After a week of Russia, it was time to begin my country hopping, with a visit to a mate in a tallinn, currently completing a semester abroad, with a day trip to Helsinki and then ending my Russian and Baltic adventure in Riga. It was a nice feeling hopping off the bus after a 7 hour ride from St Petersburg to see a friendly face. Tallinn (Estonia) Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is absolutely stunning. The city centre, or the old town, is a UNESCO heritage listed site - not just a few buildings, but the entire city centre. And it's easy to know why. Surrounded by the old city wall, it is one of the best examples of a medieval town centre you can find anywhere in Europe. Towers line the walls, parts of the moat sit now as ponds in parks, and old city gates still allow access to and from the city centre. Within, cobblestoned streets twist and turn around the city within. Old brass signs sway over the street, beckoning passers by into various cafés, restaurants and souvenir shops. It is a step back into the past into an era long thought gone. Continuing with the medieval theme, a must visit was a medieval restaurant. Draakon, underneath the town hall, offers Middle Ages styled food, complete with decor, and of course no eating utensils. Elk soup, ox-meat sausages, complete with pickles, which you have to speak yourself, and the elk pastries. Slurping the soup down fingers greasy with sausages and pickles, and washing it all down with a jug of mead, it's an experience not to be forgotten. Even more so because I went back a second time. Estonia has also a cracking nightlife. At night the shops close and the bars open, and the students come out to play. Tallinn has a large student population, as tertiary education here is free. Tallinn, and Estonia for the fact, has got so much right! All residents can travel on public transport for free, so long as they have their resident ID cards. With the same cards, they can access a range of e-services with a card reader at home. Estonia also has the nickname E-Estonia: not only was skype invented here, residents can vote in elections online, access data records, complete tax returns etc. Nice!! Oh yeah: the night scene. So we visit a few of tallinn highlights, including Labor, a bar all fitted out like a science lab, with drinks served in test tubes and beakers. And then off to shooters, for, you guessed it, shots and shooters. The Russian Market was also an event to be savored. The history nerd in me was turned up to 100%, roaming through antiques. Soviet propaganda and relics, world war 2 medals, booklets, old photos, dust covered books, military wear, it was all here to be found, searching through the various stands. I walked away with some very cool soviet pins, a red army cap and more. I even got into bartering for a WWII Iron across German medal, but regretfully did not buy. Will I regret that? My 4 nights here in Tallinn, importantly, allowed me to wind down after the non-stop action packed week in Russia. It was great getting the time to sleep in, walk around town, visit sites, and just simply chill. Tallinn, also, was amply geographically placed to launch my next adventures. Helsinki (Finland) Helsinki is a short 2-hour ferry ride from Tallinn. A common passenger route, the boats, ferries and freight-carriers cross-cross paths between the ports in the Baltics, Scandinavia and Russia. As the shoreline of the old town in Tallinn withered away onto the horizon, slowly the shores of Finland, and Helsinki and it's islands, grew larger on our approach. My experience in Helsinki was wrought, however, with disaster and the beginning (and end as a matter of fact). Arranging to meet a traveller-friend I had met in St Petersburg and again in Tallinn, little did we realize that Helsinki had more than one port. Arriving at the furthest possible dock, a weird search around the dock proved fruitless to find the Ferris wheel which I couldn't miss. After asking around, and aimlessly wandering, an hour later I arrived, with luck that Jen had not given up hope of my arrival. It was on the docks that I lunched down some fresh salmon. Jen proved to be the ultimate tour guide, highlighting the must-sees in Helsinki. Helsinki, not packed with attractions, does however have a beautiful charm. Modern and Scandinavian buildings share wider avenues, as trams rattle down the middle of huge roads. Wandering the streets, it actually gave me some nostalgic feelings about Melbourne, as the city centre had a lot in common with parts of the Melbourne CBD (even the grey sky to match). Parliament square, the docks, the orthodox and Lutheran churches and the central boulevard were all beautiful. The Market Hall, straddling the Harbour front, is a beautifully converted old wharf shed. Reminiscent of Melbourne's Urban Generation of the docklands and South Wharf a Precinct, the beautiful facade of the old wharf she'd has been beautifully resorted, while walking inside takes you down gourmet food and wine stalls, beautifully and ornately furnished in polished wood. Anything from fresh seafood to gourmet Vietnamese tempts passers by, of course at Helsinki prices (very very pricey). With minutes dwindling, a last stop, but a never to forget site, was the Church in the a