Promenades, blueberry soup and Hiiumaa

At the Estonian border, the buses stopped, the bikes were unloaded and we began our ride for the day. You could see what the border had been: guard stations, gates and fences. Now, it was just something to cross to get to the next state within the European Union. Euros still accepted as they were in Latvia and Lithuania. The scenery was forests and the sea. The weather was great for biking but not really great if you wanted to take a swim in the Baltic - a bit too chilly.

After a break on the beach for a picnic lunch, we hopped back on the bus for the transfer to Haapsalu with a stop along the way in Parnu. This town is a summer resort and was once walled. This picture is the only gate left. It is supposed to be Estonia's "summer capital" but it seemed a bit of an hyperbole. Maybe if we had more time we could have explored more and sampled the mud baths.

Tallinn Gate in Parnu built when the Swedes were in charge.

Now Haapsalu is where I wish we had had more time. The hotel was right on the promenade facing the water. We opened the sliding door to the deck for a lovely view.

On the walk back from dinner

This town felt very Scandinavian rather than Russian or Eastern European. The houses were painted bright colors, some blue, some yellow, some bright green. The center of the town is the castle which was the Bishop's House back in the 1200's. Then the Danes conquered Haapsalu. Then the Swedes, Then the Russians. When we walked by the castle, there was a concert inside. Standing outside the door, we heard a wonderful orchestra with a chorus and solo vocalists. We wandered to the main street in town and chose one of the restaurants. Our server was a young woman who spoke unaccented English. It turns out she has an American father and an Estonian mother and goes back and forth to the U.S. for part of each year. 

 The chapel where the concert was going on.

One of the walls surrounding what is left of  the castle

The city was known for its mudbaths and has what is supposed to be the longest covered train platform in Europe - the better to keep the nobility dry. Now, no trains come to Haapsalu. The grand station is simply a relic. 

There were sculptures everywhere in the water along the promenade and a special memorial bench honoring Tchaikovsky who came to the spas. The bench has little speakers that play his music. 

We wished we had not stopped in Parnu so that that we would have had more time in Haapsalu. The room was lovely and it would have been nice to have more time in the afternoon before dinner and more time to linger in the morning. 

Early in the morning we took the bus to Rohukula to catch a ferry to the island of Hiiumaa.

Ferry to Hiiumaa

 Everywhere we went throughout the Baltics, if there wasn't a little cafe serving coffee, there was a little car outfitted with an espresso machine. In a pinch, there would be a vending machine that actually served pretty decent espresso according to the coffee drinkers on the trip. The ferry to Hiiumaa had drink vending machine. This one is a new option: blueberry soup. 

Hiiumaa is a sparsely settled and developed island. It has several notable lighthouses and some old Soviet bunkers scattered throughout the forests. Kopu lighthouse which was built in 1531may be the oldest operating lighthouse in the world. 

Kopu Lighthouse

Ristna Lighthouse

We rode to the first lighthouse and then on to lunch. After lunch, the skies opened and it poured. No one wanted to ride in the deluge so the bikes were loaded and we rode to the Ristna Lighthouse. The rain stopped and a few of us decided to ride to our hotel. If there was an award for the hotel that most channels Soviet bloc architecture, this one would win. It was utilitarian but ugly and there was NOTHING around it, no houses, no shops, no restaurants, nothing. We had our last official dinner together with the whole group. 

Romas toasting with Estonian liquor

The next morning was our last bike ride on the tour. First we biked out to Surf Paradiis. Apparently, this is a challenging surf spot. We didn't see anyone braving the wind and waves but there were plenty of advertising flags for Corona. 

After our lunch stop, we biked across a tiny island called Kassari that is attached to Hiiumaa.  The island ends in a spit of land that extends out into the sea. Legend says that it is the remains of a bridge that Leiger, mythical strongman, started to build to the island of Saaremaa to make it easier for his brother to come over and join him in heroic deeds. People who visit add a rock to the pile to further the bridge.

