Tony Hillerman was an author who set his mysteries mainly in
the Four Corners Navajo Reservation. The main characters were Joe Leaphorn and
Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police. Four of his books were made into films
that were featured on PBS Masterpiece Theatre. I’m a fan of the books, so I was
especially interested in seeing the area in which they took place.
We had entered the reservation shortly after leaving the
Grand Canyon National Park and had lunch at the Cameron Trading Post. Our
afternoon break took place in Kayenta – the gateway town for Monument Valley.
This was Director John Ford’s favorite place to film his westerns.
Although the state of Arizona does not observe Daylight Savings Time, the Navajo Nation does. So we were on a different time from the rest of Arizona while within the reservation.
Goulding’s Lodge was our destination. The Gouldings had
relocated to Monument Valley in the 1920s and set up a Trading Post there.
During the depression, the Gouldings traveled to Hollywood and convinced John
Ford that Monument Valley would be the perfect location for his next film,
Stagecoach, starring John Wayne. Since the valley is located within the Navajo
Reservation, all income generated from it goes to the Navajo people.
After getting settled into our rooms (which had great views
of the valley), we left in four wheel drive vehicles for a Navajo cookout in a
small nearby canyon. After dinner, a storyteller told stories and sang songs.
Two of his uncles had been Code Talkers during World War II.
The next day, we visited a Hogan after breakfast. A Hogan is
a special kind of home. It is both sacred and a dwelling. It is important when
entering a Hogan to move in a clockwise direction, never counterclockwise.
If someone dies in a Hogan, it is abandoned and never lived in again. So they continue to be built with logs, mud, and grasses — nothing very permanent. The one we visited had a sweat lodge nearby as well as a summer Hogan, which was much more open and built with logs.
Within the Hogan, a couple of women demonstrated carding
wool, hand spinning, grinding corn, and creating a traditional Navajo woman’s
hairstyle. Since I had long hair, I was chosen to be the model. I was able to
keep it into the following day.
We then loaded back into the four wheel drive vehicles and went on a tour of the main views of Monument Valley. We saw the Left Mitten, Right Mitten, Merrick Butte, Elephant Butte, and John Ford’s Point, where there was a horse on which people could pose. Then we saw the Three Sisters, the North Window, Rain God Mesa, Cly Butte, the Thumb, and the Totem Pole. Even though I tend to prefer mountains, trees and lakes over deserts, I found Monument Valley to be breathtakingly beautiful.
We returned to Goulding’s Lodge for lunch and some free time. I explored both the Trading Post and the Trading Post Museum. The museum includes the living quarters of the Gouldings as well as mementos from all of the films made in the valley.
Next time – Arches National Park (in Utah) and the Colorado Rockies.
The tour to the Western US National Parks that I took in 2013 was a change of pace for me. Usually I take trips to places with lots of history, architecture, art, and local culture. The National Parks are scenic. They are located in some of the most gorgeous landscapes in the US. So it was all natural beauty instead of much of anything man made.
We started our tour in Las Vegas. I arrived fairly early in the day. After checking into Treasure Island, where my room was located on the Mirage side (which a friend of mine had told me had the best views and he was right), I had some lunch and then went exploring. The Venetian, Flamingo, Mirage, Harrah’s, Caesar’s Palace were all nearby. The Bellagio, with its dancing fountains, was not far as well. The fountains could be easily seen from my room all lit up at night.
It was quite a hot day, with the temperature just a bit over 100°F. I walked down the Strip to take a closer look at the Venetian. It played off of an Italian theme, with gondolas and buildings modeled after those in Venice. After that, I visited Madame Tussaud’s for fun.
I headed back to Treasure Island, which naturally had a
pirate theme. They had some battles between a couple of ships in the lagoons
outside of the hotel. I found that these battles went on at all hours of the
day and night. But they weren’t on my side of the hotel, so they didn’t disturb
my sleep.
Las Vegas was founded as a city in 1905, but 1931 was a huge year for them when construction began nearby on the Hoover Dam and the state of Nevada legalized casino gambling. Located within the Mojave Desert, Vegas has a subtropical hot desert climate.
In the late 1930s/early 1940s, organized crime took an
interest in building casinos just outside of the city on what is now called the
Strip. One of the most famous of the early casinos was the original Flamingo –
Bugsy Siegel’s pet project.
I met the rest of the group for drinks at 6pm. Surprisingly to me, most were from the US – mainly the South or the East Coast. There were a handful from Canada, Australia or New Zealand. Seemed like a nice group of people, so I was looking forward to traveling with them. I had also gotten a new smart phone. I was looking forward to sharing the trip as it happened with family and the friend that was planning to join me in the Black Hills.
The next morning, we set out for the Grand Canyon. On the way, we waved at Hoover Dam and Lake Meade as we went by. We also saw some lava flows from now extinct volcanos.
We traveled along Historic Route 66 for a ways. Our morning break was at Seligman. Pretty much lost in the 1950s, Seligman has several kitschy little shops, diners and such for the tourists.
We arrived at the Grand Canyon by lunchtime. We watched an
IMAX movie called “Hidden Secrets” before those of us who had signed up for it,
took a helicopter ride over the canyon. I had hoped we would dip down within
the canyon a little. But the helicopter stayed above it. Something about the
winds. I took lots of photos.
The Ancestral Puebloans were the Native Americans who lived in and around the Grand Canyon for thousands of years before the first European arrived in 1540. The first American expedition down the canyon took place in 1869 and was led by Major John Wesley Powell. Three men left the expedition and were never heard from again. To this day, their remains have never been found.
We stayed at the Bright Angel Lodge. A central lodge building, right on the rim, was flanked by several cabins. We had dinner in the lodge and spent quite a bit of time after dinner looking at and photographing the canyon from the ridge at that viewpoint. I managed to get a photo of a California Condor in flight over the canyon.