Rock. Within the middle of the city, here, a church has been dug into the ground, the surrounding stone forming a circular wall around the church, with a fabulous glass and copper dome covering the complex. Entering, one feels like they are walking into a cave, an underground temple. The acoustics of the church were simply a delight to the aural senses, as the organs reverberated around the interior. As I said earlier, the day both started and ended in disaster. A safe return journey was had, but while meeting back up with friends for an Azerbaijani feast (which was to my Tastebuds as the organ music was to my ears earlier), slightly beforehand some unsettling grumblings began. As the evening waned, I began to question my intake of food... Sparing you all the details, I won't be eating hot-dogs at a service station again. It ruined my Tuesday night and complete Wednesday. Riga (Latvia) Having eaten dried crackers for the day, and not seeing a return of said crackers, I was ready to brave the 4.5 hour bus journey to Riga from Tallinn. Having already lost a day in the capital of Latvia, I was not prepared to lose more time. Where can I start to describe the beauty of Riga? After standing in Tallinn's town square and proclaiming it to be one of the nicest I had seen, Riga has come along and trumped it. The old town of Riga has kept its 17th and 18th century charm, cobblestoned streets winding around the 3 main cathedrals in the town centre. Here, cars may not enter, and the entire city centre is dominated only by foot traffic, weaving in, out and around the various little alleys. Within the city, old guild halls, casting back passes by to the time of the Hanseatic League, stand out as the most beautiful, with ornate carvings and sculptures built into the facades. A walk past the 3-brothers, 3 town houses, each crafted in a different style, demonstrate the various epochs the city has witnessed. Music floats along the streets, as street bands, flutists, jazz performers and harpists tussle for your attention. Ringing the city, the Daugava River, and around the west, some still remaining pieces of the old city wall. Contrasting with Tallinn, the walls are built of red brick, with tessellated terra-cotta roofs to match. Ringing the western side of the city is the old bastion hills and former moat. With the advent of modern warfare, moats became rather outdated, and thus the city converted the outer ring into parklands and garden. The moat was partly filled and shaped, and now a gentle stream runs through the parklands, romantic bridges crossing over the canal at regular intervals. With the spring sun breaking through the clouds, still dormant trees overhead it was a quite the scene, and a perfect way to spend some time strolling the city. To the south of the old town is the main market. Five former Zeppelin hangars have been converted into the market, each a different section, selling fresh seafood, meat, dairy products, fruit and veggies and bakery goods. In each sections, the smells of the products on offer surround you, the cries of merchants offering their goods, the dealings of customers paying for goods. Anything edible can be purchased here! Outside, stalls surround the market complex, umbrellas and canopies flapping in the wind, with anything for flowers to clothing available for purchase. The highlight of the city lies to the north east of the old town. The art-nivau area is simply stunning. 6-story buildings loom high on the street side, ranging in pale shades of blue, green, yellows and red, with the most ornate white sculpting you can imagine. Beautiful women, flowers, griffins and other mythological creatures are sculpted into the facades. The city itself is an art piece, the artists are the architects who designed the buildings, the buildings are the canvas on which they worked. It is no wonder that many of the buildings are now embassies, masterfully restored, but one street back, there are those who have seem better days, waiting for private investment to restore them to their former beauty. A Brenton-visit to a city is not complete without a little history, and a visit to the Museum of Occupation was enlightening. Latvians are a proud and patriotic country proud of their independence which was a long-time in the making. Maroon and white flags hang from most, if not, all buildings, and the Museum of Occupation highlights the modern struggle for autonomy, highlighting its occupation from the USSR, Nazi Germany and again the USSR from 1941-1991. Although without a huge range of artifacts, the displays their are interesting, as the museum redevelops its main complex on the central Town square, adjacent to the Blackheads Guild Hall. If Riga isn't yet, it will be soon the place to be. The city is already becoming a hit with British and German stag nights, pub crawls available at a fraction of the prices back at home. The backpacking scene is looming, as the Baltics become a tantalizing thought, the next adventure available. Riga is now Europe's hot property, and it's easy to see why!! |
