Tallinn, August 17, 2011
It's all over. I rode into Tallinn two days ago, under grey, cold skies, getting hopelessly lost in the Stalinist suburbs that ring the lovely Old City, and now the bike is packed into a box, ready for tomorrow's flight back to Switzerland, and I'm reflecting on a summer well spent.
I rolled out of Riga on August 13th, after a night of sleep in the dorm disturbed by the cacophony of a band of drunken English stag party revellers. As I lay in my bunk in the morning, summoning the strength to get up, a face peered up at mine and said "Are you travelling on a bike? Are you leaving today? What direction are you going? Let's ride together! See you in the kitchen."
After that introduction, I did in fact spend the next two days riding with Ilya, the one and only long-distance Israeli bike tourist I've ever met. It was fun to have someone to talk to on the rather dull flat sections of highway ahead, and his GPS found us a couple of quieter highway sections near the coast. It was also good to have moral support dealing with a couple of Latvian drivers with serious road rage issues; one swerved off his exit ramp to come back to the highway and try to beat me up, because he actually had to slow down for me, but I cycled around him and he decided that discretion was the better part of lunacy. Ilya, who was born in Russia, thinks that it's because Latvia has so many Russians that you see such angry driving. As the day wore on, we began riding in a pace line, taking turns breaking the wind, and absolutely flew along at 27 km/h despite a slight headwind.
The weather threatened rain all morning, and our beach picnic saw us looking anxiously out to black clouds massing over the Baltic, but by the time we reached our campsite at Meleki, about 90 km north of Riga, it was sunny and warm. The campsite was easily the nicest since the Caucasus, and we swam in the Baltic (almost fresh water; less taste of salt than in most mineral water), cooked together and swapped stories from the road. The beach was deserted, part of a nature reserve, and was easily the nicest of the summer. It was a nice antidote to all the rainy, grey weather I'd had in the previous weeks.
After a long night of deep sleep, we awoke to grey skies and rolled out of our campsite towards the Estonian border along Sunday-morning-empty highways, and then two great side roads that kept us out of the traffic. The previous day we had seen no fewer than 11 bicycle tourists, and that day we saw 6, including a German couple with whom we played leapfrog all day along the road. In Parnu, Ilya turned off to head west to the coast, while I kept heading north on a beeline for Tallinn. Another 50 flat, dull kilometres, with heavy Sunday afternoon traffic heading north to Tallinn from the coast (carrying hundreds of expensive mountain bikes from a huge bike race), and I finally ended up camping for the last time this trip in the back corner of a fallow farmer's field, tormented by mosquitoes and horseflies, after a day of 145 km, the third-longest of the summer.
The ride into Tallinn was a bit of an anticlimax, under grey skies and with cold headwinds; my thermometer read 17 degrees, and it felt colder, so I rode in my GoreTex rain jacket just to keep warm. There was little to look at, and I managed to get hopelessly lost in the suburbs before finding the little island of Gothic loveliness that makes up Tallinn's Old Town.
I felt pretty worn out by the end of the trip, despite all the flat cycling of recent weeks. I think that I took fewer rest days this summer than I usually do, and as I careen down the slope of middle-aged physical mediocrity, I think my body needs more recovery time, not less. I spent yesterday dealing with my bike (new chain and rear cassette, new handlebar grips and tape, all the cables and housing replaced, and then packed neatly in a box, all done by the nice folks at Veloplus), finding a new hotel (accommodation is tight here in Tallinn, and I couldn't stay a third night at my hotel because of previous reservations) and generally schlepping around.
Today, my last full day in the city, has been a day of exploration, under brilliant blue skies that make the soaring Gothic spires and their gilded tops look even more breathtaking than usual. I visited the three big museums in town (Tallinn City, Estonian National and Occupation) and while I thought the first two were pretty good, I thought the Occupation Museum came a distant also-ran third in the Baltics behind similar establishments in Riga and Vilnius. The only real highlight was the final resting place of the Communist statues, down by the basement toilets, rather appropriately. Tallinn has a wonderful feel to it, with a bigger Old Town than Riga, although not quite as large as Vilnius, and it feels very wealthy, self-confident and culturally alive. Being the 2011 European Capital of Culture probably helps on the last count.
I got told off a couple of nights ago by a convenience store clerk for asking her a question in Russian instead of English. This struck me as hopelessly silly in a city that is 50% native Russian-speaking, where I hear as much Estonian as Russian being spoken around me, and where many of the older generation don't speak any English. I think there are still some thorny linguistic political issues to be sorted out here.