The next day, we continued along the South Rim to Desert
View (which had a tower built to resemble ancient Anasazi watchtowers). We also
made a stop at Moran Point.
After leaving the Grand Canyon National Park, we entered the Navajo Nation. Some of the canyon is located in part of the Navajo Nation, which includes most of the Four Corners – Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico, with the fourth state being Colorado.
We drove through the Painted Desert, which mainly lies
within the Petrified Forest National Park. Quite a bit of the desert also lies
within the Navajo Nation.
We arrived in Cameron in time for lunch. We ate at a restaurant attached to the Trading Post. I had a Navajo Taco. This was a large portion of Fry Bread topped with ground beef, chili beans, lettuce, cheese, tomato and mild green chilies. In the Trading Post, I found a large peace pipe carved from a horn and a Hopi Kachina. Both were swathed in large quantities of bubble wrap in order to travel through the rest of the trip safely.
I had in it mind before taking the trip that I wanted to get a Navajo peace pipe, a Hopi Kachina, and a Lakota breastplate. I just hoped that I could get them at reasonable prices. I was excited to get two of the three items already. The Kachina was a bit more than I had intended to pay, but it was hand carved and all wood, which was the traditional way of creating them. It was a bear and a work of art. Photos will be included of the four items I eventually purchased on the trip with the next post.
Once we disembarked from the overnight ferry from Helsinki, we set off to explore Stockholm. Sweden has been populated since about 12,000 BC with Stockholm showing evidence of people from roughly 8,000 BC on. The Viking Age included the Swedes, Norwegians and Danes from the 8th to 11th centuries. They were a busy bunch – exploring, raiding, settling – all over the place. The majority of the examples of Viking writing – Rune Stones – can be found in Sweden.
Although we drove all over town looking at everything, our first actual stop was City Hall. The building is not terribly old, having been built in 1907. However, its claim to fame is that the Nobel Prize banquet is held in the Golden Hall. Even though the photo I have included in this post is a tad fuzzy, it does show the extent of the gold mosaics the best of the photos I took while there.
Our next stop was to drop off anybody who wasn’t interested
in seeing the Vasa Museum so they could roam around at leisure before rejoining
the rest of the group after lunch for a walking tour of the Old Town. We
arrived at Palace Square just in time to see the Changing of the Guard. I
managed some decent video of it, but just one photo.
The Vasa Museum was amazing! I have mentioned in past posts
that I love ships and have some ship captain ancestors. The Vasa is the most
magnificent shipwreck I have ever seen. It is the only nearly intact 17th
century ship in the world. As a royal warship, it was extremely ornate and
large. It seems that its size was its downfall.
It was built in 1628 and capsized, with all hands, on its
maiden voyage, while still in the Stockholm harbor. Some of the crew managed to
swim to shore, but about 30 didn’t. In the 1960s, the ship was discovered,
raised, reassembled and put on display in a museum built especially for it.
Because the Baltic is cold, it doesn’t have as many of the little creatures that tend to destroy wood, clothing, and even human remains. So they found the ship very close to entirely intact. They also found lots of clothing, dishes, pots & pans, games, weapons, cannons, ammunition, sails, chests, barrels, and even some food and skeletons.
Very intricately carved, the ship would have been quite colorfully painted. They had a model on display, painted in the colors that they thought would have adorned the ship. But I liked looking at the real thing the best. There were several levels of walkways around the ship, so it could be seen from all angles. It was possible to see it from underneath as well.
I spent as much time as I could exploring the ship and its contents which were on display with it. I had lunch at a cafeteria within the museum (so I wouldn’t need to leave until I absolutely had to) and picked up a couple books about the ship before Andrej practically pried me away to rejoin the rest of the group at the Royal Palace.
Kronor Castle, which was built on the site in the 13th
century, burned down in 1697. The new palace was built in the Rococo style in
the 1720s. We didn’t have time to take a guided tour of the palace before
joining our local guide for our walking tour of the Old Town. Having to choose
between the Vasa and the palace, the Vasa had won out for me.
The Old Town had medieval foundations from the 13th century, but the majority of the town had burned down in the 17th century and was rebuilt. They built upon the old foundations, so the town still had very narrow streets. The most narrow was a series of rather steep steps (included in a photo here).
We went inside of a very beautiful old church with lots of highly polished dark wood, gold gilding, and paintings. Along the street outside, were several buildings that managed to salvage their original medieval doors. Most of them were still private homes, but here and there was a pub or restaurant or antique shop (with weapons, chain mail, and helmets). What I thought was incredible though, was old cannons and rune stones at the corner of some of the buildings (a photo of one is included).
Before ending the tour, we had some cake and hot chocolate
(or coffee or tea) at a restaurant in a medieval cellar. The building had begun
as a monastery and later became a prison after the 16th century
dissolution of the monasteries.
The next day I flew home from Stockholm by way of Newark,
New Jersey.
Next time —a wonderful 2013 tour of the Western US National Parks.
The country we now know as Finland has been inhabited since the end of the last Ice Age, which was about 9000 BC. The 12th and 13th centuries saw a lot of crusades by the Danes, Swedes and Norwegians to the various “pagan” tribes that lived in Finland. Ultimately it was the Swedes that conquered and colonized the region. Finland became part of Sweden. In the 18th century, due to wars between Sweden and Russia (with Finland lying between them), Finland ended up as part of Russia. They didn’t become independent until during World War I.
The northernmost province of Finland is called Lapland. Most of the population there consists of the Sami People, who inhabit large areas of northern Norway, Sweden and a Russian peninsula as well. In addition to fur trading, coastal fishing, and sheep herding, a major profession of the Sami is reindeer herding (which is legally reserved exclusively for them in most regions of the four countries they inhabit).
