Auschwitz

Everyone knows the story behind Auschwitz, so I won’t repeat it here. I’ll just say that it started out as a Nazi camp for political prisoners and ended up being the site of the mass murder of Jews, Gypsies and others.
Very eerie place, especially when viewing the room fulls of piles of clothes, shoes, hairbrushes, luggage and the rest.
We started out by watching a short film about Auschwitz, then started out on the tour, taking in Birkowitz and Auschwitz.
There’s not really much I can say about the place, other than the story is a sad reminder of human atrocities that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

Reconsructed prisoner rooms:

Gate with a sign that reads: “Work brings Freedom”

…

Krakow

Krakow is the historical and tourist capital of Poland, an Old Town surrounded by a ring trees, a castle lording over a grand river, a string of churches and grand buildings sprinkled liberally throughout it’s centre.
One of the most popular tourist destinations for backpackers, Krakow is quietly accomodating, even in the last chills of winter.
With Chris and Andrew in tow, I planted my roots at our bare-minimals hostel on the edge of the old town. No common room here, no pool tables, kitchen or breakfast provided, but we had a few things going for us – the place was ridiculously cheap, even for Polish standards, and clean too. Everything we needed was close by (eg.beer shops) , so the lack of amenities at the hostel didn’t really matter.

Besides the usual exploring, a lot of time was spent perfecting skills in card games. Many nights were had, drinking the rather good local brew and playing cards…I much preferred this over the local nightlife, which was predictable and generally uninteresting. But of course, good company makes all the difference.

I took every opportunity to get out and explore – my legs got a real workout in Krakow!
The first day was spent exploring Wawel castle – one of the nicest castles I’ve seen. Here’s what it looks like on a grey winter day:

A bit closer:

But that’s just the back entrance….
The interior opens up into a broad courtyard, surrounded by buildings of different styles and periods…

including the remains of structures long since crumbled:

Here’s some detail shots of the church and palace architecture:

I stumbled around here for a good few hours, looking out over the rooftops of Krakow, out onto the Vistula River until my eyes couldn’t see further for the grey fog/smog.

I started down the ramp which serves as the main entrance. Looking back behind you is a well-rewarded practice! :

Having been sufficiently awed, I decided to head back to the hostel and explore the local area. Just over the road was the old Jewish quarter, Kazimierz. Here lay a great alternative to the tourist-busy city centre – cafes, bars, fruit and veg stalls and more, all in a nice neighborhood that balances energy with calm. I spent quite a few hours in cafes, eating great pancakes, plotting out possible voyages on my maps and reading my novels.

The next chance I got I went out to explore the city centre. At Krakow’s heart lies the square, a huge open space home to the old Town Hall and craft markets, surrounded by stylish old buildings and littered with street performers, shoppers and pigeons. Lots of well-fed pigeons.

My attention was diverted from the pigeons flocking to the children handing out breadcrumbs to another event, equally as appealing to young and old alike:

I stood entranced for a few good moments and headed on to the next stop: St. Andrew’s Church. The entrance is regally lined with rows of statues, quite an impressive site.

After a few days in Krakow, Andrew and Chris left to contine their travels in Berlin. Good luck guys and all the best. I stayed another day to explore a bit more.

I headed out from the city, following the river for a short spell.

My goal was Kosciusko Mound, a man made mound atop a hill overlooking Karakow and it’s surrounds. Along the way I got to see life in Krakow outside of the city centre. It was a good long walk there, up a hill and past a cemetary, then a spiralling walk up the mound itself. The view from the top was incredible, even taking into account the fog/smog that surrounds Krakow on a winter’s day.

An interesting juxtaposition of the old Wawel castle and modern industrialisation behind it:

A note on Polish people: Travellers and tourists are a common site in Krakow and the people are used to them. I got the impression that the locals enjoy a quiet smirk at our expense: not a bad thing at all, Poles seem to be amused by the interest that travellers have in their country. Language is a major barrier, though, sometimes older people who’s English isn’t too good will simply refuse to even enter into a hand gestures or hand writing game, which can be very frustrating if you’re trying to figure ot which train to catch and at what time. On the whole, people tend to be brisk and not always warm, though it’s a different story with the younger people, who, when met in a social environment, seem genuinely pleased that you’re interested in hearing their opinion, and are generally glad to get a chance to practice their English.