 The last ride of the trip ended at a wool factory on the island where lovely handknit goods were for sale and someone demonstrated how wool became yarn on the large, ancient machines they have probably used for over a century.

Most of us sat in the sun and waited for the bikes to be loaded before the transfer to Tallin for the last night on the tour. 

Riga and the last of Latvia

Riga is the most cosmopolitan city we have encountered on our Baltic Tour. It has restaurants, shops, parks and 750 amazing Art Nouveau style buildings, also called Jugendstil. They were built in the early 20th century. The exterior of these buildings is very decorative often filled with mythical beasts, screaming masks, goblins, goddesses and twisting flowers and plants.

 Unfortunately, it's hard to see the level of detail in these pictures. Trust me, they are very elaborate.

The Blackheads House is one of the better known buildings in Riga. It was severely damaged in 1941 and then flattened by the Soviets in 1948. But as you see below, it stands in Riga. Somehow, someone found the original blueprints and it was rebuilt, completed in 2001. Originally built in 1344, it was basically a fraternity for unmarried German merchants. Latvia's president lives in it now.

Blackheads House

There are, of course, many, many churches and historic structures throughout Riga. We chose to wander the cobblestone streets and view the old buildings and churches from the outside. We then headed out of Old Riga toward the Freedom Monument and beyond. This monument is a symbol for Latvia and somehow wasn't torn down during the Soviet times, however, the Soviets weren't happy if you came and laid flowers at the monument. You could be persecuted. A couple of Latvian soldiers stand guard and have a small changing of the guard every hour. 

One of our guides said the view from the Radisson Hotel was really good and free if you didn't go at night. We headed up and decided to treat ourselves to a wonderful cheese and charcuterie platter accompanied by cider and beer. The church in the foreground is an amazing Orthodox Byzantine Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ. 

View from the Radisson Hotel

This part of the city outside of Old Riga has the meandering City Canal. It was once the old moat protecting the city from invaders and is surrounded by the beautiful Esplanade. 

Unlike the other Baltic cities we have and will visit, Riga has a huge Central Market full of meats, fish, produce, nuts, candies, knock-off T-shirts and dairy. It has been around since 1570. In 1930, they decided to bring in five old zeppelin hangars to enlarge the market. We are talking huge. There are something like 1200 vendors here. We wandered and bought nuts, bread and berries. Berries are sold everywhere this time of year often by older women on card tables in busy areas throughout the city. At the market, I tried a the national drink called Kvass. It was sold by a vendor from a small cart with a large tank on it. It's fizzy, slightly sweet beverage that apparently is responsible for the decline in sales of Coca Cola. I found out later that it is made from fermented rye bread. I found it to be delicious - no kidding. When Coca Cola found they could not replace Kvass in the market, they bought out the producers and started making it themselves. Ah, capitalism. 

One of the packed aisles in one of the buildings of the Central Market

Yes, those are buckets of dried fish.

 One of the reasons I am completing this blog so long after the trip is that it was nearly impossible to find computers either in the hotels or in internet cafes that could transfer photos from my phone to a cloud storage program like Google Photos. I gave up on that and just wanted to back up the photos on the phone. The computer in the hotel in Riga was so old it did not have a USB port for a flashdrive. When we went to the internet cafe where they did have many computers that looked about 10 years old and did have extra ports, it took 45 minutes to transfer only some of the photos. We gave up - at least in Riga.

There were museums and other attractions but we chose to spend our time walking the streets of Riga. A couple of women on the tour went to a spa where they had massages and something to do with birch branches. They seemed pretty happy and relaxed so I guess it wasn't bad. 

One more day in Latvia had us back on the bikes riding through the Gauja River valley to the Turaida Castle. 