Helsinki was founded by King Gustav I of Sweden as a trading town in 1550. During the plague of 1710, the vast majority of the population died. It wasn’t until Finland became part of the Russian Empire and Helsinki was made the capitol of Finland, that the city began to thrive again.
After driving past the harbor, our first stop was at the Olympic Stadium from the 1952 Summer Olympics. Next, we visited the Sibelius Memorial. Jean Sibelius was a composer most famous for his seven symphonies and a piece titled “Finlandia”. I thought his memorial was very pretty. The wind also blew through the pipes of the memorial and so created some lovely music of its own.
Temple Church was chiseled out of stone and is partially
underground. Someone was playing the organ when we arrived and the place was
filled with music.
Senate Square included the Finnish Parliament, the President’s Residence, Helsinki Cathedral, and a statue of Alexander II. He was the Russian Czar who was blown to bits in St Petersburg. We had our group photo taken in front of the statue (I’m just behind the lady in the red jacket on the front row). During our free time, Heike had other plans, so Debbie and I toured the interior of the Lutheran Cathedral.
We also joined up with a British couple, Linda and Nigel,
and took a harbor tour by boat. Every house we saw had a sauna house down by
the water. Some of the saunas were small and simple; others were quite
elaborate. The photo I included here, is of a middle class sauna.
There were several tall-masted schooners in the harbor. One
had a pirate theme and was apparently being used as a party vessel. I caught a
pretty decent photo of Uspenski Cathedral, which is a Cathedral of the Orthodox
Church of Finland, from the tour boat.
Back at the harbor, Debbie and I had reindeer sausages. Mine
is on the right with lingonberries, ketchup, mustard and onions.
We rejoined the rest of the group at 3:45pm to board the overnight ferry to Stockholm. After leaving the port, Heike and I explored the ship and had a pint in the pub. Debbie was my roommate for the ferry. Heike was rooming with two women. The cabins were really tiny.
Debbie, Heike and I had dinner together at the 8pm buffet. Although the other two made an occasional venture to some of the other areas, after getting some shrimp salad in the Salad Market, I pretty much stayed in the Seafood Market, dining on salmon mousse, caviar (two kinds), smoked salmon, and herring. I did get some chocolate mousse for dessert in the Dessert Market. They had all the wine you could drink too.
The weather began to act up as we were having dinner and the
crossing ended up being pretty darn rough. Andrej said it was the worst of the
35 times he has done it. The seas were choppy with lots of wind and rain. We
were tossed around in our beds during the night, making it somewhat difficult
to sleep.
Maybe it was the seafood, but Debbie, Heike and I seemed to be among the few who weren’t seasick the next morning at breakfast. After breakfast, Andrej had us all meet him in a special spot with our cases and he led us to where we were the first people to get off the ship. We thought that was a pretty good perk.
After lunch during our full day in Saint Petersburg, we paid
a visit to the Hermitage Museum. The museum was founded by Catherine the Great
in 1764 and was opened to the public in 1852.
The main building in which the museum now resides began life
as the Winter Palace – the official residence of the Russian Emperors (Czars or
Tsars) from 1732 to 1917. The original Hermitage was built to the side of the
palace and was expanded to include the palace after the Russian Revolution. It
now encompasses six buildings. Although the second largest museum in the world
(the largest being the Louvre in Paris), only a fraction of the entire
collection is on permanent display.
The entrance was through the Winter Palace. Several of the
State Rooms of the palace were incorporated into the museum pretty much intact
from when they were being used as State Rooms. After entering the palace
portion of the museum, we encountered the Grand Staircase, a room with large
papier mache chandeliers, the Small Throne Room and the Armorial Hall (aka the
Gold Room). The Gold Room was gilded in real gold.
By the time we got to the 1812 Gallery (a hall dedicated to the War of 1812) the building gradually became less of a palace and more of a museum. I have included here more of the photos that I took of the expanse of rooms instead of photos of specific pieces of art. Some of the most famous paintings, such as the two by Leonardo da Vinci, were behind glass, making them difficult to photograph decently. They had loads of paintings by Rembrandt and Rubens as well as the Italian Renaissance artists.
There were rooms with tapestries and beautiful furniture and sculptures. There were a lot of items made from malachite (a green mineral that looks kind of like green marble), which is prevalent in Russia. On the third floor they had room after room of paintings by French Impressionists such as Pissarro, Monet, Sisley, Degas, Renoir, etc. Then there were the Egyptian and Classical antiquities, prehistoric art, jewelry and decorative arts (including a platter with a real snake incorporated into the design), a Knights’ Hall full of armor, German, Swiss, British and French fine art, Russian art, and on and on – even some modern art.
After exploring the heck out of this museum, we went outside and sat by the river to recover before heading back to the hotel to get ready for that evening’s entertainment. We were going to dinner and a show at the Nikoleavsky Palace. The palace was built in the early 1800s for the Grand Duke Nicholas (son of Czar Nicholas I). The Grand Duke was neither especially handsome nor particularly bright. He ended up squandering his money on mistresses and mortgaged the palace. He then went mad from cancer that had spread to his brain. His former palace was gorgeous, however, and the show was of Russian folk dancing. The food was served buffet style.
The next day we explored some more of the city. Along the
Fontanki River, we saw (and I photographed) some soldiers. If the country had
still been the Soviet Union, I wouldn’t have dared taken that photo.
Along the Nevsky Prospect, the main street of St Petersburg,
we saw a statue of Catherine the Great with the Alexandrinsky Theatre behind
her. The theatre was opened in 1832 for dramatic, ballet and opera
performances. Also in the area were St Catherine’s Church, the Kazan Cathedral,
and Stroganov Palace.
