Vinayak Hegde

After doing a longish stopover in Helsinki for three and a half days, I took the Linda Line Cruise into Tallin, Estonia – A distance of just 80 kms across the Baltic Sea. While planning the Europe trip, the Baltics were never part of the plan. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were part of the USSR before it disintegrated in 1991. As a young kid I saw this on TV, as the USSR broke into independent states. At that point, I was saddened (Remember Misha – the Russian Kids Magazine ? ) as it probably meant I would not get any of the cheap Russian books that I had grown accustomed to. Over the years, I had been following the news about new-born states as some fell into chaos and dictatorship and some prospered as they broke the shackles of communism and the USSR and adopted free-market policies. This was a great chance to visit them and see for myself. As I started reading about them, I got more and more interested and decided to visit them all for a brief while.

I traveled through the Baltics from the north to south before flying to the North of Norway (Tromso – north of the Arctic Circle). I traveled through the cities of Tallinn and Parnu (Estonia), Riga, Salaspils, Liepaja and Cesis (Latvia) and Vilnius and Trakai (Lithuania). Though the Baltic countries have shared history and close ties they are different in several ways from each other.

Estonia is a confident country that has wholeheartedly adopted new technologies and free market policies. I met several people in Estonia who were planning to start their own businesses or already running them. The adoption of mobile, wireless technologies and Internet was high. Random factoid – The founders of Skype were from Estonia. It also helps that Finland is just across the Baltic seas so there is quite a bit of expertise and investment coming from across the border. Economic activity was buzzing and people were cheerful, friendly and optimistic about the future. They were well informed about the environment – An example was an internet mobilized cleanup of the forests – one of the largest in the world. Also most people were atheists (A survey suggested that Estonia had the highest percentage of atheists). Estonia has just 1.3 million people but for a small country it has achieved a lot in the last 2 decades since independence.

Latvia has the most fabulous (and most populous) capital – Riga – amongst the Baltic states. When I was there, it’s economy was going through a severe recession as the real estate bubble (fueled somewhat by money from the UK) had burst and the GDP had fallen a staggering 20+ percentage points. About half of Latvia’s population lives in Riga – which is also considered as one of the unofficial Capital of the Baltics. Riga is relatively modern. Riga is a photographer’s delight with wonderful architecture – right from the medieval ages to the bland Soviet style buildings to the swanky steel and glass towers of the 21st Century. Some of the local economy is fueled by the tourism from the UK (Notoriously young Britons who come to the Riga for sex and booze). Undeniably, Riga has a dark edgy underside which it tries to hide. However the people are friendly (almost everyone speaks English) though the older generation seems to be somewhat nostalgic (and conflicted) about the Soviet Era.

Lithuania seems more influenced by Eastern Europe (It shares a border with Poland in the South) than the Scandinavian countries. It’s beautiful capital Vilnius is rich in culture but seems more provincial and backward when compared to rest of the Baltics. Vilnius had a sizable population of Jews before World War II and was called Jerusalem of the North. Few people speak English and getting around is not very easy. Like Latvia, Lithuania was in the midst of a severe recession and it was apparent even in the city. I passed several factories that had closed down and a car factory that had it’s huge temporary parking space full of cars as people could no longer afford to buy them. There were dilapidated buildings around the outskirts (Where tourists typically never visit) and people still lived in cramped soviet style apartment blocks. Lithuania is still dependent on Russia for large amount of trade and there is a sizable Russian population in the country which is also represented in Parliament.

Soumenlinna (literally Finland’s Castle in Finnish) or Sveborg (Fortress of Svea in Sweden) is a UNESCO World Heritage site built on an a group of islands south-east of Helsinki in the Baltic sea. It is accessible by the water ferries that ply across the sea from Helsinki. The ramparts of the forts are star-shaped and consists of many fortifications made of large mounds of sand. (called Skansen in Swedish – literally meanings fortifications or fort walls).

The fortress itself is inhabited and there are a number of cafes and restaurants to cater to the gaggle of picnicking Helsinkians (Not Helsinkers !! however tempted you are to use that word !!). The fortress also has Finland’s smallest official beach just a few metres across (see below). Suomenlinna was used during the Second World War as one of Helsinki’s air surveillance centres and served as a garrison until 1972. Today it houses the Finnish Naval War Academy. It also houses the Helsinki open prison. A substantial part of the repairs to the walls, ramparts and buildings are carried out by convicts.

Interestingly, Soumenlinna was built by a Swedish King (when Finland was still a part of Sweden 250 years ago) to guard against Russia whose increasing maritime power in the Gulf of Finland made the Swedes uneasy. Soumenlinna contains a shipbuilding yard that is now defunct. The Soumenlinna Church was built originally in Greek Orthodox Style with five onion domes. Later it was converted into Lutheran Church (Most Finnish are Lutheran Christians). Today, the main dome of the church doubles up as a lighthouse. The light in the Lighthouse signals the morse code for the letter ‘H’ (for Helsinki) and is one of the first landmark for vessels approaching Helsinki.

