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Latvia

Latvia

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Latvia is one of the three Baltic states (with Estonia and Lithuania). It borders Russia (east), and Belarus (southeast) and shares a maritime border with Sweden (west).

Once again this is a nation that we both had little knowledge of before entering. Like many of the nations in and around eastern Europe, they have been at the mercy of the big nation states around them (notably Russia and Germany). It finally got its independence at the end of WWI but was forcibly subsumed into the Soviet Union at the beginning of WWII. It was invaded by Germany in 1941 and retaken by Russia in 1944.

The Singing Revolution

At the end of the Cold War the three Soviet-occupied Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania sought and ultimately peacefully won their independence. It manifested in a series of events between 1987 and 1991 where widespread dissatisfaction with the Soviet system provoked mass demonstrations (peacefully singing). The Latvian official independence occurred on 21 August 1991.

The area that is now Latvia has a history dating back to 3000 years BC. One of the last corners of Europe to join Christendom, Latvians are still very much pagans at heart. They worship nature by jumping over bonfires at Midsummer Eve, and many surnames are about birds, animals or trees. Today with a population of just under 2 million,

Riga

Our time throughout the Baltics was short, but the long summer days (20 hours of daylight) gave us more than enough time to look around and get our tourist on. As with most of the European older towns and cities, most of the old touristy stuff is in the central area, or Old Town area of the city. The rest of the place is just like any other modern city and the surrounding suburbs. Interesting enough, but not really blog worthy or anything different.

Our first port of call, having got off the train was to hit the Riga Central Markets. The markets are set up in a series of five WWI Zeppelin aircraft hangars. It covers a vast floor space and is Europe’s largest market. There are more than 3,000 vendors that sell an impressive range of fresh local produce. The stalls are divided neatly into each hangar with meat, fish, dairy, and vegetables all found separately.

We had limited time on day one so did a quick scoot through vowing to come back tomorrow for our lunch. This vow was based upon seeing some of the most amazing deli meats and cheeses that can be found. Add to this some really delicious looking other random items and how could you not want to go back and gorge yourself.

As it turned out this was a mistake as the next day was Monday and the food court bit was closed. There was still much of the fresh fruit and produce, and being berry season the quantity, quality and price of the berries put our measly offerings back home to shame.

So our first evenings walk was aiming for the Freedom Monument.

It is a 42 meter tall monument honouring the soldiers killed during the Latvian War of Independence (1918–1920).

It is considered a symbol of the freedom, independence, and sovereignty of Latvia.

But to get there we found ourselves walking through the abundance of green space that is throughout Riga. For an old city it really is fantastically well laid out with a ton of green areas for the people to enjoy. Throw in the usual mix of old buildings and you immediately get a great feel about the place.

The next morning it was up and into it. So we headed down to the markets, only to be disappointed. We checked out where we would be leaving the next day (bus station) and made out way into old town once again to do the tourist thing.

The House of the Blackheads was originally built in 1334 as a warehouse, meeting and celebration place for merchants.

During the 15th century it was used by the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried merchants, shipowners and foreigners in Riga.

Over the years, many citizens of Riga became interested in the property, and carried out different works to expand and reform it, following a purely Gothic style. However, the old House of the Blackheads was completely destroyed during World War II.

The National Opera and Ballet was a nice enough building in the midst of the gardens and green spaces.

St. Peter’s Church is the highest church in Riga and a significant Gothic-style 13th-century architectural monument.

The tower is more than 130 meters tall and was completed at the end of the 15th century.

Since then it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. In 1666 it collapsed, in 1721, lightning struck the tower and it burned down and during WWII the church and tower burned down.

The National Library of Latvia sits on the other side of the river (the Daugava) from Old Town. The architecture is seriously cool.

The Old Town has an interesting architecture mix and most of the buildings have the status of cultural monuments. Almost everywhere you look in the old town area are some seriously nice buildings. It is really clean and well maintained and the people are happy, friendly and accommodating.

The streets and squares of Old Riga open up to countless restaurants, cafes and bars. Having come from Prague and Poland and heading north we are noticing a considerable increase in the pricing as we get closer to Scandinavia.

With almost 500 km of coast, Latvia has tons of beaches added to this over half its territory is covered by forest. As an interesting side note, it was Latvian-born tailor Jacob Davis who in 1871 in Reno, Nevada, invented denim as a tough material for trousers. He then went into partnership with Levi Strauss and made a fortune.

Latvian Beer

I am very pleased to report that the Latvian beers were very nice indeed. The price is increasing, but still not quite up to Australian pricing, but the quality of brew is much better. And much like the European standard, each ale earns its own glass,

Both Latvia and Lithuania have been lovely. Our next port of call will be to ride the bus up to Estonia where, if you believe the tourist blurb, the old town is even better again. But so far, if you are looking for a great European summer holiday, you cant really go past spending the month of August travelling in and about the three Baltic nations.

Lithuania

Lithuania

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Lithuania is a developed country with a high income, advanced economy, ranking 37th in the Human Development Index (HDI) and 19th in the World Happiness Report (Australia is ranked 10 on both).