Krakow is a city that’s slowly but surely modernising. Perhaps the pace of life with quicken in the years to come, although the Poles will continue to take things at the own pace: and rightly so. Poland can be a hard nut to crack, especially with no knowledge of the local language, but the traveller is rewarded with the experience of old central eastern Europe, with Soviet memories and scars still fresh, a land of plains whose ‘ownership’ has passed hands many times, and whose people are unhurried and seemingly not too concerned with trivial matters. Poland is a key that unlocks a large chunk of European history, a history which many may prefer to forget, but lasts just the same.

Next: Auschwitz.

Wrocław

Chris, Andrew and I were done with Gdansk, onto the next Polish city, Wrocław (pronounced VROHT-swafv).

Not much happened here apart from a few beers and wanderings, spread out over a two day period. Wroclaw’s main attraction is it’s collection of churches spread out over a few islands and riverbanks. It’s quite nice, especially when the sun is out.

Wrocław wasn’t on my places-to-see list, and in retrospect I wouldn’t put it on there now. It is set up for backpackers and travellers, so it’s not as if it was hard to get things going, but it just wasn’t particularly interesting. It wasn’t unpleasant though, and being naturally situated on the road to Krakow, it was a good idea to stop there for a couple of nights, break up the journey and see some more of Poland.
Don’t get me wrong – I didn’t dislike the place, it just didn’t ring my bell like other places have – I don’t feel as though my time was stolen.

Actually, stopping in Wroclaw was educational – I learned a lot more about Polish history after visiting the Racławice Panorama, a 120 metres in circumference and 15 metres in height painting and sculpture, depicting the historical Batlle of Racawice. the panorama is breathtaking and very immersive, it has been crafted to make you feel as if you are present as the events of the Polish Insurrection are playing out. The battle took place in 1794 and was an attempt by the Polish to defend their independence against the occupying Russians. I could have stayed and stared for an hour, but unfortunately we were only allowed half an hour. We were given English audio guides, which was great, so the details and descriptions provided by the announcer were not lost on us. No photos were allowed, but you can see some images here at the wikipedia entry.

Here’s some more river shots:

Birds racing jets across the sky:

Of course, the city has some lovely buildings. Here’s some details:

I didn’t really like the town square buildings – the colours are a little too bright and ..well…cartoonish.

Here’s Chris, Andrew and I, standing on the banks of the Odra, with the cathedral on top of my head…

Well there’s not much else to report for Wroclaw. The three of us were anxious to get to Krakow, and so after two nights, we boarded our train and left the Odra River for the banks of the Vistula.

Sopot

On the train to Sopot, we gazed out the window and commented on the lack of decent graffiti in Poland. Were there no artistic vandals here?
We were quickly proved very, very wrong. We jumped off the train a station early so we could get a close look at some amazing art work:

Getting off a station early also allowed us to walk the few kilometres down towards the town along the beach.

Some of those boats are there for show, others look like they get used regularly. I cab only imagine how busy this beach must be in summertime, whilst walking down the beach side path we encountered a small pub every fifty metres or so! Wouldn’t mind spending a sunny arvo here at all….

We passed what may have been an old light house, completely surrounded by hundreds of crows. I had never seen so many crows in one spot before. It made the building look quite ominous.

Unfortunately, these were the last shots I took before my batteries ran out. The main township of Sopot is grand and elegant, and it looks as if it escaped heavy bombing during the war years. We walked past an outdoor ice skating rink (why do they always insist on playing terrible music at loud volumes?) out onto a long pier, then back into town, through the main streets, past a very unique curvy house – I’ll have to borrow an image for now:

We went in search of a restaurant that was recommended to us, and found ourselves walking through pretty tree-lined streets filled with large houses, to the end of the street, where we found an athletics oval that housed the restaurant we were after. A great meal involving pancakes and soup, then a train back to Gdansk.