Although Riga gets most of the buzz in Western Europe for having the most beautiful women in Europe, an unscientific study undertaken from cafe tables and while walking through all three Baltic capitals suggests that it's not necessarily the case. I found Lithuania to be full of statuesque blonde women, while Estonia has more than its share of beauty of the human sort. One thing that I did hear from Latvians was that Riga, with its RyanAir connections and reputation as a place for British stag parties, is becoming well-known for what Manila and Bangkok have long been notorious: sex tourism. I don't know about that, but there definitely seemed to be a seedier edge to Riga's Old Town than I saw in either Vilnius or here in Tallinn.
On a much brighter note, as I was coming back to my hotel this afternoon, I saw a huge crowd gathered. I thought it might be a political demonstration, so I wandered over to have a look. Instead, it was a throng of thousands of Estonians gathered to hear the Dalai Lama. I had never heard him speak in person, and I was impressed with his message, his delivery and the reaction from the crowd. Hearing a message of compassion, right thinking, environmental concern and hope for the future was a welcome antidote to the dark clouds of history still swirling over the Bloodlands of eastern Europe. As always, the Chinese government thundered warnings of economic consequences to the Estonian government for letting the Dalai Lama visit Estonia, but with a long history of defying the might of another continental empire, the Estonians politely but firmly told the Chinese to bugger off. The Dalai Lama held out the Baltic independence movements of the 1980s as examples of right thinking and non-violence in action.
I have been generally impressed by the Baltic states. In 20 years, they have all made huge strides and distanced themselves socially, economically and physically from the other post-Soviet states. I am particularly impressed that these three tiny linguistic units (Lithuania has 3.3 million people, with 2.1 million in Latvia and only 1.3 million here in Estonia) have such vibrant publishing, broadcasting and cultural industries. I think that there are other larger, richer countries that could learn a few things about organizing a progressive, forward-looking society from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
So now that the summer's riding is over, I will probably have to do one more post on highlights and lowlights and future travel plans, but until then, I will leave this post as is and thank all of my loyal readers, whether I know you personally or not, for reading through my stories from the road. I hope that they have inspired some of you to undertake your own adventures of whatever sort appeals to you.
Peace and Tailwinds
Graydon
PS A couple of images that will stick in my mind from Tallinn. First are the old Russian ladies begging at the foot of the stairs leading to the Orthodox cathedral. The other, completely the opposite, is the sheer monetary excess involved in renting the Segway scooters: 32 euros an hour???? Cars, skis and computers don't cost that much to rent. I'm sure the Dalai Lama would have something to say about the contrast between these two images.
Tallinn, August 17, 2011
It's all over. I rode into Tallinn two days ago, under grey, cold skies, getting hopelessly lost in the Stalinist suburbs that ring the lovely Old City, and now the bike is packed into a box, ready for tomorrow's flight back to Switzerland, and I'm reflecting on a summer well spent.
I rolled out of Riga on August 13th, after a night of sleep in the dorm disturbed by the cacophony of a band of drunken English stag party revellers. As I lay in my bunk in the morning, summoning the strength to get up, a face peered up at mine and said "Are you travelling on a bike? Are you leaving today? What direction are you going? Let's ride together! See you in the kitchen."
After that introduction, I did in fact spend the next two days riding with Ilya, the one and only long-distance Israeli bike tourist I've ever met. It was fun to have someone to talk to on the rather dull flat sections of highway ahead, and his GPS found us a couple of quieter highway sections near the coast. It was also good to have moral support dealing with a couple of Latvian drivers with serious road rage issues; one swerved off his exit ramp to come back to the highway and try to beat me up, because he actually had to slow down for me, but I cycled around him and he decided that discretion was the better part of lunacy. Ilya, who was born in Russia, thinks that it's because Latvia has so many Russians that you see such angry driving. As the day wore on, we began riding in a pace line, taking turns breaking the wind, and absolutely flew along at 27 km/h despite a slight headwind.
The weather threatened rain all morning, and our beach picnic saw us looking anxiously out to black clouds massing over the Baltic, but by the time we reached our campsite at Meleki, about 90 km north of Riga, it was sunny and warm. The campsite was easily the nicest since the Caucasus, and we swam in the Baltic (almost fresh water; less taste of salt than in most mineral water), cooked together and swapped stories from the road. The beach was deserted, part of a nature reserve, and was easily the nicest of the summer. It was a nice antidote to all the rainy, grey weather I'd had in the previous weeks.
After a long night of deep sleep, we awoke to grey skies and rolled out of our campsite towards the Estonian border along Sunday-morning-empty highways, and then two great side roads that kept us out of the traffic. The previous day we had seen no fewer than 11 bicycle tourists, and that day we saw 6, including a German couple with whom we played leapfrog all day along the road. In Parnu, Ilya turned off to head west to the coast, while I kept heading north on a beeline for Tallinn. Another 50 flat, dull kilometres, with heavy Sunday afternoon traffic heading north to Tallinn from the coast (carrying hundreds of expensive mountain bikes from a huge bike race), and I finally ended up camping for the last time this trip in the back corner of a fallow farmer's field, tormented by mosquitoes and horseflies, after a day of 145 km, the third-longest of the summer.