We took one last drive along the Neva River to say goodbye to the Winter Palace & the Hermitage, the Marble Palace (which was built by Count Grigory Orlov, a favorite of Catherine the Great, in 1768), the Saviour Transfiguration Cathedral, and a statue of a Roman Soldier before heading for the part of the city that was developed when it was known as Petrograd on our way out of St Petersburg.
After a drive in the Russian countryside, we left Russia (which was much, much easier than entering it had been) and crossed over into Finland.
Next time – Helsinki, Finland and the overnight ferry to Sweden.
The three biggest reasons why I chose the Baltics tour were:
1) Denmark – from which my mother’s father’s parents came, 2) Latvia – from
which one of my sister-in-law’s parents came, and 3) St Petersburg – just
because it was St Petersburg. Back in the 1980s, my mom had gone to Moscow, St
Petersburg and Kiev with a church group. It was still the Soviet Union at that
time. But it wouldn’t be too many years before the dissolution in 1991.
Founded by Peter the Great in 1703, St Petersburg was the capitol of Imperial Russia. The capitol was moved to Moscow in 1918 after renaming St Petersburg as Petrograd in 1914. Then, in 1924, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad. The name went back to St Petersburg in 1991 at the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. So, when Mom visited, it was called Leningrad.
She had been taken to Lenin’s tomb when she was there. By
the time I got there, he had been buried. I took a photo of a Subway Sandwich
shop to show her how much had changed since she was there. However, not
everything had changed.
Before leaving for the trip, I had to purchase an entry visa
for $400. This involved filling out a voluminous form with much more
information than I felt that they needed. They asked for the address of every
place I had ever lived my entire life. For every place I ever worked my entire
life, they wanted the name of the company, the address, the name of my boss,
and what I did there. They also wanted the name, address, and years of
attendance for every school. At the University level, they wanted what I had
majored in as well. I did the best I could and then had a photo taken without
me smiling. They didn’t want anyone smiling in the accompanying photo. I guess
being happy was not an option.
On the Estonian side of the border, things took barely any
time at all. If we had blinked, we would have missed that side of the border.
The Russian side was another matter.
Only a handful of us were from the US. The rest were from
the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. However, they parked us over to the
side and kept us waiting for hours while they let several other buses and tour
coaches through. Despite all of the forms filled out to get the entrance visa,
we had many more forms to fill out. Then we needed to be interviewed one by
one.
Drug sniffing dogs were sent through the coach while bomb detectors and cameras were slipped under the coach. Our luggage was all removed and we had to open it for inspection. As we completed our inspections and interviews, we were sent into a room where we were watched over by armed guards until we were all done. Then they had us sit there for a while longer before we could get back on our coach. In the meantime, we ate the bag lunches that Andrej had purchased for us before leaving Estonia. Obviously this was just their modus operandi.
Also, while waiting, we adjusted our watches due to Russia
not participating in Daylight Savings Time. At that point, we were nine hours
ahead of Minneapolis. By comparison, London is six hours ahead of Minneapolis.
We adjusted our watches several times on this trip.
After reaching Saint Petersburg, we were given a basic tour of most of the main sites of the city. Our only stop was at St Isaac’s Square. There we could see St Isaac’s Cathedral, Mariinsky Palace, and an equestrian statue of Czar Nicholas I in the center.
Dedicated to St Isaac of Dalmatia, the cathedral was a
museum during the years of the Soviet Union. It has since been restored as a
cathedral. The Mariinsky Palace was built by Nicholas I for his daughter and
her husband as a wedding gift and is located directly across the square from St
Isaac’s Cathedral.
St Petersburg had lots of people dressed in 18th century Imperial Russia costumes at various historic sites throughout the city. We encountered our first one at St Isaac’s Square. Since she was the most elaborately costumed, I have included the photo I took of her.
We headed from the square to our hotel and dinner. We started the next day with the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island. The Kunstkammer was the first museum in Russia and was founded by Peter the Great in 1727. It was essentially a “cabinet of curiosities”. The most gruesome exhibit was and still is the severed head of the brother of a former mistress of Peter the Great who had been executed for embezzlement.
A pair of Rostral columns, originating in Grecian and Roman times to celebrate a military or naval victory, stood not far from the museum in front of the former stock exchange (the Borse). The island also contained an Academy of Sciences, a Naval Academy and the Cruiser Aurora.
The Aurora was built in 1900 and saw service in the
Russo-Japanese War and World War I. By World War II, it was used as a training
ship. After the war, it was permanently moored on the Neva River and turned
into a museum ship. During World War I, one of the first events of the
Bolshevik Revolution was a mutiny that took place onboard the Aurora.
The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was built on the spot where Czar Alexander II was blown to bits in 1881. It was gorgeous and everything that an ornate Russian Orthodox Church should be. The interior contained more mosaics than any other church in the world, so the church has been used as a mosaics museum.
Our last visit before lunch was to the Peter and Paul
Fortress, which was the original citadel created by Peter the Great in 1703.
There was a mint, a prison, and a mausoleum for non-reigning Romanovs. The mausoleum
was created because the Cathedral was getting too full of tombs.
Before visiting the Cathedral, we looked at a statue of
Peter the Great. The statue was considered to be an accurate portrayal. The
Czar was about six feet eight in height, but was not in proportion for his
height. His hands, feet, shoulders and head were all smaller than they should
have been.
Inside of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, which was definitely crowded, we saw loads of tombs, including Peter the Great, Catherine I (his wife), Elizabeth I (his daughter), and Catherine II the Great (his other daughter). A special room with the remains of Czar Nicholas II and his family was set to the side. DNA tests had been performed on the remains they found and all – the Czar, his wife, Alix, and their children, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei – were properly identified and interred.