Sopot is one of those places that reignites the imagination and desire to explore. It was a nice break from the usual town layout and well worth the journey there. If I can hunt down some more images from Chris and Andrew’s cameras, then I’ll update this page.

In the meantime, the next city awaits: Wrocław.

Gdańsk

I joined forces with Chris and Andrew, a couple of young guys from Melbourne. We were both travelling in the same general direction, so we figured we’d travel together, through Poland. They suggested Gdansk, I had no better ideas, so off we went, taking the night bus from Vilnius, around the small isolated area of Russia (check your European map to see what I mean) and onto Poland’s north coast, along the Baltic sea, to Gdansk.

Yeah, it’s not an easy name to pronounce, and as I learned, neither is just about anything in Polish. There’s very little similarity between English sounds and letters and Polish ones, also, Polish has a bunch of accented letters that sounds quite different to the natural sounding letter. I got by on English okay, for the most part, guessing where and when I had to, which is of course a fun game to play.

We arrived in Gdansk to a beautiful sunny morning, I couldn’t believe how much better the sunlight made me feel. After finsing our hostel and dumping our gear, we got to work on exploring the town.
Gdansk really is a feast for the eyes. There are so many hand crafted objects, like doorways, statues, lights and handrails. It’s just amazing.
Even the manhole covers are a work of art:

From the hostel, we walked a short distance to the river/channel:

Found an interesting side street and jumped in:

Detail:

I really couldn’t get over the detail in everything within the old area of Gdansk.

Ok, a bit of history: Gdansk is part of the ‘tri-cities’ area that also includes Sopot and Gdynia, stretching out along the coast of the Gdansk Bay. Gdansk has since the middle ages been a major port and shipbuilding town. Once upon a time it was under it’s own rule, until Teutonic Knights came and took over. The German name for Gdansk is Danzig, and many Germans still call it by that name. Under the rule of the Germans, Gdansk prospered and became a member of the Hanseatic League, a merchant group that monopolised the Baltic Sea during the Middle Ages. Since then, control has passed between Prussians, Russians, and Germans, at times becoming it’s own Free City, then in modern times, control passed between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, until in 1989, the Soviet collapse led to Gdansk once again belonging to Poland.

Much of the Old Town area was bombed heavily during WWII because Gdansk was such an important port. As such, most of it has been rebuilt in it’s original Hanseatic style – which is to say, quite pompous and decorative.
Evidence:

Gdansk manages not to look too toy-towny (there’s a good one), possibly because of the care and craftsmanship with which it has been rebuilt. Whereas some towns opt for a simple paint job that mimics an original stone facade, Gdansk buildings rarely do anything other than go the whole way towards 100% re-creation. Perhaps the sea air has also helped add to the realism by tarnishing surfaces and blunting edges.

Here is the rebuilt riverside crane building:

A walk through the passageway to the train station rewarded us with some good public art:

As well as walking around the Old Town, Andrew, Chris and I took a walk along the river, past the commercial area’s edge, into a slightly worn-out part of town, with the sunlight slowly fading….

The town of Sopot was only a quick train trip away, so the following day we jumped on a train along the coast…..

Trakai

Trakai is home to restored castle – yep, I know I said I was getting sick of seeing them but the main draw for me was something else – the town sits on a small peninsula jutting into a lake, which at this time of the year would be frozen!

Obviously I had to see for myself.

Yep, it’s frozen all right!

I was a bit wary of walking on the ice, but after seeing a couple of blokes fishing I knew it would be okay.

The small town is a major tourist location for Lithuanians as well as international tourists. In the summertime, you can hire a rowing boat and spend a sunny afternoon on lazy waters…..but that’s another world to the one I found myself in. Personally, I was happy with the lake in it’s frozen state.