The ride into Tallinn was a bit of an anticlimax, under grey skies and with cold headwinds; my thermometer read 17 degrees, and it felt colder, so I rode in my GoreTex rain jacket just to keep warm. There was little to look at, and I managed to get hopelessly lost in the suburbs before finding the little island of Gothic loveliness that makes up Tallinn's Old Town.
I felt pretty worn out by the end of the trip, despite all the flat cycling of recent weeks. I think that I took fewer rest days this summer than I usually do, and as I careen down the slope of middle-aged physical mediocrity, I think my body needs more recovery time, not less. I spent yesterday dealing with my bike (new chain and rear cassette, new handlebar grips and tape, all the cables and housing replaced, and then packed neatly in a box, all done by the nice folks at Veloplus), finding a new hotel (accommodation is tight here in Tallinn, and I couldn't stay a third night at my hotel because of previous reservations) and generally schlepping around.
Today, my last full day in the city, has been a day of exploration, under brilliant blue skies that make the soaring Gothic spires and their gilded tops look even more breathtaking than usual. I visited the three big museums in town (Tallinn City, Estonian National and Occupation) and while I thought the first two were pretty good, I thought the Occupation Museum came a distant also-ran third in the Baltics behind similar establishments in Riga and Vilnius. The only real highlight was the final resting place of the Communist statues, down by the basement toilets, rather appropriately. Tallinn has a wonderful feel to it, with a bigger Old Town than Riga, although not quite as large as Vilnius, and it feels very wealthy, self-confident and culturally alive. Being the 2011 European Capital of Culture probably helps on the last count. 
I got told off a couple of nights ago by a convenience store clerk for asking her a question in Russian instead of English. This struck me as hopelessly silly in a city that is 50% native Russian-speaking, where I hear as much Estonian as Russian being spoken around me, and where many of the older generation don't speak any English. I think there are still some thorny linguistic political issues to be sorted out here.
Although Riga gets most of the buzz in Western Europe for having the most beautiful women in Europe, an unscientific study undertaken from cafe tables and while walking through all three Baltic capitals suggests that it's not necessarily the case. I found Lithuania to be full of statuesque blonde women, while Estonia has more than its share of beauty of the human sort. One thing that I did hear from Latvians was that Riga, with its RyanAir connections and reputation as a place for British stag parties, is becoming well-known for what Manila and Bangkok have long been notorious: sex tourism. I don't know about that, but there definitely seemed to be a seedier edge to Riga's Old Town than I saw in either Vilnius or here in Tallinn.
On a much brighter note, as I was coming back to my hotel this afternoon, I saw a huge crowd gathered. I thought it might be a political demonstration, so I wandered over to have a look. Instead, it was a throng of thousands of Estonians gathered to hear the Dalai Lama. I had never heard him speak in person, and I was impressed with his message, his delivery and the reaction from the crowd. Hearing a message of compassion, right thinking, environmental concern and hope for the future was a welcome antidote to the dark clouds of history still swirling over the Bloodlands of eastern Europe. As always, the Chinese government thundered warnings of economic consequences to the Estonian government for letting the Dalai Lama visit Estonia, but with a long history of defying the might of another continental empire, the Estonians politely but firmly told the Chinese to bugger off. The Dalai Lama held out the Baltic independence movements of the 1980s as examples of right thinking and non-violence in action.
I have been generally impressed by the Baltic states. In 20 years, they have all made huge strides and distanced themselves socially, economically and physically from the other post-Soviet states. I am particularly impressed that these three tiny linguistic units (Lithuania has 3.3 million people, with 2.1 million in Latvia and only 1.3 million here in Estonia) have such vibrant publishing, broadcasting and cultural industries. I think that there are other larger, richer countries that could learn a few things about organizing a progressive, forward-looking society from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
So now that the summer's riding is over, I will probably have to do one more post on highlights and lowlights and future travel plans, but until then, I will leave this post as is and thank all of my loyal readers, whether I know you personally or not, for reading through my stories from the road. I hope that they have inspired some of you to undertake your own adventures of whatever sort appeals to you.
Peace and Tailwinds
Graydon
PS A couple of images that will stick in my mind from Tallinn. First are the old Russian ladies begging at the foot of the stairs leading to the Orthodox cathedral. The other, completely the opposite, is the sheer monetary excess involved in renting the Segway scooters: 32 euros an hour???? Cars, skis and computers don't cost that much to rent. I'm sure the Dalai Lama would have something to say about the contrast between these two images.