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Piter, the local word here for St. Petersburg, is a city that everyone needs to put on their travel list. There ... I have said it, but it really is a beautiful city. Straddling the Baltic Sea and the Neva River is the island studded city of St. Petersburg. It has deservedly attained the nickname of the Venice in the North, with Baroque style buildings lining charming canals and river systems (although ironically enough it was modeled on Amsterdam rather than Venice). Founded by the Peter the Great, wanting a Russian capital that was distinctly more European, you get the feeling of straddling the Russian and European worlds whilst walking the streets. Navigating small bridges and admiring beautiful buildings, whilst still battling with the Russian language and Russian traffic. But the overwhelming greatness of Tsarist architecture is visible throughout the city, with palaces and cathedrals to admire. Food, nightlife, palaces, art, history ... You are a sexy beast Piter!! The Nevsky Prospekt forms the heart of the city, running from the main Moskovsky railway terminal right down through the city towards the Winter Palace. Here, souvenir shops compete for space with the likes of high end brand names, tempting locals and tourists alike with the wares. Baroque buildings and older palaces line the avenue, with shades of greens, pinks and greens on the facades, windows and corners framed in white. It is on the avenue that the Kazan Cathedral sits. Almost like a slightly smaller version of St Pauls Cathedral, arched columned walls enclosing in on the looming cathedral in huge middle, topped with domed cupola. It's an impressive site, overlooking the avenue and it's passers by. Even larger, of course, is at the end of the avenue... The Winter Palace, former home to the Russian Tsars, sits on Palace square, at the end of Nevsky Prospect. The green, gold and white palace, with huge windows and beautifully shaped arched windows and columns, laced with whites and golds, shows off the power and opulence of the Tsars of old. Nicholas II, the last Russian Tsar, abdicated in 1917 after pressure on the home front, and after changing hands a few times after the Bolsheviks seized power, it was placed into the hands of the Hermitage Museum. If you have been to the Louvre in Paris and thought it was amazing, then you must know that here, of course in my objective opinion, is much better. It is a palace of hyperboles; grand stare ways, opulent interiors, gold and colour to be seen everywhere. And that's before you begin to consider the artwork and museum pieces now encased within. Wandering through the museum, you admire not only the beauty of some of the best artwork in the world, but the beauty of the palace itself. The Jordan Staircase, with sparkling white marble, gold architraves and red carpeting alone is a wonder, and the palace cathedral and throne rooms are mind blowing. Oh Nicky - no wander you thought you were so benevolent!! After viewing the masterpieces, it was time to continue exploration. The Neva river sits behind the Hermitage, and on the opposite bank sits the Peter and Paul Fortress, an island in itself, the first permanent structures built in the foundation of the city. Here, the Peter and Paul, with its giant spiked golden roof, can be seen from all parts of the city, the highest point in the city. Wandering through the walled city casts you back further in time, with colonial like buildings surrounding the central cathedral. The fortress never saw war, with the fortress serving various functions over the years including military barracks, political prisoner jail and ammunition storage, now a museum. A city within a city, it's cobblestone streets and vintage architecture are a must see. Like the fortress, having served so many functions through the years, the city has served so many different political ideologies. Tsarism, a brief stint with democracy, a Soviet control and now again under democracy. My visit to the Political History Museum was an insight into these various political movements. The historian in me again sat giddy, reading Tsar Nicholas 11 1905 October Manifest and 1917 Abdication, perusing Lenin's office, complete with Pravda newspaper. Stalinist propaganda, Kruschev newsreels and other soviet artifacts line the walls, intermixed with interactive displays. Particularly insightful for me was the Tsarist rooms and fall of the Collapse of the USSR artifacts. After finishing in the museum, of course I had to travel to Finland Station, a 20 min walk away, just to stand in the spot where Lenin had delivered his April Theses, 97 years and 51 weeks earlier. The impact of the Tsar's can be seen wide spread through the city. One of the biggest imprints is the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, a cathedral built marking the spot where Alexander II was assassinated. His son, Alexander III, much more conservative than his father, had the church constructed, modeling those built much earlier with onion shaped, multicolored domed roofs. The church sits prominently along the Griboedov Canal, and cuts a stunning picture, reflecting upon itself in the canals waters, blue sky and blue water contrasting against the brown brick and coloured domes, reaching to the far extends of the colour spectrum. Finishing my Russian experience was a half day trip to Pushkin, just outside the city, a 30 min train ride by suburban train. The journey