You can easily use the terms “quaint” and “picturesque” when describing Trakai. Just about every building has loads of charm, whether it’s a newly renovated pristine charm:

Or an old haunted church charm:

I don’t have much more to say about Trakai, except for: “A picture tells a thousand words.”

No, I did not fall through the ice….unlike my unfortunate Melbournese friend Chris, who visited the following day.

It’s the edges of the lake near the shore that you gotta watch out for!

Vilnius

After my foray into Latvia, the next hit on the list would undoubtedly be Lithuania, the most southern of the three Baltic countries. Whereas Riga is close to the coast, Vilnius, the capital, occupies an area in the south-west corner of Lithuania, close to the Belorussian border.

The usual bus exit stuff awaited me: find a map if possible, find a currency exchange place, find an atm then find my hostel. It was snowing, I was tired and bloody hungry, (I’d missed breakfast that morning) so I stumbled into the first food place I could find, lugging my pack and guitar, crashing in a corner and ordering pizza and beer. Satisfied, I trudged the few hundred metres through the snow to VB Sleep Inn, which would turn out to be host to a number of fun days and nights.

The first thing I noticed about Vilnius is that unlike Riga, which tends to be made up of winding little streets, it has many plazas, squares, avenues and wide open spaces, almost around every corner. A nice change.

Much of my time in Vilnius was spent sleeping in late, eating lots of food and playing lots of card games with fellow travellers, then going out and drinking lots of beer. Hmm. Yes, I should mention that after a few days of this, coupled with the usual sights of churches and castles and Old Towns next to rivers, I had developed a kind of travel fatigue. Although I was in another country, I’d wound down on the excitement scale and was preparing myself for a sort of existentially bleak outlook usually reserved for those people who have more time than sense. Don’t worry, I got over it soon enough.

Don’t let this tarnish your impression of Vilnius. Vilnius is worth seeing, no matter what mood you are in. Half of the Old Town is crumbling, old buildings that have been neglected, the other half is historically relevant and/or commercially viable structures that are spotless. Unlike Riga, which likes to pretend it is completely clean and tidy, Vilnius has a haphazard attitude that is quite likeable. How vague. Maybe I better clear this up with some photos.

An old church? Why is it fenced off and surrounded by guard towers?

A main street:

Unkind weather:

A decent covering of snow:

Here’s an intersting thing: there’s an area of Vilnius, Uzupis, that claims to be it’s own Republic. They have a constitution involving things such as “Everyone has the right to play a role/play no role, be happy/be depressed” and others. They don’t take themselves too seriously, but they take their art seriously – the banks of the river at the entrance to the republic are covered with pieces of public art, the gallery sits close by, covered in wild psychedelic paint.

An angel sits in the Uzupis town square:

Apart from the ramshackleness of Uzupis, there are quite a few majestic sights, including this church and bell tower:

Detail:

Once the sun comes out, Vilnius turns it’s charm on:

Here’s a shot taken from the old castle on the hill:

My favourite thing about Vilnius is this statue – at the entrance to the old theatre, three muses watch over you:

Awesome stuff.

I actually don’t have many stories to tell about Vilnius, many of my days were spent indoors, away from the cold, either in the hostel or in a restaurant or bar (Cosy wins best lunch, hands down). The times I did go exploring I had a lot of fun, you can find secluded little alleyways and courtyards quite easily in Vilnius, as well as old run down ghost houses.

The Lithuanian Occupation museum is housed in the former KGB headquarters. I had to take a visit, not only to see the exhibition but also to see the prison cells. Nasty stuff. Most cells are of course, very small, with little or no comforts. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that the Soviets answered petitions to allow prisoners better blankets and package deliveries. In one torture cell, the floor was filled with water (which would of course have been freezing) and the prisoner made to stand on a tiny metal platform that sat in the middle of the room, in bare feet. Not nice.
Here’s a shot of the guard/communications room:

And here are piles of prison documents which the Soviets shredded after the Baltic nations became free countires, so as to leave no evidence of atrocities:

Not that the shredding made any difference to the way Soviets were percieved by Lithuanian people. That the museum is housed in the former KGB HQ is quite apt. The exhibition of occupation was put together more effectively than the museum in Riga, possibly because of all the objects and records that Lithuanians were able to salvage from the KGB offices. Propaganda posters, officers badges, commemorative plaques and medals and all sorts of Soviet knick knacks line the walls. Another section displayed many objects that had been created “out of nothing” by Lithuanian prisoners in Soviet gulags – pens, dolls, tobacco cases, hats, just about any basic functional object was somehow produced. Quite amazing.