The remains of Alexander II were in a rose-colored tomb with his wife next to him in a black tomb. The newest tomb (other than the memorial to Nicholas II and his family) contained Nicholas II’s mother. A quartet of men did some acapella singing in a side chapel.
Lunch was a cruise on the Neva River. En route to the boat, we passed the Admiralty, an equestrian statue of Peter the Great, and a couple of Egyptian statues. Periodically during lunch, I had to take a break from the food (which included borscht) to take photos of what we were passing. Smolny Cathedral, which was attached to a convent, and Kresty Prison, which began life in the 1730s as a wine warehouse and later converted to a prison, rebuilt and expanded, were two of the buildings we saw from the river that we hadn’t seen during other trips around town. During the Soviet era, Kresty Prison became notoriously overcrowded with ten times the number of prisoners for which it was designed. We could also see a statue of Lenin in front of the rail station.
Next time – more of St Petersburg, including the Winter Palace/ Hermitage Museum.
We arrived in Parnu, Estonia by lunchtime. We had lunch
together at a restaurant in the Old Town with a set menu – soup, main course,
and dessert. It was quite good. Parnu is on a bay of the Gulf of Livonia in the
Baltic Sea. The Old Town gave us some beautiful buildings to look at as we
walked off that large lunch.
The town was founded circa 1251 by a bishop, destroyed
around 1600, and then was rebuilt. It changed hands several times between the
Poles, Lithuanians, Swedes and Russians, until becoming part of the newly
formed country of Estonia after World War I. Like Latvia, Estonia was occupied
by the Soviets, then the Nazis, then the Soviets again during World War II,
ending up under Soviet rule after the war.
Parnu is mainly a resort town and vacation spot for Estonians, Finns, Russians, and Swedes. Its location provides beaches, water sports, and a very well laid out Old Town with loads of restaurants and hotels.
We arrived in Tallinn early evening. With civilization dating back 5,000 years, Tallinn itself was founded as a town in 1248 by the Danes. Estonia overall was civilized as far back as 9,000 years. Tallinn was also part of the Hanseatic League. Tallinn has never been raised or pillaged, but was bombed by the Soviets near the end of World War II. Despite that, most of the Medieval Old Town is intact and is considered to be the best preserved medieval architecture in Europe. As such, it is a World Heritage site.
Information Technology is a thriving industry in Estonia.
Skype originated in Tallinn. The hotel had computers in the rooms, so I could
send emails to folks back home. This was before I had a smartphone with
internet capabilities (I got one of those in February of 2013).
We went into the Old Town (which wasn’t too far from our hotel) for a “Medieval Dinner”. The only thing that was Medieval about the dinner was the building, which was 14th century. The Old Town is mainly pedestrian only, so we walked in from where the tour coach dropped us off and did a little bit of a tour before reaching the building where the dinner was being held by seeing the 13th century St Nicholas Church and the Town Hall Square.
The Town Hall dates to the 13th century with its tower dating to the 17th century. It is the oldest town hall in the Baltics or Scandinavia and the last surviving Gothic Town Hall in Northern Europe. It has the coolest painted dragon gargoyles up near the roof (which you can see in the photo I have included). The square was originally the market square of the town and now has loads of restaurants. They also have a wonderful Christmas Market there every year. The restaurant we were visiting was in the cellar of one of the buildings on the square.
On our way back to the tour coach (which had moved elsewhere and parked after dropping us off) after dinner, we looked at some Medieval foundations viewable through glass windows in the street, and the Square of Freedom.
The following day, we started at the Upper Town (also known as Toompea). Toompea Castle is now used as government buildings, including Parliament. The population of Tallinn was a little over 50% ethnic Estonian and roughly 37% ethnic Russian with the rest of the people being a mixture of several different ethnic groups. There was a lovely Russian Orthodox church called the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in the Upper Town. It was built in the 1890s when Tallinn was part of the Russian Empire. The nearby Dome Church, was built by the Danes in the 13th century and is the oldest church in Tallinn.
After visiting another amber shop (which had some earrings in gold, instead of the silver everyone else had), we went to a viewing area to see the Lower Town (called All-linn) below. We could also see out to the Baltic. Several ferries traveled back and forth daily from Tallinn to Helsinki, Finland – mostly bringing folks from Helsinki for the day as prices were much lower in Estonia than Finland. A certain amount of Estonians would travel to Helsinki in the morning for their jobs as salaries were higher in Finland.
We could also see the spire of St Olaf’s Cathedral. Although
built in the 12th century, the church burnt down several times over
the centuries, so it isn’t at all original to the 12th century any
more. Otherwise it would have had the title of the oldest church in Tallinn
instead of the Dome Church.
From Toompea, we took a long, steep cobbled road (named Pikk Jalg) down into the All-linn. When we arrived at the Town Hall Square, we met up with our local guide, Nikoli. His mother was ethnic Estonian, while his father was ethnic Russian. He was adorable and took a liking to me. Actually lots of tour guides do because I am always so interested in what they are talking about and usually have a pretty good understanding of the history of the place already. I also don’t give them much difficulty about anything. So I’m easy to deal with.
Just like Dubrovnik, Croatia, who claimed that they had the oldest pharmacy/ chemist/ apothecary in the world, Tallinn made the same claim regarding a building they had in their Town Hall Square. Actually they were both beat by the 12th century pharmacy in Florence, Italy.
Nikoli gave us a walking tour of the Lower Town, which
included a very lovely, but small luxury hotel with a Presidential Suite (and
balcony). Then he led us into one of my favorite places in Tallinn – St Catherine’s
Passage. We entered through a deep arch from behind St Catherine’s Church,
which had been built 700 years ago. On one side of the passage had once been a
monastery. Several Medieval gravestones were mounted on the wall on that side.
The buildings on the other side had been turned into shops, bars and
restaurants.