To be honest, I knew almost nothing about Lithuania before arriving here. We hopped a train from Poland and made our way to the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. The city lies in the southeastern part of the country at the confluence of the Neres and Vilnius rivers.

Lithuanians , Poles , Jews and Belarusians have historically considered Vilnius as their cultural center. A university has been operating in Vilnius since 1579.

Legend of the Iron Wolf

According to the legend, centuries ago Grand Duke Gediminas, was on a hunting trip in the forests of Šventaragis valley around the mouth of the River Vilnia. When night fell, the party, feeling tired after a long and successful hunt, decided to set up camp and spend the night there. While he was asleep, Gediminas had an unusual dream in which he saw an iron wolf at the top of the mountain standing with its head raised proudly towards the moon, howling as loud as a hundred wolves.

The Duke remembered his dream and consulted the pagan priest about it. He was told that the dream was a direction to found a city among the hills.

The howling of the wolf represented the fame of the future city: that city will be the capital of Lithuanian lands, and its reputation would spread far and wide, as far as the howling of the mysterious wolf…’ So the Grand Duke Gediminas, obeying the will of gods, immediately started to build the future capital which took the name of Vilnius – from the stream of the rapid River Vilnia.

He built a fortress on the hill (Gediminas Tower) and the city of Vilnius grew up around it. You can still climb the hill and visit the Tower which provides one of the best views of this beautiful city. We however chose to pay 3 euros and use the funicular.

Hopping off the train we found ourselves in one of the cleanest and most cared for cities we have ever seen. This place was Japanese level clean and well tended for, certainly cleaner than anywhere we have ever been in Australia. Our hotel was a charming little joint, about 700m from the train station and right on the fringes of Old Town.

The oldest buildings in Vilnius were built in the 13th century. The main attraction is absolutely the Cathedral Square. It is not only the most important location in the city, but is also one of the most significant and widely known symbols of Lithuania.The square regularly hosts events such as: fairs and gatherings of townspeople, military parades, religious and official public events, attractions and large concerts, New Year’s salutes and exhibitions.

The main feature of the square is the Cathedral Basilica of St Stanislaus and St Ladislaus of Vilnius. The square was so important that it was the main feature on the 50 litas banknote (pre-euro), the layout included.

1. Vilnius Cathedral 2. Cathedral’s Belfry 3. Gediminas Tower 4. Hill of Three Crosses 5. Monument to Gediminas 6. Royal Palace

The Valdnieku (Grand Dukes) Palace , next to the Cathedral has been converted to house the history museum. Up the hill was Gediminas Castle Tower, which we took the funicular to reach the top. From here we got panoramic views over the city and surrounds.

The Three Crosses memorial consists of three white reinforced concrete crosses.

The hill got its name after Franciscans died as martyrs when pagans tied them to crosses and threw them down the hill. The three crosses were erected to commemorate this event.

At the bottom of the hill and the far (back) end of the Cathedral you find yourself in the Bernadine Gardens. We did the slow meander through here on our way to St. Anne’s Church. By this time the masses of tourists had crawled out of bed and were making seeing the sights unpleasant.

In an attempt to dodge some crowds for a while we found ourselves in a local cafe/bar where Jill found her long awaited steak tartare. She had been wanting one of these since Prague, but for a variety of reasons was unable to have one up until now. So that with some zeppelins (potato/meat dumplings) washed down with an Argentinian specialty (Aperol and fresh orange juice) and a local lager.

The sheer volume of beautiful old buildings and churches to be seen in and around Vilnius is astounding. And they are all (and I mean all) in perfect condition. There is no scaffolding, no graffiti, no shoddy paint. There is a real pride to the standard of the buildings, everywhere you look.

The Gate of Dawn, or Sharp Gate is a city gate that was built between 1503 and 1522 as a part of defensive fortifications for the city.

City gates often contained religious artifacts intended to guard the city from attacks and to bless travelers. The Chapel in the Gate of Dawn contains an icon of The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy, said to have miraculous powers.

Upon arrival we went hunting (online) about places to eat in the general vicinity of where we were. This is a common search for us on arrival in a town. The magic search phrases are restaurant near me, cheap eats near me, local food near me. We were surprised to find that the results trickled in rather than overwhelmed us.

Not finding anything that rang our bells, we decided to just wander about and see what we could see. What we found was an abundance of places to eat, but they were pop-up restaurants for the summer season. Not permanent fixtures but rather just places that took over open spaces and became an alfresco dining heaven.

The food was good, the prices were reasonable (maybe even cheap) and the setting was stunning. Warm (mid 20’s) summer evenings, cool beverages and great food offerings. This gave us some flashbacks of Spain and the way we lived back then.

To sum it all up, Lithuania was fantastic. We did not spend enough time here and will definitely put it on a list of places to come back to. August really is a spectacular time of year to visit here.