It’s quite frustrating to think about the fact that after WWII, the Baltic nations were pretty much ignored by the Allies and the rest of the world. Perhaps our forebears were too scared to take on the Russians during the cold war, but whatever it was, it’s sad to think that three nations were overrun and occupied, and people sent to prisons for free thinking and daring to suggest that they should have autonomy. Just remember it wasn’t until 1989 that the Baltic nations finally threw off the Soviet yoke.

Well, sad stories aside, there was one more thing I had to do in Lithuania.
You guessed it – a day trip to a historical village!

Off we go to Trakai…..

Sigulda

Sigulda is a small historic town just a short bus ride from Riga.

I jumped off the bus and was excited from the get go. Crunching through the thin layer of snow, I quickly found the tourist info office, got my map, loaded up with a sandwich and choclate bar and got walking. At the edge of the town lay the ruined castle of the Knights of the Sword, so I hurried there to check it out, past an old Lutheran church, into a courtyard area that lay in front of a manor house, complete with formal gardens and statues.

The ruined castle has not been restored, except for various buffers and scoffolding put in place to prevent further decay. I actually prefer this to the fully restored castles – more missing for the imagination to fill in. The castle was built in 1207 by an order of christian German knights. Here are some shots:

The main attractions in Sigulda are the Knights of The Sword castle ruins and Turaida castle, built between the 12-16th centuries and restored in the 20th century. The latter is a either a bus ride or a five kilometre walk along the river. I opted for the walk! I found a path leading from the back of the ruins and headed down to the river. I really had to watch my feet, the ground was slippery as…a really slippery thing.

I found the river and crossed at the bridge:

I started down the river walking/cycling path, thoroughly enjoying the crisp air and pine forests, stopping to eat my sandwich and chocolate and rehydrate.
My map claimed that there were caves nearby – I started towards them, entering a park area off the side of the main road, past old trees and frozen puddles.

I looked for quite a while but couldn’t find the caves. Were they up on the side of the hill? Should I take this steep (and possibly treacherous) path to the summit in the hope of finding them? Sure, why not. If I couldn’t find the caves then climbing a hill would have to do, it was still heading into the unknown, and that’s what I came here for. After a few false summits and heavy breaths, I reached the top, but the view was obscured by the trees.

The path was at times confusing, but I followed the hill’s edge, along past a few isolated huts:

to the small village of Turaida, home of the restored Turaida castle. Turaida itslef is not much to look at, unless you can appreciate a sort of isolated, decaying post industrial aesthetic:

The castle, however, is another matter.

Building started in the 12th century and continued into the 16th century, according to the orders of a local Bishop. After cannons arrived on the scene in Europe, the castle became practically useless, and was abandoned and slowly ruined. Restoration began early last century, the area has been a tourist haven for well over 70 years.

Icicles:

View from the tower:

After visiting Turaida castle, I headed to the local cafe, had some soup and thawed out, missed my bus then (only just) managed to get the next one back towards Sigulda. Looking out the window I noticed the caves that I had missed, which happened to be only around a corner past a few trees, at the bottom of the hill where I was before. Oh well.

I got back to the bus station and took the next bus to Riga.

All in all, it was a good day’s exploring.

Riga

I arrived in Riga on a bus from Tartu, stepping out of the bus into pouring rain and sub-zero temperature. After acquiring a map from the information desk, changing my Estonian money for Lats and using the ATM, I sat to read my map and try to find the hostel I had booked. I set out into the nasty weather and alien streets, taking a while to get my bearings.
It wasn’t a nice way to enter a new city and I had started to hold a grudge against Riga from the first minute. Over the course of the next five days, this grudge would dissolve, although a wariness remained in it’s place.