At the other end of the passage, was a narrow street between
the city walls and some lovely Medieval houses. The round Helleman Tower was
just outside of the passage. A little further along was an even older square
tower. At this point, the walls had a covered, timber-framed top. One could
walk along the top of the wall largely out of the elements.
When we reached the Viru Gates (which were also original), that was the end of the tour. Most of the group was staying in the area to have some lunch and then would join Nikoli for an optional tour of Tallinn’s Russian Museum. I wasn’t interested in the museum as we have a great Russian Museum in Minneapolis not far from my house. Heike also wasn’t interested in the museum, so we got on the tour coach, which was parked just beyond the Viru Gates and rode back to the hotel. We had lunch there, and then went for a walk in the general neighborhood of the hotel. Nikoli seemed disappointed that we weren’t joining him for the museum tour, but I’m sure he survived.
Next time – adventures in crossing the border into Russia (where they were still acting like they were the Soviet Union) and St Petersburg.
Ever since one of my brothers married a lovely lady whose
parents had fled Latvia during World War II as the Soviets were returning, I
had wanted to visit Latvia. The tour I took in 2012 to the Baltics allowed me
to do just that.
My sister-in-law’s family was part of a Latvian community here in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis & St Paul, so we had the pleasure of meeting and becoming familiar and friendly with several other people of Latvian heritage. Along with that, we had been able to take part in some wonderful meals with some traditional Latvian foods. So I was not a complete novice on this trip when it came to Latvian cuisine and was looking forward to having some great culinary experiences.
Not too long after crossing the border from Lithuania to Latvia, we came upon Rundale Palace, where we had lunch and a tour. It was a large, beautiful place and had been designed by the same architect who designed the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. It was begun in 1736 for the Duke of Courland.
In the 1790s, the area was absorbed into the Russian Empire
and Catherine the Great gave the palace to the younger brother of one of her
favorite lovers. When he died, his widow remarried and the palace passed to her
new husband’s family.
Rundale Palace suffered quite a bit of damage during the 1919 Latvian War of Independence and then became a school for several years. In the 1960s, a local historical society acquired the palace and started restoring it in 1972. They did a great job. It is an absolute treasure house. They let visitors take photos inside, so I took a ton of them. Just a tiny sampling is shown here.
On to Riga, where we spent the night at a Radisson Blu. Across the street from the hotel was Pareizticigo Katedrale, a Russian Orthodox cathedral. We were on our own for dinner that night. So some of us walked over to the cathedral, which is Nativity of Christ Cathedral in English. It was built in the late 19th century. During the Soviet Occupation after World War II, it was converted into a planetarium. Since the Soviet Dissolution in 1991, it has been restored to its past glory.
We walked around the area to explore the neighborhood. There
was a victory monument – the Freedom Monument, built to commemorate the 1919
Latvian War of Independence – a short distance from the cathedral. There was
also a large park by the monument. We found that we were actually walking
distance to both the Old Town and the diplomatic district where most of the
embassies were located and nearly all of the buildings were in the Art Nouveau
style.
Since we had eaten a fairly large meal for lunch, we decided
to pick up some lighter fare for dinner. We had a lot to see and do the next
day, so we were all of a mind to eat lightly and turn in early.
Riga was founded by the Teutonic Knights in 1201. During its
history, it has been part of the Holy Roman Empire, the Lithuanian-Polish
Commonwealth, and both the Swedish and Russian Empires. During the Middle Ages,
it was also part of the Hanseatic League. This was a group of merchant cities
on the Baltic which were very prosperous.
After the 1919 Latvian War of Independence, Latvia managed to remain on its own until World War II, when it was taken over by the Soviets and tens of thousands of its citizens (mostly male) were either executed or deported to Siberia. Then the Nazis took over and conscripted most of the remaining men into their army. As the Soviets were returning in 1944, many of the Latvians who were part of the Twin Cities group with whom my family interacted fled. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to flee from my home.
The next morning after breakfast, we set out to take a look
at all of the gorgeous Art Nouveau buildings and embassies. The French and Russian
embassies were closest to the hotel. Riga has the largest collection of Art
Nouveau buildings in the world.
We watched the Changing of the Guards at the Freedom Monument and walked through the park to the Old Town, passing the National Opera House on the way. Suddenly we left a combination of the 21st, 20th and 19th centuries and found ourselves in a mostly medieval era.
The first part of the Old Town that we encountered was a tower and barracks used by the military back in the Middle Ages. The Powder Tower is now used as a military museum. The barracks have been converted into homes. The Swede Gate, which is one of the original gates, was built into the city wall in the 1600s to provide better access to the barracks.
Within the city walls was the Latvian Parliament and a
nearby church with a memorial to the barricades that existed in 1991 when
Latvia was trying to separate from the Soviet Union. The church, named St James’
Cathedral, was built in the 13th century.
Outside of the trio of 17th century houses called the Three Brothers, a couple of men were playing a tuba and a French horn. One of the houses was originally built in 1490, but was refurbished in the 17th century when the other two houses were built. The middle house, which is the fanciest of the three, has the date 1646 on it. The legend is that they were built for three brothers and have always been called the Three Brothers throughout the centuries.
Riga Castle is the third structure to have that name and was
built over the remains of an earlier castle back in the 17th
century. It is currently the residence of the President of Latvia. Here and
there around the Old Town are bits and pieces of earlier castles.
The Doma Baznica (Basilica Dome) is the oldest church in
Latvia and also in the Baltics. It was built beginning in 1211. Several roosters
are mounted on the spires of the cathedral and are considered to be symbols of
Latvia. The main tower of the cathedral was in scaffolding to clean it when we
were there.
The cathedral was next to a large square with some beautiful
houses on it. A short distance away were several guild houses. Within a convent
courtyard, was a white building that had been part of the original Riga Castle.