 Gauja National Park

 Turaida Castle from the tower

Gutmana Cave

On the way to the castle, we passed this cave. It was a lover's rendezvous. Maija Roze (May Rose) was a beauty courted by many. But her heart belonged to a humble gardener. They met at this cave. One day, a rival suitor, faked a letter from the gardener and lured Rose to the cave. When she realized he wasn't going to let her go, she told him that the scarf she was wearing had magical powers. She told him to swing his sword at her neck and she would be protected. He swung. Her head came off and she died. So did he after he was captured and convicted. She is buried at Turaida Castle where she had lived. 

Our last stop in Latvia before heading off to Estonia was at this funky, two room bicycle museum which was within walking distance of the Baltic Sea outside of Sigulda. It is run by an old man and his younger son in a garage in the back of his house. I am still not sure why we stopped there but there were a few bikes that were interesting. The whole tour took about 10 minutes. 

We piled onto the bus for a transfer back to Riga, our third night in the same hotel. In the morning, we were joined by eight more bikers who would travel the rest of our trip with us. This was not a good thing. The group was already 11 English speakers and 12 Germans. This made 31 people! No one in our original group was very pleased as this added time to every stop: more time to load the bikes, more time to eat at a restaurant, more time to pack the luggage in the morning, etc. It certainly increased our waiting-around-time. The guides were not responsible for this, so we made the best of the situation. This is the fifth bike tour we have taken and we had never been in a group this large. 

Tomorrow we head to Estonia.

The Quest

When we travel, often there is some random and completely unexpected thing that points out differences between culture in the US and elsewhere. In Vietnam, one was when we stopped in to a village wedding as we were pedaling along through rural villages. When the guides asked Lou and me, as the oldest male and female in the group to present the small contribution of cash our group collected to honor the bride and groom, we understood how differently that culture viewed older people. When we biked through villages in The Czech Republic and Hungary and older residents would not look at us or respond to a wave or smile, we understood how cautious they are after years of oppression by the Soviets. You never know who your enemy is; best to keep to yourself. This trip allowed us to observe its culture, too.

Lou travels with a CPAP machine for his sleep apnea. One other man on the trip also had a CPAP machine for the same reason. These machines need distilled water to run. Distilled water is easily purchased in every grocery or pharmacy in the United States. We never travel with our own supply. Our first stop was Iceland. Two blocks from our Airbnb there was a pharmacy that sold it. We wound up with a gallon of the stuff for a few dollars - way more than what we needed. Because of TSA rules, we didn't even attempt to bring it with us on the flight to Vilnius, Lithuania. Over the next couple of days in Vilnius, we stopped in at various pharmacies and groceries seeking distilled water. Finally, someone suggested we go to the Maxima superstore in the automotive department because distilled water was used in old cars to top off batteries in car. Nope. No luck. No one carried distilled water. The CPAP machine still had some in it from Iceland, so we just figured we would find it along the way. The next city we stopped in did not have it. Neither did any of the next three towns and cities we were in. We enlisted the help of our guide and it became a quest. Even Romas, a Lithuanian, was surprised that we were not able to find distilled water. When we reached Riga, Romas came with us as we visited a nearby pharmacy that was open 24 hours. Well, it is SORT of open 24 hours. After 10 PM, the door is locked and you ring a bell. An employee comes to the door and speaks with you about what you want and goes and gets it for you. You never enter the store. Again, they didn't have it but she did suggest another pharmacy on the other side of the river that might have it. At this point, Lou was ready to give up and just deal with it. It is not life threatening if he doesn't use the machine. He just snores. I have more incentive to get the water so he can use the machine. The next day we opted out of the bike ride so we could explore Riga on our own and also drop off our laundry so we would have lovely clean bike clothes again. The laundry was across the river serendipitously near the recommended pharmacy. The quest was on again.