My hostel was located above a strip club – one of the many in Riga’s Old Town. Riga is famous (or infamous) for being the destination of choice for many British stag nights. Many of these lads either cause trouble or are the recipients of club bouncer’s desire to beat someone up. Here’s a common situation: A bunch of guys are goaded into coming into a strip bar under the premise of free entry and/or drinks. The guys enter the bar, then upon leaving they are presented with a huge bill, which they cannot pay. The bouncers (usually Russian, I was led to believe, though I may be wrong here) proceed to beat the crap out of the tourists.
It’s not a nice story to start off a description of a city, but it was the first thing I learned about Riga after I arrived. Hence the wariness that I kept with me at all times.

I found Riga to be a slightly off-kilter kind of place – on one hand, I had a lot of sympathy and admiration for Latvians because of the Soviet occupation that of course ended only recently in 1991. On the other hand, Riga seems to be racing towards a goal of affluence and a business dominated society – which mightn’t sound too bad, but coupled with the strip bars and (rather ugly) new glass buildings sprinkled around the Old Town, it’s something that doesn’t sit comfortably.

The Old Town of Riga is, of course, beautiful, however, much of it has been reconstructed after both WWII and the Soviet occupation and consequently some areas have a bit of a toy-town-ish feel – but this doesn’t make too much of an impact. Along with the old Latvian buildings and statues (of which “Milda” is the crown, more later), there are a few Soviet statues still in existence, the most conspicuous stands just outside the Lativan Occupation museum.

An absolutely huge Soviet memorial/statue/artistic propaganda device lies across the river Daugava, setting out to see this thing gave me a good opportunity to get out of the business-driven tourist-infested Old Town and see the ‘other’ Riga.

Detail, typical Soviet blocky style:

I walked along the bridge as snow started to fall. Beautiful – standing over a wide river, watching the snow, then, after the snow subsided, watching the light fall over the Old Town.

Snow!:

Ah yes – the second day in Riga was my birthday, and I decided to spend it the Saturday night before rather than the night of the 20th, which was a Sunday. I also figured that it would be my birthday already in Australia, and I shouldn’t let time differences get in the way of a good time. So, I headed out on a Saturday night in Riga, on my own, hoping that it wouldn’t be too much of a lonely birthday. I ended up having a ball – I visited a club (I don’t know why I keep doing this) and actually enjoyed the music being played and met some local lads who were more than happy to talk to an Australian. The heart in my chest that was previously sunken from terrible weather returned to it’s normal altitude.

Of course, I also met fellow travellers and spent a bit of time getting to know other people and sharing food, drinks, jokes and stories. The Latvian vodka has a delayed-action effect, very dangerous. The infamous Riga Black Balsam is a nasty brew too – made from a secret recipe, a herbal drink that is often mixed with coffee, beer or other drinks. The food I had was typical of the Baltics – hearty/stodgy potato, sauerkraut, soups, pork, pancakes, pelmeni (ravioli/dumplings) and the like. Not bad but not that great either, the stuff I had in Estonia seemed to be cooked with more care. Fried black bread with cheesy dipping sauce makes an appearance here in Latvia too; I was thankful. I love that stuff, a great accompaniment to beer.

Riga has some beautiful architecture, with many buildings sporting tiny details that can easily be missed if you’re not on your toes. Art Neuveau is a polular style. Here’s some examples of architectural gems:

A beautiful park follows a diversion of the river and surrounds the Old Town.

At the heart of the city lies “Milda”, the Freedom Monument. During daylight hours, military guards stand at attention at the base of the statue. There is a tradition of placing flowers at the feet of the statue. When Latvians did this during the Soviet occupation, they won a free ticket to a Siberian gulag. An interesting note: the soviets did not destroy the statue, instead they attempted to change the cultural meaning of it: their story was that the female figure is ‘Mother Russia’ who is supporting the three stars that represent the three Baltic nations.