We came across St Peter’s Basilica with the tallest tower in Riga. Originally built in 1209 as a small church, St Peter’s was completely renovated in the 15th century.
The Town Square was very medieval with statues of knights
and of St George slaying the dragon. The jewel of the square was the Melngalvju
Nama or House of the Blackheads. Although the date on the building is 1334, the
building was totally destroyed during World War II and had to be completely
reconstructed.
The Blackheads were a society of banquet caterers to the
upper classes. They chose as their patron saint St Maurice, who was
traditionally depicted as a black soldier in knight’s armor.
After some of us went for a late lunch at a self-service called Lido about two blocks from the hotel, we took the tour coach out to the Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum. They had a roadside inn, a peasant homestead, a windmill, a church, and several other homesteads from various parts of Latvia dating to the 18th and 19th centuries.
I love visiting these types of museums since they preserve a
way of life that pretty much no longer exists in these countries. When the
Soviets took over, they mostly moved everyone out of their small farms in the
country into apartment blocks in cities and towns and put them to work in
factories. I especially loved seeing the interior of a very small, plain
church. The interior was beautifully painted and had some wonderful carved
pieces – altar, pulpit, pews.
That night we had dinner at a restaurant called La Boheme,
which was a short walk from the hotel. The dinner was delicious and we were
serenaded by Latvian folk music. It was pouring rain on the way over to the
restaurant, but it was done when we needed to return to the hotel.
On our way to Estonia the next day, we had a morning break in Sigulda. There were two castles close to one another there. One had been built in the 13th century and the other in the 19th century. The older castle was in the process of being restored after sitting in a ruined state for a few centuries. We could only see a little of it as most of it was a construction zone. The newer castle wasn’t open to the public, so we walked around in the gardens outside.
Next time — Estonia with its authentically medieval Old Town in Tallinn, which wasn’t destroyed by bombs during World War II.
Once we crossed the border from Poland to Lithuania, we were
officially in one of the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia). We had
skirted around a tip of Belarus. Andrej told us that Belarus was not part of
the European Union and had a pretty intense and expensive process for entry. So
we waved as we went by.
Amber was an extremely valuable commodity throughout most of
the history of the Baltic States. This made the area very wealthy and very
desirable for conquer by others. In the 13th century, Lithuania
formed the Kingdom of Lithuania and became the largest state in Europe by the
14th century as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Present-day Lithuania,
Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were the territories of the
Grand Duchy. In the 16th century, Lithuania and Poland formed a
Commonwealth that was dismantled in the 18th century.
During World War II, all three Baltic States changed hands between the Soviet Republic and Nazi Germany several times and become part of the Soviet Union after the war. Lithuania declared its independence in 1990 – a year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. At one point, the Soviets rolled into Vilnius (the capitol city) in tanks, shooting and crushing unarmed Lithuanians.
According to legend, in the 14th century, Grand Duke Gediminas was out hunting near the Vilnia River and had a dream about a wolf howling up on a nearby hill. The dream was interpreted as meaning that he should create his new capitol at that location. So he built a castle and created the city of Vilnius.
Our first visit was to the Church of St Peter & St Paul, which was a 17th century Baroque masterpiece with an amazing chandelier shaped like a boat. This represented St Peter as a fisherman. The altar was missing. It was moved to another church and ended up being destroyed while in its new location. It was never replaced.
On our way from the Church of St Peter & St Paul to the Gate of Dawn, we passed the Hill of Crosses. Andrej told us that the first people to try to convert the pagans to Christianity were executed on that hill. Once the Lithuanians were Christianized, they began to place crosses there. During the Soviet Occupation, the number of crosses began to surge. So now, thousands (over 100,000 have been estimated) of crosses are clustered on the hill.
We entered one part of the town through the Gate of Dawn, built in the 16th century. Above the gate is the chapel of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, which contains an icon of the Virgin Mary that is said to have miraculous powers. Visitors weren’t allowed, but I was able to zoom in with my camera and get a fairly decent photo of the icon through the window.
Not far from there was a beautiful peach-colored church built in the 17th century and dedicated to St Casimir. We walked as far as the Town Hall and then headed back to the Gate of Dawn to get on the tour coach to visit the castle that Grand Duke Gediminas built. It looked very modern and had a very interesting and modern-looking statue of Gediminas himself. The castle was white with black trim and the statue was black.
On the same square as the castle was the Cathedral and a tower that we came back to after lunch to visit. In the meantime, we went to the Presidential Palace and by the University.
Heike, Debbie and I decided to have lunch at a traditional
Lithuanian restaurant that wasn’t too far from the Cathedral Square. It was
very old and very cozy. The food was homemade and delicious.
Back at the Cathedral, the main attraction was the chapel dedicated to St Casimir. It was gorgeous, with loads of marble and eight statues of rulers of Lithuania plated in silver. It also contained St Casimir’s tomb, which had a marble altar with a silver sarcophagus on the wall above.
On Lake Galve outside of Vilnius was Trakai Castle. This was
the residence of the Dukes of Lithuania prior to Duke Gediminas moving the
capitol to Vilnius. It covers an entire island on the lake. After a guided
tour, we had loads of free time to explore. Although built on an island, the
castle was a sprawling place with several courtyards and buildings. It was
built in a combination of stone and brick. Parts had been rebuilt over the
centuries after various battles and after World War II. As we were leaving, a
storm was gathering and I managed to get a pretty good shot of a sailboat going
by with the castle silhouetted against the darkening sky.
Back in Vilnius, we went to a Lithuanian Dinner and Folklore Show that night. It was a very good meal, but not much of a show. The building it was in was quite old, so had a great atmosphere.
I was really looking forward to heading to Latvia the next day as the parents of one of my sisters-in-law were from Latvia.
