Vinayak Hegde

Several months before when I was researching for my trip, I came across some photos of this place on Flickr. It looked interesting enough to photograph (because of the statues and the history of the place). I had no idea of how to get to this place, though it looked close enough from Riga (18 Kms south-west). Again after posting on CS board, LP volunteered to drive me to this place.

Salaspils (Literally “Island Castle” in Latvian) is quiet residential suburb of Riga now. But during World War II, it was a Nazi concentration camp used for killing Jews and enemies of Germany. It was particularly infamous as a large percentage of inmates were children separated from adult who died in the abysmal living conditions in the camp. Today the graves of children are marked by small dolls hanging on them (see pic below). The Salaspils memorial in 1967 was built to remember those who died in the concentration camp. The inscription on the gate to the memorial reads “Behind this gate the earth groans” (see pic below).

LP was giving me a lesson in history when we were visiting the memorial park. Latvia has been occupied alternately by Russia and Germany through the course of history. Whenever these countries were at war, there was forced conscription in Latvia. LP’s father had four brothers. It so happened that one of LP’s uncle was fighting with the Germans while his brother was fighting in the Russian when Latvia was invaded by Germany during World War II.

I was planning to hitchhike from Parnu, Estonia across the international border to Riga, Latvia but better sense prevailed and eventually I dropped the idea. In Latvia, I stayed with another couchsurfer JE. JE was an interesting guy – 20 years old, just out of college, optimistic about the future of his country (considering the multiyear deep recession in his country) and a budding politician. I was asking many questions on Latvia CS group when he offered to host me. He was really curious about India (I found a lot of people in Latvia who were curious about India and were keen to know more). Much of the information he knew about India was from the documentary series “The Story of India” by Michael Wood.

Riga, the capital of Latvia is like a live architectural exhibition. The Daugava river that runs through the center of the city provides a magnificent backdrop to this beautiful city. The city is especially famous for it’s German Art Nouveau Architecture and is recognized as World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Latvia has been alternately been occupied by Germany and Russia over the last millennium before it’s independence. The video below shows it beautifully in the form of a cartoon.

Riga has the finest collection of Art Nouveau buildings in all of Europe. One of the unique aspects of German Art Nouveau is the use of faces and floral pattern in the facades of the buildings. In fact it is downright spooky as you see the faces on the building facades peer back at you in a variety of contorted expressions.

View Larger Panoramic Version stitched from 6 photos

While moving on from Tallinn, I had two choices of places to visit in Estonia – Tartu and Parnu. Tartu is charming little university inland from Tallinn. The other choice was Parnu – a historical beach-side sea resort and Estonia’s summer capital. I chose to go to Parnu as it would allow me to get to Riga (my next destination in neighboring Latvia) easily. Also during the summer, Tartu would would be pretty much dead silent.

Parnu Breakwaters

Luckily for me, I got a CS host (I stayed in a tent in his backyard as his house was small) in Parnu. During the day I went around Parnu Town and visited the beach. While enquiring tourist bureau in Parnu, I came to know I was apparently the second Indian to visit Parnu that year. Later in the day, JP (my CS host) took me to Parnu Breakwaters. The Parnu breakwaters at the mouth of the Parnu river extend 5kms into the sea from either side of the banks of the river. They were built over 10 – 11 years in the 1800s. As you walk towards the small lighthouses at the end of the backwaters into the sea you can see stones marked with roman numerals (see pic below) marking the years in which certain parts of the breakwaters were completed.

Swamps of Parnu

While chatting with JP, he offered to take me to a swamp nearby. Since I did not rent a car, I had pretty much given any hope of visiting the Baltic Islands or inland swamps so visiting one was a pleasant surprise. Estonia is a flat country with the lowest point being the Baltic sea at 0m and the highest being Suur Munamägi at 318 m. Being a flat country there are a bumber of large swampy areas (such as the Soomaa National Park). It was getting late in the day so we had to rush but we reached just before sunset to catch a glimpse. Many Estonians are nature worshippers and JP was one of them. They believe that the swamps are places of negative energy and people stay away from them. The swamp were really lifeless with only small grass growing on the surface and no life (not even frogs or insects in the water logged areas).

The Kadriorg Palace

The Kadriorg Palace was built by Peter the Great (1672 A.D – 1725A.D) for his empress Katherine. It was inspired by Italian Villas and is a fine example of Baroque Architecture. Today it houses the Art Museum of Estonia. It is surrounded by beautiful gardens. The surrounding area has been a popular tourist area for centuries.

The Song Festival

The All-Estonian Song Festival (Laulupidu) happens in Tallinn once every five years (last held in 2009) and is one of the largest choral events in the world with more than 25,000 people singing together (with an audience of more than 80,000) – for comparison’s sake, the population of Estonia is 1.3 Million. Singing traditional songs passed down generations is an important ingredient of Estonian Culture. The Singing Revolution in which several hundred thousand participated in singing the national anthem on the Song Festival Grounds from 1988 till 1991 was instrumental in mobilizing people for the Estonian Independence movement.

Trivia – Gustav Ernesaks (Photo Below)- a prominent Composer and Choir Leader was the initiator and general leader of the Song Festival for nearly half a century. He composed the Estonian National Anthem. Ironically, he also composed the Anthem of the Estonian SSR.

Maarjamäe War Memorial

The Maarjamäe War Memorial complex is a cement-filled park similar in its imposing style to other large complexes created in the USSR in the 1960s by the Russian Government to honor soldiers killed in World War II.

Tallinn – The Capital of Estonia is where the old meets the new and the new celebrates the old. The Old Town is still very well preserved and has been restored after independence. The Old Town is enclosed on all sides by medieval towers that give it fairytale castle look. The Old Town of Tallinn is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Old Town is more than 1000 years old and traces of settlement more than 5000 years old have been found in the archaeological digs. Tallinn has a rich history ranging from being the northernmost member of the Hanseatic league to the origins of present day Tallinn which was built by the Knights of the Teutonic Order. The Old Town has lots of small delightful restaurants in what seems like a labyrinth of small lanes. I had a shrimp pancake at a one-such small family-run restaurant aptly named “The Kompressor”. There are lot of people catering to the tourists especially from Helsinki and Germany selling everything from Almonds to Cold Drinks.

Walking through the Old Town, you notice the unusual names of streets and landmarks such as Long leg (Pikk jalg), Short leg (Lühike jalg) and Fat Margaret’s Tower. The best views of the Tallinn can be seen from St Olaf’s Church (which was once the world’s tallest church) and Toompea Hill on which the Old Town stands.

Another beautiful attraction in the Old Town in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral – A Russian Orthodox Church built during the Russification of the country when Estonia was part of the Russian Empire (early 20th century). Ironically, after the Bolshevik Revolution, the USSR became officially non-religious and the church was left to decline. The Church was restored back to it’s former glory after Estonia became independent.