An interesting tradition in Latvia and Lithunia: when people get married, they have their names engraved on a lock, then the lock is fastened to a bridge or structure over water. This is meant to bring a strong and happy marriage.
This bridge in particular is a popular one:

Of course, I couldn’t just visit Latvia’s capital. I had to see just a little more, so I took a day trip to the small town of Sigulda….

Tartu

After seeing the capital, Tallinn, and seeing Lahemaa National Park, I felt that I had seen a nice part of Estonia, but I wanted just a little more and decided to spend a few days in Tartu, the second largest city in Estonia. It’s pretty much on the way to Riga, Latvia, which was to be my next stop, so that would make things a bit easier as far as getting there and away was concerned.

Tartu is known for being a University town. The percentage of students living in Tartu is said to be about 30%. The University of Tartu began on 30 June 1632, making it the oldest university in Estonia and one of the oldest in Europe. Physically, the uni dominates the centre of the town in the area behind the central hill, leaving the area between the hill and Emajõgi river to the shopping/Old Town precinct.

It was of course still bloody cold by the time I arrived in Tartu, the river was semi-frozen and thin snow lay on the ground. I sought refuge in Hostel Terviseks (Estonian for “cheers”, literally “for health”) and was told once again that this was a ‘mild’ winter. Uhuh.

Tartu itself isn’t huge, which makes it nice and easy to explore. I had booked myself in for three nights and after exploring Tartu for a bit and covering a lot of ground I was starting to wonder if I should have booked for fewer nights, but I was saved from boredom by Colin and Joel, owners of the Hostel.
It turned out that they had only just opened for business, I was their second customer and the Dutch guy in the bed opposite mine was the first! I like to think that I helped christen the place. Colin and Joel were great hosts, they and their local friends took us out on the town, showed us where to eat and let us watch movies when we’d a had enough exploring. I felt like a friend rather than a customer.

So, what is there to do in Tartu? I set my style for the rest of the Baltics in this city – late nights drinking (very good) beer and socialising, late rising and breakfast, walking around exploring, then “lunch” which was usually at three or four o’clock in the afternoon, more relaxation with some reading and travel research, eating again then planning the night out. It’s a tough life.

I somehow feel as though I should be more productive…

I apologise for the poor quality of my photos – once again the skies were grey, the camera set to night mode to maximise what little light there was, therefore the long exposures mean that a shaky wrist usually gets in the way of a clear image.

Yeah right – if I got up earlier, I might have seen better light!
Ah, well. Such is life. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay!

Here’s some shots -

The town hall on the main square with the “Kissing Students” statue:

View through the leafless trees atop the central hill, home to an old observatory:

It’s the little things about Tartu that get you – the way the old trees hug a hillside, the paved paths near the river, the many small statues all over the Old Town, the few old wooden buildings are lying around, the friendly people.

And of course, Super Alko, the russian bottle shop – that got me too.

A few good beers, the second and fourth are special ‘christmas edition’ porters:

The “Angel Bridge” (there’s also a “Devil Bridge” but it’s not anywhere near as pretty):

Remains of a very old church on the central hill, unfortunately access is closed during the winter, so I couldn’t go climbing:

An old and decaying Russian Orthodox church (a bit mysterious and spooky):

I should note Püssirohukelder, the amazing restaurant and beer hall that occupies an old gunpowder storage bunker underneath the hill, just down from the Angel Bridge. Although i was the only customer when I entered (it was four in the afternoon, after all), the place has loads of charm and character. The walls are adorned with rows and rows of ceramic beer mugs, each bearing a customer’s name. The food is typical hearty Estonian food, with an extra ‘beer snacks’ menu that I would later find to be a common occurance in Baltic beer halls and restaurants. Great stuff, food to share while drinking, very similar in concept to the Spanish tapas.

The interior:

My lunch – goulash in a bread bowl, crumbed and fried herring and of course a dark estonian beer!

That about wraps it up for Tartu: it’s now another place on the list of places I’d love to see again in summer!

Next stop: Latvia