Homage to the Fallen

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Hello my fellow travellers!

Well, today I unfortunately wasted pretty much half the day waiting for Roman. As I said yesterday the plan for today was to go to Narva Joesuu and visit a ghost town on his recommendation. While waiting for this he played some FEAR 3 with me watching, I knew he liked the game and I wanted us to get along and bond so that's what I did. After that we watched first a Russian action movie called Brothers 2 and then a Swedish comedy called Cockpit. So pretty much a very slow start to the day, granted, I didn't really feel like there was a great many places to visit in Narva so I just tried to enjoy the slower pace.

The problem is that once the time came rolling around to actually go to Narva Joesuu Roman cancelled and said he had to go to his relatives instead. So we took company in to the centre and we split up at Narva Raekoda, the town hall. I was a bit of a loss on what to do now, I saw the fortifications and castle yesterday as well as the cathedral so I checked online what else might be here. My eyes fell on a sign for Victoria Bastionide, I had asked Roman about them yesterday but he said it was just a concrete wall. With nothing else to do I decided to go there and check it out. It's actually a bastion built by Erik Dahlberg and it was used during the Great Northern War. It seemed quite interesting, but even though it was open you could only go inside with a guided tour and there was no more of those being held today, great.

Instead I opted to go for Saksa Sõdurite Kalmistu, a German war cemetery, and the various war memorials around the city. First of I visited Bratskaya Mogila, which translates to the brotherly grave, it's a monument to all of the fallen soldiers of World War II. It's located close to Victoria Bastionide and It's a nice monument, situated in a serene park. Laying at the foot of the monument is a rusty helmet of one of the men who fell in the Battle of Narva, a quiet homage to those that gave their lives. This was a site of some of the fiercest fighting on the eastern front during the war. They are still finding bodies from this battle and interring them in their respective cemeteries around Narva.

From there I took a walk out to Saksa Sõdurite Kalmistu which is situated in a beautiful spot overlooking the river and it feels like a dignified final resting place for these brave young men who died so far from home. There are hundreds of crosses spread across the fields as well as several large plaques with names of the fallen inscribed on them. Don't let the number of crosses fool you though, each cross represents many fallen, I think the highest I saw was eight inscribed on the same cross and I expect there are crosses with more than that. Many of the men laying underneath these crosses are still unidentified, it is their names that are inscribed on the plaques that are stating that the men are resting somewhere on this field. There are many plaques, with many names, and it's hard to really grasp the scale of how many that lie buried here.

After the cemetery I was contemplating to go to the T-34 that stands in the spot where the Soviet forces managed to break through the German defensive line during the Battle of Narva. I opted out if this because it was quite far away and due to the fact half my day was wasted I unfortunately didn't have the time to go there and I couldn't find any timetable for the bus going that direction.

Instead I returned to the centre to see a memorial plaque of July 26 1944 when Narva was liberated, it is centrally located at Peetri Plats, the main square, and adorned with flowers. It's a nice spot and worth a visit while you are here. After that I took a peek at Narva Issanda Ülestõusmise Peakiriku Kogudus, a cathedral dedicated to the resurrection of Christ. After all that I sat down for a moment, opposite former chess master Paul Keres (or his statue at least).

I started to feel pretty hungry and so I went into a restaurant for some good barbecue and actually ended up meeting Roman's Russian friends from yesterday so we shared another beer and a bit of conversation before I returned to Roman's place.

I think the day turned out quite all right despite the slow start, I just wish that I'd have more time to also visit the T-34 and perhaps go to Sillimäe which is a small town outside of Narva which used to have Soviet uranium mines that are now abandoned. Still, it was a good day traversing Narva and seeing the remnants and monuments to those that fell here some 70 years ago.

Tomorrow I will go to Tallinn and I will leave earlier than I first planned, taking the earliest bus possible to get there and have as much time as possible in the capital of Estonia.

Until tomorrow I wish you all peace and happy travels!

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Comments

[Ake Och Emma]

Did you visit any battle sites or monuments from the battle 1700?
There was a big battle in Narva in the year 1700 involving Swedish troops. Did you visit an sites related to that?/Ake

[A Small Swede in the Big World]

Did you visit any battle sites or monuments from the battle 1700?
Yes, the day before I visited the Swedish Lion that was raised in commemoration of that battle. The 1700 battle was the main reason why I went to Narva. :-)