was an experience in itself, navigating train stations and platforms with no knowledge of Cyrillic. Luckily I arrived in Pushkin, and them was able to follow the somewhat signed way to the former Tsarist residences. Pushkin, formerly named Tsarskoe Selo, was where the Tsars lived generally in summer, while Nicholas II lived here permanently, avoiding the real world beyond. The Catherine Palace, the main attraction here, is a palace with no words to truly describe just how freaking huge the palace really is. If you multiplied enormous with gigantic, and the resulting answer were giganticnormous, it still would not describe the size. At over 325 meters long, 3 storeys high the palaces 2 main wings are big enough alone, but then once you begin to include the curved wings framing the carriage courtyard, and the Catherine gardens on the rear side of the palace, you can only just begin to fathom the enormity of the complex. Sadly, after the siege of Leningrad, the retreating German army uttered most oh interior of the palace, and because of the shear wealth and opulence of the palace, much has yet to be restored. And yet, what has been restored, including the grand hall and ball rooms, are dazzling and beautiful, a visual sensation leaving visitors questioning the meaning of beauty. The amber room, a room made of ... You guess ed ... Entirely of amber, is the main attraction within, a recreation of a room actually from Kaliningrad (formerly known as Königsburg). Why rebuilt here, who knows, but the mystery of the room lies within the story that the original amber room was dismantled and taken, again by the retreating German army, but all trace of the contents disappeared, never to be found again. Interestingly, the Catherine palace was not used by future Tsars after Catherine the Great, preferring to leave the Palace as a testimony to her. They resided at the nearby Alexander Palace, suffering the same treatment from those retreating Germans. The remaining contents of the palace give you a small glimpse into the lives of the last Romanov family, including the most awesome of awesome man caves, belonging to Nicholas where he would host visiting dignitaries. A night out with a fellow traveller, visiting a local bar, closed down my trip to this sexy city named Piter. Next stop ... Tallinn! When staying in hostels, you become the master of small talk. You meet so many new people. You share a room with 5-10 strangers, and the chit chat follows the same general conversational direction. Hey what's your name? Where are you from? Oh cool, how long have you been here? What have you seen? What were your highlights? What's your name again (especially if you're like me and terrible with names)? Where are you off to next? What other places you been to? Ah nice, sounds awesome. I'm so sorry, I forgot your name again!! Want to go for a beer? It's fun sharing the travel stories, hearing each other's highs and lows, gaining tips or inspiration for future journeys. You share stories over beers, or cheap dinners (normally spaghetti pesto or Napoli) or Asian 2-minute noodles, and the hours pass by. You share stories that you normally don't tell your friends and family, but it's ok, when traveling you become best friends in minutes. Here's been a new question thrown into the mix here in Russia, with everyone asking "so, why Russia?" It's a question that warrants an answer; hostels are mainly filled with Russians or foreign students studying here, and it is clear that many westerners, given the political climate, don't have Russia on their travel radar. For me, it was a historical discovery. A search trough cities, looking for relics and landmarks casting me back into Soviet and late-Tsarist times. It's an era that I have found fascinating, and something I cannot fathom with the collapse of the USSR occurring before I even have memories of my own life. Moscow has this eclectic mix of architecture which explicitly demonstrates the state of the country. Here and there lay old buildings, classical in their construction, dating back to Tsarist times. Orthodox churches loom large above the inner city skyline, golden roves with crucifixes standing high above. Sadly for me, the truly soviet architecture which I came hunting for is slowly diminishing, being faded out as Russia removes itself and leaves its history in the past. Yes, Stalin's out of place skyscrapers sit high in the city, looking more like they belong in a Las Vegas skyline rather than downtown Moscow, but even now, modern glass constructions are spreading their tentacles in the city, gaining ever more a foothold, truly describing the state of the Russian economy, ever and ever modernizing. There's still artifacts to be found, but these are more exemplars of Stalinist or late 20th century Soviet architecture. A relic can always be found, bridge barriers with communist stars, a statue, hidden in the rough, and Lenin, Gorky and strangely a bit of Dzerzhinsky. Right, smack bang in the middle of the city is the Kremlin. The Russian word for fortress, the Kremlins large red walls surround and protects its contents, with the city and it's major streets circling around. Inside, beautiful orthodox churches, each having a function and purpose for the Tsars who had come and