Sibelius Monument

The Sibelius Monument (more info) is one of the must-see places in Helsinki. It is an interesting Abstract Art sculpture made by Eila Hiltunen to commemorate Jean Sibelius – A celebrated Finnish composer whose work was instrumental in the formation of the Finnish Identity. The Finlandia Concert Hall built by Alvar Alto is named after a one of his most famous compositions. The sculpture itself is made of acid-proof stainless steel pipes that are welded together individually to form the distinctive abstract shape.

The Helsinki Harbour

The Helsinki harbour is beautiful by night. The photo below (of a bridge and the power station) was taken while going to a Madonna concert that night.

Finland and Russia have a troubled past though relations are very cordial right now. Finland was a part of Russia for more than 100 years before it was annexed by Swedish Empire. Finland was attacked by Russia during World War II and some symbols of Russia in Helsinki (see photo below – the two-headed eagle in the Helsinki Harbour) still remind of this uneasy past. Russian Ships were docked in the harbour and heavily guarded when I visited it.

The Olympic Stadium

The Olympic Stadium in Helsinki (and the tall tower beside the stadium) are iconic. The stadium was built for hosting the 1940 Olympics which was canceled due to World War II but hosted the 1952 Olympics. The tall tower beside the stadium offers great views of the entire city. The Finnish football team was practicing when I visited it. On the board inside the stadium,there are quite a few recognizable names amongst those who have set records here – Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin (both Sprinters), Moses Kiptanui and Haile Gebrselassie (both have held several long distance running records). Outside the stadium, there is a statue of the “Flying Finn” – Paavo Nurmi – who has won 12 Olympic medals and is considered one of the greatest track and field athletes of all time.

Helsinki Cathedral

The Helsinki cathedral (or St. Nicholas’ Church) is the distinctive landmark in Helsinki with it’s green domes and and bright white exterior. It looks stunning standing on a top of a hill with stairs leading to it and is considered as the unofficial symbol of the Helsinki city.

Helsinki – The Capital of Finland and it’s most cosmopolitan city was the next stop on my trip through Finland. I arrived at Helsinki via train from Tampere. The train station is distinctive and clad in Finnish granite. The big entrance to the station features two pairs statues of either side holding the globes in their hands and is featured on almost all Finnish travel brochures. Helsinki is flanked in the north-east and north-west by Vantaa and Espoo and though they are different cities, they are practically suburban areas of Helsinki. Espoo also is the headquarters of Nokia. You have to combine Tata + Birla + Reliance in India to understand the importance of Nokia to Finland as it seemed that every 3rd person in Finland was employed with Nokia (atleast in the cities I travelled).

In Helsinki, my couchsurfing host was studying and working to become a nuclear scientist. It was interesting having conversations about physics, linux and other geek stuff with him. I would stay in Helsinki for 3 days eventually mostly walking around the city and taking pictures and talking to the locals. Helsinki is a pretty small city and it is possible to cover all the interesting places on foot and that is exactly what I did. It helped that most of the time I had a good company from local couchsurfers.

The Church in the Rock

The Church in the Rock (Temppeliaukion kirkkois - “Temple Square Church” in Finnish) one of the offbeat and must-see locations in Helsinki. It lives up to it’s name and looks like a a rock cave from the outside. From the inside, the huge roof looks like an overturned saucer and the from above it looks like a crashed flying saucer. Due to this, It is colloquially called as the “UFO church”. It has a minimalistic architecture and has great acoustics so concerts are held inside the church frequently.

Töölönlahti and the National Parliament

Töölönlahti is a bay located norwest of the central station and is a jogger’s paradise. It is natural park that is surrounded by Finlandia Concert hall and the National Opera (see below for the photo of Hooks used to hang coats in the cold winters). Various ducks and birds abound in this rare natural reserve in the center of a thriving city. The National Parliament building is pretty massive and right next to the National Museum. The Parliament annex has metal sculptures of strawberry plants and magnolias (see below)

The National Museum of Finland

Somone from Schmap noticed the photo below and it has was included in the schmap guide for the iPhone. Ironically I did not visit the museum as there were more interesting things to do that day.

During the last week of 2009, I, Swaroop, Varun and Ashwin travelled from Kaniyakumari (the southernmost point of peninsular India) to the sunny state of Goa. I did not do much photography on the trip. The exceptions being Bekal fort and the the backwaters of Kerala.

Bekal Fort is the largest and most well preserved of all the forts in Kerala. Bekal fort is more than 300 years old and was occupied by Hyder Ali and his more illustrious son Tipu Sultan. The fort occupies an area of about 40 odd acres and is beautifully preserved by the Archaeological Survey of India. One of the watchtowers of the fort stretches into the Arabian sea and looks like a giant keyhole while the other one in the center of the fort has a steep ramp to climb to the top. Both of these provide beautiful vistas of the Arabian Sea and the beautiful coastline.

It is a easy bus ride to Bekal fort (about 16 kms and ~40 minutes). Bekal also has a railway station and you can see the railway line skirting the open sea from one of the fort watchtowers. The song “Tu Hi Re” from the Mani Ratnam movie “Bombay” was shot here. While I was there, I saw several post-marriage videos being shot there (looks like they had been inspired by the movie).