The pharmacy looked older: high ceilings, carved wood moldings, long marble counters, very little product that you can browse through and pick up yourself.  We headed to the back counter to talk with a young woman dressed in a professional white coat. "Did they sell distilled water?" "Yes. How much did we want?" We told her and she asked us to wait because someone had to go downstairs and take water, put it though a machine and DISTILL IT FOR US. After about 10 minutes she came back with a small brown bottle of water labeled like a prescription. I think they may be the only place in Lithuania that has distilled water. Even though Lithuania is full of shops, stores and chain stores, restaurants and fast food franchises, access to products we take for granted is not the same in other places. 

Another little window into a different culture: On the first day of our tour, before we left Vilnius, one of the women in the group had a medical emergency. She was very ill and in a great deal of pain. The guide took her to the local hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, she was having a gallbladder attack. In the course of 10 hours in the emergency, they did two ultrasounds, consulted with a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist as well as the attending physician. Remember, we are in Vilnius, Lithuania. They correctly diagnosed her condition, prescribed medication and recommended treatment. She left the hospital with a bill of $245.00. The health system in Lithuania is better than ours. The entire bike tour group agreed that it is way past time for Single Payer in the United Stated. 

Finally, the service industry is still trying to figure out how to serve what is becoming a major industry: tourism. Some of the restaurants we ate in have figured it out. They ranged from cafeteria-style to white table-clothed establishments. But regularly, we experienced some glitch that showed us these countries are still playing catch-up as the tourist industry grows and local residents earn enough to allow them to eat out more. On the last night of the tour, we decided to gather at an Irish pub in Tallin, Estonia for a last meal and thank the guides for their work. Romas called ahead and told the restaurant that there would be a group of about 20-25 coming to eat. We arrived with a few others and had enough experience with restaurants on the trip to flag down the waitress quickly to order. We knew it could be at least an hour before we got our food. We did get our food an hour and a half after we ordered. But others who had ordered after us never got their food. We knew something was wrong when our young waitress came out of the kitchen sobbing. It seems the cook decided that she wasn't going to cook all the orders because she was off at 10:00 PM. She went home leaving about 15 Germans who had been waiting for over an hour for their food, hungry. They retained their sense of humor and said they were going to this other Irish pub they had heard about: McDonald's.

 One of the really good restaurants in Tallin, Estonia

From castles to crosses to the capital - Lithuanian coast to Riga, Latvia

We finally rode first thing in the morning. This is much better than touring somewhere and beginning a ride at 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon. We headed off to Palanga through the Seaside Regional Park passing random relics of abandoned Soviet military installations - concrete bunkers and such. It is very forested with acres of land covered with trees about 12-15 inches in diameter. It was easy to imagine soldiers training and stationed here.

In the spirit of entrepreneur-ism, at a number of the parking areas leading into the cycling paths, hiking areas and paths to the Baltic Sea, we often saw a little Smart car with the back outfitted with an espresso machine also towing a small rolling freezer trailer full of ice cream selections. A person would making coffees and sell Magnum bars. Great idea! Why hasn't someone done this here?

We stopped at the Palace of Count Tyszkiewicz which is surrounded by a beautiful botanical garden. The palace is well restored and also houses a large amber museum. 

Grounds of the Tyszkiewicz Palace

Palanga is a beautiful seaside resort where we spread out to eat lunch at our choice of restaurant. All featured fish and outdoor seating surrounded by streams and fountains. At the top of the walkway down to the Baltic, there are benches set up looking out to the water. They full of people  lined up in rows looking at the sea. It seemed odd at first and then, not so much.

After lunch we piled onto the bus and headed to Riga where we will stay for a three nights. On the way we stopped at a pilgrimage site called the Hill of Crosses. This place is really in the middle of nowhere. There are many explanations for how the Hill of Crosses came to be. Some say it was created in three days by the families of soldiers who had died in a battle. Others say it was started by a father who planted a cross in hopes of curing his sick daughter. This is all back int he 14th century. There is also a tradition that says sacred fires were lit here by Pagans. During the Soviet times, planting a cross could get you arrested. The hill was bulldozed at least three times by the Soviets, the last in 1972. They also tried to seal it off and dig ditches so people couldn't get to the hill. People managed to find a way and more and more crosses were placed here. Pope John Paul II visited in 1993 and celebrated Mass here. A Franciscan monastery was built here after his visit. When you come into the parking lot, there is a large area where vendors sell crosses - big and little, ornate and plain. Or, I guess, you can bring your own. Then you walk down a path and see the hill in the distance. When you get up close is when you understand that there are thousands and thousands and thousands of crosses. Believer or not, this is a unique piece of Lithuania. 