Croatia

Dubrovnik

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Dubrovnik is basically the most famous Game of Thrones (GoT) filming destination on the planet. It was the filming location for the city of Westeros, Kings Landing. Within the walls of Old Town there were many GoT scenes shot. And today you can barely walk the streets without crashing into a GoT tour, shop, memorabilia outlet or sign highlighting how it related to the show. Suffice to say, that almost everything you see or that I will mention in the following is related in some way shape or form to the show.

Our accommodation (thankfully) was out of the craziness that is the old town. We were down on the water, a few kilometers away near the port. The setting was stunning and at least (while we did not know it at the time) we were away from the insanity. We arrived after 8pm and headed out for a lovely meal by the water, vowing to brave the tourist sights the next morning.

Our first introduction to what was to follow was the slow walk that we decided to take to Old Town (rather than catch the local bus). And this introduction was boat load after boat load of party boats stocking up on their quota of tourists for the day trips. The waterfront was packed with boats, each jamming 50+ people per boat and the bigger ones doing way more. And of course there is the daily cruise ships

Dubrovnik Old Town is known as one of the world’s finest and most perfectly preserved medieval cities in the world. For centuries it rivalled Venice as a major trading port. It was built between the 11th and 17th centuries, affording protection to the main entry gate.

The main attractions within old town include the city walls (which you can walk around (for 35 euros a head) this will include towers, walls and defences. Inside the city proper are the clock and bell tower, churches (Sveti Vlaho, Saint Saviour and the Cathedral), monasteries (Dominican and Franciscan), squares (Stradun, Placa, Lužaand and Gunduliceva), and the GoT favourite the Jesuit Stairs.

Having navigated past the harbour we kept walking towards the old town figuring we would see some cool stuff along the way. The first sight we came across was the Lovrijenac Fortress. This is a 16th Century Fortress with 12 metre thick Fortress walls. Over the centuries the fortress played a pivotal role in the defence of Dubrovnik.

This and the Bokar Fortress (opposite side of the inlet) create a fairly imposing landing point for any old-time invading force. Bokar Fortress was built in the 15th century to defend the town’s main entrance. It is the round lump that hangs off the end of old town just to the side of the main entry gate. Currently, in its interior, there are several cannons on display as well as a small precious stones (lapidary) collection.

Pile Gate is the main entrance to Dubrovnik City, and is one of only two entrances to the city. We were here relatively early in the morning and it was already seriously busy, with bodies all over the place and hellish tour groups taking up all the available space.

As you pass through the Pile Gate you are met with two imposing buildings and a fountain. To the left if the Franciscan Monastery and to the right is the St Claire Convent with the Onofrio’s fountain directly in front. The other thing you are met with is a wall of humanity. Everyone gets through the gates and stops to take pictures. As we were here early it was fairly manageable but by the time we were ready to leave this place was a debacle.

Between the two runs the Stradun (main street) which connects the western and eastern entrances to the city. It was created at the end of the 9th century and was rebuilt after an earthquake in 1667. At the beginning and end of Stradun, there are two fountains (Big and Small Onofrio’s Fountain) and two bell towers (City bell tower and the bell tower of the Franciscan church and monastery).

Minceta Tower is the highest point in Dubrovnik City and as you would expect, delivers impressive views over the sea and the Old Town.

Locally known as Tvrđava Minčeta, the tower was built in 1319.

Palace Sponza was built in the 16th century and has been used as the customs house, armoury, treasury, bank and school.

The Rector’s Palace or Knežev dvor used to serve as the seat of the Rector between the 14th century and 1808. Originally it was a site of a defence building in the early Middle Ages. It was destroyed by a fire in 1435 and the city-state decided to build a new palace.

Sveti Ivan tower was built in the 14th century on the south side of old town. On its ground floor there is an aquarium, and on the 1st and 2nd floor there is a Maritime Museum.

Lokrum Island is located just off the Dubrovnik coast. According to legend Richard the Lion-Heart was cast ashore here after being shipwrecked in 1192 while returning from the Crusades. The vow he made to build a church on the spot where he came ashore should he be saved was kept at least in part. Although he came ashore in Lokrum, at the request of the people of Dubrovnik, he agreed to have the church built in the city itself.

At its center is a medieval Benedictine monastery complex that’s surrounded by botanical gardens planted with exotic trees, flowers, and bushes.  Inside the Visitors Centre on Lokrum Island is a small exhibition dedicated to GoT and it is the final resting place of the original Iron Throne.

Located near Gundulic Square in the centre of Dubrovnik Old Town the Jesuit Staircase and St Dominika Street are the two most popular areas in the whole of old town. This is the area where one of the most famous GoT scenes were filmed (Cersei’s infamous walk of shame).

We were totally over the crowds and the people and were on our way out of old town by 11am. On our way out the bedlam that we saw on the way in was multiplied by about 5 times. The lines were longer, the crowds were denser and the tempers were shorter.

Dubrovnik is an absolutely lovely city to visit. Just don’t do it in peak season. July and August are hellish and should be avoided at all costs. Don’t get me wrong, you really want to come here, but the peak-season crowds make this place unbearable.