat with all the gadgets you wouldn't expect. We cooked ourselves and had a family evening while dad was talking about his youth, where he travelled and how he met my mother.

The town is rather small and is full of one way streets. There is the common pedestrian, shopping street and a old castle consisting of a hill with signs of what used to be here.

There is also a river passing through with a long dam. By now most, if not all of the snow had disappeared.

Cēsis

In the middle of Cēsis is the castle park. It has been nicely renovated and is at a lake. The town has the usual cathedral and narrow alleys. Modern gas stations are next to crumbling wooden houses. There were quite a few tourist buses, but still very much on the sideline.

After a few hours we went on to Karli a village consisting of a hand full of houses. There was a nice old mansion that has been polished to meet the demands of the few tourists that pass through here. The Latvian owner talked a bit about the history of the house and more interestingly about the recent history since Latvia joined the EU. At the beginning they implemented some business friendly reforms and suddenly this chronically, economically depressed country at the Baltic Sea grew in the high single digits for several years until the US bubble collapsed. Now they are trying to get back on track. The mansion is in the middle of nature and a very relaxed place. We ate good fish for dinner and headed out early, since the longest journey of the holiday was awaiting.

Tartu

A university city in the interior. While Tallinn is the political and the financial capitol , Tartu is the intellectual and cultural center. The Livonian Knights took over the settlement in the 13th century during their northern crusades. Tartu also became a city of the Hanseatic League, a multinational merchant association. Later on a Polish Lithuanian alliance took over followed by the Swedish. Eventually imperial Russia took control. Afterwards the usual Nazi and Communist story laid their mark.

We arrived after spending some time in Viljandi, a city west of Tartu. A nice lake shore town with a lot of old people because everybody with ambitions goes to Tallinn or Tartu.

In Tartu we took a short stroll through the old town, which was OK. Brick buildings dominate while the wooden houses are only visible in the outskirts. We ate at an gunpowder cellar which was built by order of Cathrine the Great. It boasts a Guinness record of having the highest pub ceiling in the world (11m). After drinking some beers - even my mother drank a bit - we were tired and retired early. Next day we were off to Latvia and drove through the beautiful landscape which is populated only very sporadic. Bison's, bears and deers still roam this area. But we only saw some deers and a lot of stork nests. An ancient believe is that if a stork decides to nest next to somebodies house, they will have more luck at getting children. So every house has an elevated platform ready for a stork looking for property.

Pärnu

Pärnu is unsurprisingly on the Pärnu Bay. The cold wind blows in from the frozen sea upon the beach. Only a few people are around and everybody is thinking about getting somewhere else. The view is quite nice, but the chill is just to much. The city itself is mostly built with wooden houses. Some of them two stories high. Even some churches are wooden. They also have a modern mall. Restaurants are running in low gear since the high season is still to come. Our hotel had the atmosphere of a hospital.

The cold weather reflects in the characters that get bread here. Everybody is rather reserved and take a close look a foreigners. Even the receptionist looked a little surprised. Old soviet style sanatoriums line the beach and a newly built modern spa resort at the end of the beach. Next day we headed inland in the hope to avoid the cold Bries.

Haapsalu

This seaside resort on the west coast of Estonia is famous for curative mud and is where Estonians go to during summer to hang out at the beach.

When we passed through here, there was snow on the beach and people were ice fishing.

I was still struggling with my blister and broke through the ice once. My dad was freezing as well. We just stopped for the day and then moved on. But we took a look at the old castle that dominates the town.

A legend goes that a priest fell in love with a young girl. He gave her boys clothes to be able to take her into the castle. But one day she was discovered and dumped alive between two newly erected walls. During full moon nights in August, according to the legend, you can see her shade shimmering through. That's why each year there is a small fair in her honor.

Warm soup, gas pedal....

Tallinn

The capitol city of Estonia is the most northern place in Europe where you can find beer at a reasonable price.

So it is the logic point of entry for a backpacker visiting New Europe from the top down. Is was the beginning of Summer and the weather was still very chilly. The salt water in the bay area was frozen.The imperfect setting to meet my parents for the first time in 28 months. We unspectacularly met at the airport and checked into a prebooked apartment my father had organized. He had planned the whole itinerary for the 2 coming weeks and booked all accommodation in advance. We also had a car which made us independent of bus schedules or slow trains. So I just laid back for the journey to come and enjoyed the show. Tallinn is a typical medieval with a turbulent history.

During the Northern Crusades Tallinn was under Danish rule and later on under Teutonic Knights. The ladder have laid their mark on all Eastern European countries at some point in time. They built castles and spread the word of god with weapons.

More recently they were occupied by the Nazis and later by the communists. 1991 they reemerged from darkness and became a member of the EU, NATO and the capitalist world.

We walked around town a lot, stumbled up some old churches, checked out a museum, ate at delicious medieval restaurants, and drank the local spirits. It was nice to see my parents again and we had a lot to catch on. Generally I think that they haven't changed and I also feel the same before I left.

London

Once the epicenter of the world. The world once belonged to this country. They laid foot in all parts of the world and drank Earl Grey next to the Himalayas, the Caribbean Sea, while fighting pirates at sea, in the sand, next to giraffes and in  a Chinese noodle shop.
The historic significance is all over you face in this city. But even so, they are able to translate perfectly into modern times. Skyscrapers next to stone churches. All different ethnicity's are represented  - mostly Asian.

I landed after a stopover in Dubai at Heathrow. I put my backpack in a luggage storage facility out of the space age attended by an Eastern European women and I paid a similar amount as I usually pay for accommodation. Then the tube brought me to Piccadilly circus. I walked around and soon noticed that all pedestrians in London seem to be tourists. I visited Trafalgar square, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, The National Art museum, Tower Bridge, Hyde Park, Harrods, downtown, the walk along the Themes and many more not so famous things you are bound to bump into - basically did what every tourist does. In the evening everybody heads to the pubs or home into the suburbs.
I ate from the supermarket which almost allows you to eat enough for the same amount as in a restaurant in Africa.
In the evening I had blisters from walking the whole day and slept on a bench at the airport. Next day I was off to Tallinn.