gone over the years. Their domed, golden roofs, sparkling and reflecting the sunshine that was emerging as the winter began to thaw. The interiors were beautiful, with gold and more gold to be seen, beautifully decorated frescoes and icons wall to wall. Of course, a sneaky wave to the presidential building, trying to see of Putin was working, but alas, no eye catching glimpse of the mighty Russian president. Just outside the western Kremlin wall is the red square, inheriting its name from the Russian word for beauty. The square is huge, and so of course I imagine communist parades! lines of tanks strolling across the square. At one end stands the impressive a Russian museum! all red and styled like a castle. At the other end, the stunning St Basil's Basilica, it's onion topped towers of rainbow like colours, stunning in its appearance. Inside, it takes on the Appearance of a labyrinth, a never ending maze of small rooms and passages, as each tower itself is a smaller church within a church. Back in the square, the biggest juxtaposition of all time. Lenin's Mausoleum, facing the Gym shopping mall. It's something that probably would have Lenin turning in his grave, to be situated 50 meters away from the likes of Prada, Gucci and Hugo Boss. But alas, against his will, he was never buried. And Alas for me, I could not visit this revolutionary, who was away for his yearly beauty and anti-aging treatment. To the east of the Kremlin is Old Arbat street. Here, walking along the pedestrian zone, you get a feel for the old Moscow, Slavic buildings lining the streets, within busy traders selling souvenirs, antique shops selling anything and everything from antique cookery to soviet medals. Of course, every second shops was selling mock faberge eggs and endless Matryoshka dolls. In stark contrast was my visit to Izmailovo 'Flea' Market in outer eastern Moscow. Here, bargain hunting and bartering is the name of the game, where you can by anything from souvenirs and Matryoskha dolls, soviet memorabilia, paintings and household items. The air is filled with the smells of grilled meat, smoking away over hot charcoals, and cigarette smoke but the men tending their wares. Housed inside a former Kremlin, the skyline of the market looks more like something from Disneyland, with colorful towers of every colour forming a castle of mellifluous adjudication extravagant colour which by no means matches the wooden huts lining the streets inside, crumbling after years of neglect answer weather. And here the bartering experience is pleasant, a far cry from the brutal calculator tapping negotiations of markets in Asia. To the south east of the Kremlin is the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Moscow's largest cathedral. Demolished in the 30s, to make room for the Soviet Palace, the ground below was too swampy for their plans and so a swimming pool was constructed on its site instead. Since the collapse, the cathedral has been painstakingly rebuilt and reconstructed to match its former glory days. No visit was finished without a stop at the Russian Contemporary History museum. Here I walked the rooms surrounded by Artifacts from Tsar Alexander 1 right up to Tsar Putin ... Errr I mean of course President Putin. The downfall of Tsarsom, the rise of the Bolsheviks, all the way up to the collapse of the USSR. Here, you can feel the history wash over you, red flags and Marxist propaganda lining the walls. The information is limited, mostly in Russian, but having a good knowledge of the topic material, I could still read over the October Manifesto, editions of Pravda and peruse war relics from 1945. The information that was readable was, however, very biased, giving me the obvious knowledge that this was the former Revolution Museum, praising the Bolsheviks on all their successes, and leaving some all too rather obvious gaps (like saying how Japan and Russia were both tired of war after 1904-05, but it was only the Russians who actually needed peace). My visit ended with a walk along the Moscow River, through the Park of Fallen Monuments (with former Soviet era statues lining the path in an erratic manner. Stalin, however was fittingly positioned next to a memorial against victims of terror) and onto Gorky Park. As the lyrics of winds of change belted out in my head, I strolled through the park, Moscow's largest, home to Ferris wheels, cafés and sadly, closed ice creams stands. Parts of the park, like the city, were eagerly being prepared for the summer, with fences being painted, restoration works being undertaken and trees uncovered, as Muscovites now celebrated an end to winter. Moscow has been amazing to visit. Navigation around the city is so easy, as long as you have a good map of the metro in roman script (as the stations are written in Cyrillic). But the metro here is also something else, it's not just a means from a to b, it's a tourist attraction in itself, stunning interior architecture, making the traveller feel like they are in a subterranean palace rather than a suburban metro station. It is something to behold. And so I use he metro to travel to Leninskiy station, prepared for my overnight train to St Petersburg in 3rd class. Farewell Moscow. |
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