When Mom and I visited Poland as part of a tour of Central
Europe in 2008, we had lunch in Poznan before heading on to Warsaw. On the 2012
tour of the Baltic Region, our group had an overnight in Poznan. After dinner,
Andrej guided those who wanted to go on a walk into the City Center of the Old
Town. It was starting to get dark, but I managed to get some decent photos
before it got too dark.
Existing for several centuries before the Christianization
of Poland in Poznan in 966, Poznan is considered to be the oldest city in
Poland and was a stronghold of the Polan tribes. It was the Polans who formed
what became the Polish state.
Although a tad fuzzy, I liked the way the Statue of Neptune was silhouetted against the sky in the photo I took of it. The Town Hall dates to the 13th century and was used as the town hall all the way to the 1930s. It is now a museum. The town square in front of the Town Hall is pedestrian only and has loads of outdoor seating for the various restaurants lining the square. Mom and I ate at a restaurant in a red building on the square when we were there four years earlier (you can see the red building in the included photo). That trip had taken place in March, so we didn’t sit outside.
Heike wanted to visit the camera shop in the shopping mall by our hotel, Stary Brower, so we decided to head back that way before the place closed for the night. Most of the rest of the group stayed in the square for a drink or two. We took a wrong turn at one point, but were set right by a young man who spoke English. We had been told by Andrej that those who were younger than 30 most likely spoke English, while those older than 30 most likely would not.
We made it to the camera shop while it was still open. The
fellow at the counter was under 30, which made us happy. He was waiting on an
older couple from France, who did not speak Polish. The shopkeeper spoke both
Polish and English, but not French. I had taken French in high school and
understood some of what the couple was saying. With a combination of the couple’s
French, my attempts to translate what I could understand into English, and a
lot of hand signals, nods or shaking heads, we finally got them what they
wanted. Hugs all around before they left the shop.
After getting Heike what she was looking for, we headed back
to the hotel and stopped off at the bar there for a drink before bed. So we had
a little adventure and still got a nightcap.
The next day, we arrived in Warsaw around lunch time and were given some free time to get settled into the hotel and have lunch before heading out on a tour of the city. Heike (from Perth, Australia), Debbie (from Reading, England), Charmaine (from Vancouver, Canada), and I had made plans to go to a traditional Polish restaurant situated on the ground floor of the building in which our hotel was located for dinner, so I went for a relatively light lunch with a salmon and avocado sandwich in a restaurant inside of the hotel.
After lunch, we were taken around to see the sights of Warsaw: the Palace of Culture and Science (built in 1955 by the Communists); a Statue of native son Copernicus; the church with the heart of another native son, Chopin; the house where Chopin lived; and the Presidential Palace before we got to the Old Town (Stare Miastro in Polish). That was when we got off the tour coach at the Palace Square and began our walking tour.
Mom and I had taken a tour of the Royal Castle when we were there together, so I didn’t feel too disappointed that we didn’t have time (with just an afternoon to see Warsaw) to tour it on this trip. Normally I would take any chance I could to tour any castle or palace I encounter. This particular castle was originally built in the 14th century as a Ducal Palace, becoming the Royal Castle for the Kings of Poland in the 1600s. It was pretty much destroyed during World War II and was reconstructed after the war. Most of the contents of the castle had been saved and hidden away by the citizens of Warsaw. So, although the building itself is a reconstruction, the contents are original.
At the center of the square is Zygmunt’s Column, which was
erected by King Wladyslaw IV in 1644 to honor his father, King Sigismund III
Vasa. We walked from there past the Cathedral of St John to the Market Square.
The last time I had been in the market square, it had been very cold and had snowed the night before. The Mermaid of Warsaw had been under repair and enclosed in a wooden case. This time, there were cafes on the square and the Mermaid (which has a fountain at her base) was in her glory. We were shown a film in one of the buildings on the square about Warsaw’s destruction and reconstruction.
We were taken to an amber shop and then given some free
time. Since I love amber (which is prominent in the Baltic region), I did buy
some jewelry. Then I had plenty of time to roam around the square, where I also
picked up a Polish dagger and a small knight in armor (who stands on a table in
the corner of the bedroom I use as my library – I have always wanted a suit of
armor in the corner of a library).
On our way back to the hotel, we passed by the Tomb of the Unknowns. Then Heike, Debbie, Charmaine and I met up just outside of U Szwejka for our authentic Polish dinner. If we had been aware of the size of the meal, we probably would have ordered two meals and split them. But we ordered four meals, consisting of a half of a baked duck, baked apples, beets, coleslaw, and stuffing. The photo included here is from the restaurant’s website, since I didn’t have my camera with me. The platter in the photo looks small than what I remember. The platter was more the size of a platter that would be used for the turkey at Thanksgiving and/or Christmas. The beers were also gigantic. One glass was nearly the size of a pitcher at most places. I was relieved that dessert was not included. If it had been, I might have exploded.
We waddled out of the place about an hour and a half after
we were seated. We had taken our time to get through it all. Instead of
immediately going back to the hotel next door, we took a walk to settle all of
that food down in our stomachs. Despite being full to brimming with food, we
stopped in at a grocers and picked up some supplies for the next couple of
days.
Our last stop in Poland was the town of Augustow, where we stopped for lunch. Heike, Charmaine and I wanted a relatively light lunch after the prior night’s dinner, so we stopped in at a cafeteria, where we could see what we were getting and just get small amounts. I tried a Kratocze, which was a potato dumpling with a minced meat filling. It came with a small side of coleslaw. I selected a fruit drink that ended up being quite thick and very, very sweet (which I couldn’t tell before drinking it). I left most of it behind. We found Debbie after lunch and explored some of the town before we needed to leave. There was a small park with a statue of the founding king (Sigismund II Augustus) and a war memorial.
