The Hanseatic League: Baltic Republics

---

Actually there is a common theme to my recent blogs...merchants. On the Silk Road we followed merchants over land. In the Baltics we find the Hanseatic League, the merchants of the northern seas. Moving merchandize had always been easier over sea than land...that's why the Silk Road was abandoned when the sea route between Europe and Asia was found. Earlier in my life I learned that the cost of shipping from England to Boston during the age of sailing ships was cheaper than the cost from Boston to only 30 miles inland. That's quite a difference, and the merchants of the north had it nailed.

I also learned that the best time to travel the Silk Road...we had delightful sunny weather the entire three weeks...is not the best time to visit the Baltic Republics.

9 April 2013 Tuesday. We cleared customs and immigration in Tashkent (they didn't check our hotel receipts which we had been told to keep, otherwise we would have problems leaving the country) and caught our 5:20 am AirBaltic flight to Riga, Latvia. We arrived there at 8:40 am and were greeted with fog, zero visibility, and constant drizzle. That has been the weather situation for the entire time here. It's a good thing I had booked hotels in the center of the Old Towns, thereby minimizing walking in the rain.

We changed money...here it was $2/lat...kind of a reverse of Uzbekistan...and took a taxi to the hotel. The town looked very shabby and dreary (of the three Baltic capitals, Tallinn looked the most prosperous, followed by Vilnius). Our hotel room was miniscule...not a great introduction to Riga. After an early siesta due to lack of sleep the previous night, we caught a taxi to McDonalds. The taxi cost almost as much as the ride from the airport, and we soon learned that the fares within the Old Town are much more expensive...$10 just to start. We were not going to take any more taxis! The reason for the taxi was that we had to get there by 10:30 am for their breakfast meal. We got there in time, but McDonalds in Latvia does not serve breakfasts. Indeed we had to study their menu to see all the differences from a Stateside menu. We managed to identify the hamburgers we wanted.

Following the early lunch we walked through the Old Town back to our hotel. We took a few pictures of the churches and other important sights, and walked around a mall for awhile, but nothing took our fancy. Back at the hotel we rested until dinner time. The hotel recommended a steak house just down the street; advice we took. Dinner at least was great.

The day ended early back at the hotel, Skyping home, doing other internet stuff, and finishing the book.

10 April 2013 Wednesday. We slept in, had the free breakfast offered by the hotel, which was ok, and then walked over to the bus station for our noon departure via Ecolines to Vilnius, Lithuania. The bus was very nice...reclining seats, power outlets, and Wi-Fi...Will was busy the entire four hours. I spent the time watching the dreary snow covered landscape pass by. Once at the bus station in Vilnius, we exchanged money for the taxi, and were soon delivered to our hotel, which was a converted monastery. Our room was only slightly larger than the previous one in Riga. Our hotel recommended restaurants...we picked the German one right across the street. Their schnitzel was to die for...and huge portions like in Germany. I couldn't finish mine, but Will was starved so had no problem finishing his.

11 April 2013 Thursday. We had the whole day to explore. First on our agenda was to visit a law school that Will was interested in applying to. This university had a cooperative program with a university in Ghent, Belgium. The two year course would grant two master of law degrees...total cost of tuition for two years was $7500! Try that in the States! Will talked to their admissions people who were very encouraging. He asked me whether there was any skiing around given all the snow. I told him that cross country skiing was popular. That's not the kind of skiing he had in mind. I did mention to him that there were a lot of beautiful girls, and he responded that there are beautiful girls in every country. It's nice to see he doesn't stereotype. Anyway, we'll see how that turns out.

We then took a taxi back to the Old Town area, again taking in the sights, and looking for a place to eat lunch. We settled on the German restaurant again...but I had goulash soup hoping that would be enough. So our exploration of the Old City was again constrained to the area near the hotel, which was enough.