After a several hour drive, we arrived in the capital city of Latvia, Riga and the bus driver drove our large bus dragging a trailer full of bikes into the winding streets of Old Town Riga depositing us in a small cobble stone square in front of a church within walking distance of our hotel. 

We are within what remains of the walls of the ancient city and delighted to be in one hotel for three nights. Tomorrow's bike ride is optional and we have opted out, choosing to explore Riga on our own. The group of bikers is great but we have a bit of "group fatigue" and are looking forward to being on our own.  

West to the Baltic Sea!

Farm to Table Lithuania-style: The day began with a bus ride along the Nemunas River. We mounted the bikes and rode to our lunch site located in the countryside near one of the largest bird sanctuaries in Europe. A local farmer and his wife prepared a multi-course meal served at a long table in the grass near their fruit trees and vegetable garden.

We ate  two kinds of Lithuanian potato pancakes, home made pickles, compote, cold beet soup, potatoes, bread, tea, home made moonshine and more. Except for the stinky outhouse, its was great. Following our al fresco lunch, we walked down to the bird sanctuary. It seems this part of Lithuania is a major flyway for birds from north to south - as far south sometimes as Africa. We got a tour from a quirky birdman and realized that we were right on the Baltic Sea in Vente. 

 The bird man holds a bird, tags it and sets it free.

 The birds fly into a chute and are trapped in a net until tagged and released.

The downside to having a lovely, filling lunch when on a bike tour is that you are expected to get on your bike and ride after the meal. We ignored the call to ride on the bus and headed off through miles of forests. 

Birds are big here. While pedaling past field after field, we would see these huge poles in the middle of a field with a large nest on top - a really large nest with a large stork or two on the nest. It seems the legend of storks delivering babies originated in Scandinavia, not so far from Lithuania. These are BIG birds that migrate from distant lands so I guess they were a good choice for explaining where babies came from (!).

We stayed for a couple of nights in Klaipeda. It's a lovely town on a river that feeds into the Curonian Lagoon where ferries go up and down to the end of the Curonian Spit which is this skinny, skinny piece of land that extends from Klaipeda to Nida. We took one and headed to the very end passing by the National Park.

 Monster sand dunes along the Curonian Spit

Nida is a resort town full of restaurants and shops. Before cycling out of town to head back to Klaipeda on bikes, we stopped at an amber museum where we drank a liquor made from amber and the summer home of the German author Thomas Mann. The Germans knew much more about him than we did. He apparently was very political - anti Nazi and did win the Pulitzer Prize. Some of the Germans were curious about which books we knew by Mann. Lou said Magic Mountain. They laughed and said the Americans always say Magic Mountain. He is known in Germany for Buddenbrooks. He wrote A LOT of books.

For the next few hours, we rode up the Curonian Spit on the Seaside Cycle Route. We decided against a swim in the Baltic as it was windy and cool and just cycled through piney forests and sand dunes.

We even stopped at a place where it looks like there has been a great fire. the trees are all dead and huge birds nest and circle the area. It is full of cormorants and their bird poop is what is killing the trees. There is some sort of program that is trying to decrease the population of birds by introducing sterile cormorants into the mix.

When we finally made it back to Klaipeda, it was late and we needed to find a place to eat. The woman at the hotel reception suggested a place that had an excellent reputation. We quickly taxied over with a Canadian friend from the tour and had a wonderful meal with excellent service. It was a lovely end to a long day.