It was our very first locally-guided tour on our two week Baltic odyssey when the guide said ‘Remember, we are the Baltics, not the Balkans’. Do you think that I, or any of my fifteen tour-mates, wasn’t stuck with the ‘Balkans’ for the next few days? Like an ear-worm but more embarrassing.
That guide was also very careful to refer to ‘re-establishing independence’ to remind us that Estonia had a brief period of independence after WW1. She used ‘Russification’ to refer to the Soviet era in her country.
Everywhere we went there were little — or not so little — reminders about the war over Ukraine. Everyone I met in the Nordic countries, the Baltics (not Balkans) and Central Europe is nervous. They are all glad they are members of NATO and the EU although some were fearful that the NATO obligations would not be met if they were threatened by the Russian Government. Below and left are pics of a semi-permanent protest in Old Town, Tallinn, capital of Estonia (note the ‘bloody’ nappies). In Vilnius, a large banner hanging on an apartment block read: ‘Putin, The Hague is waiting for you.’
Tallinn’s Old Town is lovely. The first night it — and we — got hammered by the edges of Storm Boris. As hard and wet as I’ve ever seen rain. But at least Tallinn didn’t flood nearly as badly as its neighbours, Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic.
Each of the three Baltic (not Balkans) States have their own war memorials and KGB museums (as have all the countries I’ve visited on this trip). The living conditions were all horrific but the one in Tallinn had this solitary confinement n which the occupant could not even sit down. What you can see in the photo (right) is all there is. And yes, it snows in Tallinn (but less than it used to).
Next day we took a ferry and visited a couple of Estonian islands. One had a folk museum, unfortunately closed on the day we were there. Originally it was a farm belonging to a famous Baltic (not Balkan) author. They celebrate artists and authors in this part of the world in a way that we in Australia most certainly do not (as I write we are waiting to know if one of Australia’s truly under-regarded authors has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature). In this part of the world they also commission really good sculptures of their artistic heroes. It became quite a theme during my travels.
And they celebrate writers: this is a laneway in Vilnius where artists have been commissioned to make art about their favourite writers (left).
On the Estonian island of Saareemaa there’s a storybook castle. ‘The Bishop’s Palace’ was occupied for hundreds of years by — you guessed it — Bishops. Until they began to be killed off. One of the Bishops built a Panic Room after his predecessor was murdered in his bed.
Tartu is a university town in Estonia. Their mascot/symbol is the kissing students symbolising how education can lead to love. Tartu also has other lovely public art like the mural (left) Oh, and Baltic countries really prize music too. Everywhere we went we could hear music schools learning and practicing.
Much of the street art is in memory of the times when the Nazis or Soviets occupied the Baltics. Arguably the most poignant are the footprints that can be found in all three Baltic states. They symbolise ‘The Baltic Way’, when a line of 1.5 million people, holding hands, stretched 660 kilometres across all three countries: Estonia, through Latvia and over Lithuania to get the message to the Soviets that the people wanted, indeed expected, independence.
They do cemeteries and memorials well in this part of the world.
The Hill of Crosses commemorates those lost during the Nazi and Soviet occupations.
Lithuania was the last of the Baltics to turn from Paganism to Christianity, but there are still magical traces of Paganism.
In Vilnius, Lithuania, they also have a KGB museum. Apparently it was nicer to live in after Stalin’s death.
They got a library, for instance.
And beds. But it was still prison.
Have you noticed there’s a small piece of Russia between Poland and Lithuania? This (right) is the border between this Russian territory and Lithuania. And there’s a map to prove it.
And here are some other nice Baltic (not Balkan) images.
.
So next? Perhaps the Balkans!