My right foot had been hurting me for a few days, and I realized that it wasn't due to my broken ankle, but felt a lot like gout. So I took my gout medicine, hoping that would clear it up. If the first dose of three pills doesn't work, then I take another dose on Sunday.

12 April 2013 Friday. This was an all day travel day departing Vilnius at 7:30 am, changing buses in Riga, and arriving in Tallinn Estonia at 4:30 pm. The bus on the first leg didn't have power outlets, so Wi-Fi only lasted as long as the battery. We had a quick lunch of ham and pickle sandwiches in the 15 minute layover in Riga. The second bus had power and Wi-Fi. Again, the day for me was spent looking at the dreary flat countryside.

In Tallinn, we exchanged money for Euros...I wish all these countries used euros as I wouldn't have to worry about ending up with not enough or too much when leaving each country. At least with euros, I can give the balance to Will since he will be living in Rome for the next couple of months. Our hotel is right in the center of the Old Town so after checking in to our spacious hotel room, we went looking for dinner. After checking many menus of very good restaurants, Will settled on Italian. The food was authentic so Will was especially delighted...he ate a whole pizza which would normally have fed two. My carbonara was great. There was some sort of medieval festival going on so that added and interesting dimension to the Old Town.

13 April 2013 Saturday. We had the whole day in Tallinn. By now we were desperate to get some laudry done, as previous hotels only had two day service...in other words, no service at all. We Googled "Laundromats Tallinn" and found one nearby. So once our two loads were in the washers, Will headed for the mall to check out the inventory. He learned that the designer Italian jacket that sold for $100 in Beijing was 100 euros here...the sadness of missed opportunities. I suggested he wait until he gets to Rome to buy Italian clothing.

While he was away, I struck up a conversation with a woman wearing an Old Navy T-shirt with an American flag. I said "I like your flag." She asked if I was an American...and the conversation went on from there. She is an oncologist and had been to the States. The one important nugget of information I obtained was that there is no good time to visit the Baltics and Finland...the weather is always grey and raining. We thought that about living in Germany and Belgium for eighteen years.

After doing our laundry we returned to our hotel to write this blog and nominate two songs by the Vogues and one by Bobby Vee for Song of the Week...we are on V. About 3 pm we headed out to get pictures of the Old Town around us and to have either a late lunch (for Will...we went out alone for dinner later) or early dinner (for me) at an Estonian restaurant...we both had fish in recognition of the nearby source of our food in the Baltic Sea.

As for the odd hours of eating, I'm hoping I won't have to adjust to Mountain Time when I get home since I don't have any set schedule for eating or sleeping.

After eating we went our separate ways as I had shopping to do...to buy something for my grandson, Liam. I found a nice Estonian knit sweater. Then I returned to the hotel for the remainder of the evening. I didn't sleep well thinking of all the issues that awaited me when I got home, and wondering whether the hotel would wake us up at 5:45 am so that we would catch the 7:30 am ferry to Helsinki in time...they didn't.

---

Photos

Vilnius Old Town
Our monastery hotel was down this street

Ecolines Bus from Riga to Tallinn
and on to St Petersburg

Comments

[Maisondubonheur]

Bob....come on Mc Donalds....
Bear in mind....since we arrived in Buenos Aires in July....the kids have managed one Burger King...and not a single McDo...with me! We are heading that way in a few months...good to see they have wifi on buses...that will keep my addiction to TB on...and touring places with hopefully no rain...normally rain never travel with us....we wish! So, what's next? And tell Will....it's not how they look that count...it's how they (sorry, no more wifi)...

[roamingfox]

Lovely historic town
Sounds like you have had a wonderful time, Bob. Tallinn reminds me a bit of Bavaria in Germany.

[D MJ Binkley]

Yum schnitzel
Although I imagine McDonald's tasted good to Will after his illness. Nothing wrong with that. Sometimes you need to familiar or comfort foods. Ham and pickle sandwiches sounds interesting. What kind of pickles. Love the fact that you had time to post on Song of the week. Good job.