By KULBHUSHAN KAIN
When I travel, some of my friends think that I do that by just booking my tickets, procuring my visas, packing some clothes and then heading for the airport. That is the furthest from the truth one can go! Every trip of mine is planned very minutely. I have never availed the services of a travel agent. My tickets for this trip (in June), were booked in February, and I applied for my visa at the same time. Not just the tickets and visa- I had to book my accommodation in advance in 5 different cities, (I avoid staying with relatives, friends or ex-students) bus tickets, my ferry tickets, the itinerary of places I am visiting, (what day, whether it is forenoon or afternoon), the places where I am likely to eat, downloading metro stops, and their distance from where I would stay- all of these are put down on my computer notes. Apart from that my foreign exchange card, my credit and debit cards are all tested and tried at ATMs. I carry very little hard cash. A single slip can waste a lot of time and resources when abroad. For example a charger for your phone and computer. In America the charging points are different from the charging points in India and Europe. One needs to carry an international charging device that can fit into multiple sockets!!.Then there are sim cards. I don’t take Indian sims- they are very expensive when one uses them abroad. Instead I take prepaid sims /e sims which are available at all foreign airports. And of course the clothes one needs – one has to be careful because you can’t carry more than 23 kgs! The end product is you seeing me on Instagram walking in and out of airports with my trolley bag, wearing Ray Ban shades!!. It takes a lot to get that photo.!!
My friends often ask me why I chose Finland and the Baltic States since I had a visa which entitled me to travel anywhere in Europe. My answer- Finland and the Baltic States are typically Eastern European states with remnants of Communist Russian influence and retain much of their original self. The Russians were not too interested in building swank new buildings and shopping centers like what happened in Western Capitalist Europe. My trips to Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Belarus opened my eyes to beautiful old buildings, churches, ruins, castles, forests and forest roads. Moreover what prompted me the most was that in school I used to read books written by Captain WE Johns. He is a legendary and popular writer and wrote many books on a fictitious pilot called “Biggles”. I read all the books written by him. One particular book was titled “Biggles in the Baltics”. I always had a dream to see the Baltic states and sail on the Baltic sea.!! Moreover as a student of European history in Delhi University, I had read about Latvia and its capital Riga which resonated with yet another memory. A dark one. It was about Herberts Albert Cukurs who was a Latvian aviator and Nazi collaborator who carried out the largest mass murders of Latvian Jews during Nazi occupation of Latvia. He was called “the butcher of Latvia”. Cukurs was identified in Brazil, and in 1965, assassinated by Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel. I was keen to visit it.
I boarded the Viking Ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn across the Baltic Sea. The journey takes about 2.30 hours, and there is food, free Wi-Fi and a duty free shop on board. All through the journey, the schoolboy in me kept smiling and saying ‘See ,what you dreamt of is now a reality!”
Another question many ask is as to which is better as a city –Tallinn or Riga?
Such questions are always a problem to answer. Both cities have interesting, and different features. From architectural diversity point of view, Riga has more to offer. Tallinn is more compact. You’ll see soviet time heritage very close to the center and old-town. Tallinn is a fairy tale place.. You feel like you are ages back as everything in the old town is like in the past. In the old town you will see horse carriages accompanied by horses’ hooves clattering over the cobble stones; young Estonians dressed up as knaves and ladies of the castle advertising the traditional restaurants, and vendors selling traditional herbs. Everything has a touch of the medieval. People seem a little bit more friendly but this is because it is more touristy. Tallinn would be more alluring for tourists with a penchant for history and nostalgia. I had made a list of all the places I wanted to see and I started ticking them off one by one. We entered the old town through the Viru Gate and then walked the St Catherine’s Passage, which is one of the prettiest little walkways in all of Old Town. We kept crossing the Town Hall square because all roads leave and merge into it. The Town Hall square itself is a fabulous place with lots to eat, drink and buy. We visited the Town Hall Pharmacy, the Kalev Marzipan Museum, the Holy Ghost Church, the Nevsky Church, St Marys Cathedral, the Patkuli Stairs, St Olaf Church, and many other places. I had hot chocolate in a 400 year old café playing live violin music!!!
Riga is flat with the big river Daugava splitting it into half. It is slightly different from Tallinn because of its mix of old and new – the Art Nouveau buildings on Alberta Iela is a must see, (roads in Latvia are called “Iela”, just as they are called “via” in Italy and “rue” in Montreal!). Both Riga and Tallinn are brilliant and worth seeing. It is easy and possible to see both. The distance is 4.5 hours by bus and if you visit in summer the days are long and the drive is beautiful.
In Riga one can’t miss the House of the Blackheads (known for its stunning architecture and the symbol of the city’s past wealth and cultural heritage), the Riga Central Market, the Riga Cathedral which is the iconic landmark in the heart of Riga. There are boat rides, iconic food joints (Lido), dances, nightclubs with naughty men and women, the remnants of the Jewish quarters and the ghetto ….the list is endless.
As night silently encroached and I sat sipping beer with Lienne in the Old Town, she asked me why I was in the Baltics. I gave her the same reasons as I have listed above.
It was my turn to ask her the same question – given the choice would she ever leave Riga for lets say Paris or London?
She was quick to respond:
“I love the beach. I was born in Riga. I grew up on the Baltic Sea. I love the water. I love surfing and swimming. I love to see the ships sailing into the setting sun in the far horizon”.
She then looked at the lovely grilled salmon we were having and put a large chunk of it into her mouth and said
“I love the fish”.
(Kulbhushan Kain is an award winning educationist with more than 4 decades of working in schools in India and abroad. He is a prolific writer who loves cricket, travelling and cooking. He can be reached at kulbhushan.kain@gmail.com)
