Raising a Glass to Peace

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Hello my fellow travellers!

I had plenty of time before my bus to Narva would leave so me and Kristiiina went for a lovely blueberry pancake served with bacon and after that we took another small tour of Tartu, this time walking around to the other side of the river which was nice since it gave me the opportunity to see some of the areas we didn't visit yesterday.

After that we said our goodbyes and I hopped on the bus and the ride to Narva went well, although I shared seat with this very talkative Russian lady who honestly kind of bugged me, complaining about me writing and watching movie instead of enjoying the landscape which honestly wasn't very impressive along this road.

When I arrived in Narva my new host Roman was waiting for me at the station. We began by visiting the main castle of Narva, Hermanni Linnus, originally founded in 1256 by the Danes as well as taking a look the opposing fortress of Ivangorodskaya Krepost on the Russian side built in 1492, the two fortifications truly embody the age old battle between Sweden and Russia.

I was really looking forward to going to Narva since this is the site of one of the most important battles in Swedish history. On November 19th 1700 the Russians were besieging the Swedish fort here with a force of 40.000 men. The city garrison numbered only 2.500 men and meanwhile the Swedish King Charles XII was hurrying towards the battlefield with a relief force of 8.000 men.

Before the battle could begin a massive blizzard hit the field and because of that the Russians didn't expect the Swedes to commit to battle but rather stood down, however that turned out to be a dire mistake as the Swedes marched through the blizzard and came within 50 paces of the Russians before opening up in a deadly volley. As the Russian line broke and the remaining forces retreated the Narva Bridge collapsed in under them. The battle turned into a slaughter and some estimates are that 18.000 of the Russian soldiers died and the rest surrendered. The Russian force of 40.000 men was completely wiped out and in return the Swedes lost only 667 dead and 1.247 wounded.

So, mildly put I was very excited for this visit, unfortunately Roman is the opposite of Kristiina though, he hates Narva and he wasn't all that eager to walk around and talk about the various sites and it's peoples and history. Sure, he did humour me when I wanted to go and check out something new but you could tell that it wasn't something he really wanted to do.

We returned quite promptly to his apartment and I dropped of my bag and we rested for a short while before we went out for a beer at a bar down by the riverside. While we were there we ran into a couple of friends of Roman and they were nice and one of them bought a beer for me and we all chatted for a moment but most of the conversations was held in Russian so I felt a bit like a 5th or possible 6th wheel here. Still, it was nice to drink a beer with some Russians sine they used to be one of Sweden's arch enemies and Narva is the site of one of the bloodiest battles ever fought between our nations it is a perfect image of how far we've come in the 300 years that have passed since the battle.

We stayed there for a while, them chatting and me drinking until Roman wanted to leave. As we left I told him that I had read about a monument called the Swedish Lion and asked if he could take me there and he kindly agreed which I am very happy that he did because the spot where the lion stands gives a glorious view of the two opposing forts and you can feel the historic animosity that they stand for between Sweden and Russia.

Roman and his friends are all Russians living in Narva. As far as I understand most of the people in Narva identify as Russians rather than as Estonian. Roman didn't even remember the Estonian language, that's how little it's used here.

From the Swedish Lion we went to the beautiful cathedral Narva Aleksandri Suurkirik which also looks like something out of a fantasy novel, though not as grand as the last one I visited in Siauliai.

Once we felt satisfied with traversing the streets and visiting churches, monuments and fortifications we returned to Roman's apartment and went to bed.

Tomorrow he will take me to a smaller town near the coast called Narva Jöesuu. It's his favourite spot in the area so I look forward to visiting it, he also told me of a ghost town we'll be visiting which sounds awesome! That all came about as we passed an abandoned building earlier today and I expressed interest in it and Roman also has an interest in such places. I hope it will give us a good chance to bond a bit closer since we haven't really gotten to know each other today.

I have to admit that while we have talked a bit and had some interesting discussions about deeper topics he feels rather distant and often falls silent. I try my best to engage in conversation with him but so far it has been a bit of a struggle to keep the conversation flowing. I hope that tomorrow will change that as we visit some places he likes and have an interest in.

Until tomorrow I wish you all peace and happy travels!

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Comments

[Ake Och Emma]

Totally convinced that the Baltics will be a future destination
The more I see from your blogs the more convinced I get that it would be a great idea to spend a month there. Not this year though. Next summer maybe. /Ake

[A Small Swede in the Big World]

Totally convinced that the Baltics will be a future destination
It certainly should be, I hope you have better luck with the weather than me though. ^_^