Two different Danes in the brilliant Baltic States

You might not know where you are going on your next trip, but here is a small guide to the Baltic States, and a “short” description of how we handled the infinite amount of possible things to do. Rasmus went from boy to man and we both got 3 new countries on the experience map. Follow our journey on this blog!

The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper class European young men

“The Grand Tour aims to develop the personality by giving the traveller insight and understanding of other cultures.” – Wikipedia

The daily schedule consisted of: me always waking up 5 minutes before the alarm and then waking Rasmus. A sightseeing tour planned in detail by Rasmus. Me walking around and pointing to every window, saying: “that looks nice” with a coffee in my hand, while Rasmus reads out loud from his book of the history/information of the place we are going to visit. Us visiting 8 different churches, museums, monuments, national goats shops, whatever, before deciding to go home. When back at the hostel, one of us always argued to go to the pub-crawl, beer-pong-tournament, late night bird spotting or whatever else might ruin our sleep. Here the reasonable person always gave in and agreed to go with the demand that we still wake up early the next morning to see the rest of the city… which we always did full of pain and regret.
There were two main things that were always discussed:

1. If we had to choose between a history- or art museum
2. Where we wanted to eat

I personally love art, either you understand it or you just enjoy it. Art is often more than just a painting or sculpture, and often says a lot about the time when it was made. When reading about art history you need both the history and the art. Pure history I enjoy too. Especially when visiting new countries, since I want to understand how the people and government developed. When reading history I prefer cold facts and long texts, which is often better in books. Ergo I was team art museum and Rasmus was team history museum. Often we had time for everything, since Rasmus did a very good job with the planning. In his guidebook we made it to 50 out of 50 recommended stops in every city.
I believe that one of the most important things when visiting a country is to taste their local food and products. In my family we have a tradition of always having food as the main expense, when we travel. Rasmus preferred when the food was cheap and filling. His food highlights “before seeing the light” were fast-food chains and supermarkets. I always made sure that we at least had one meal, which consisted of the national dish.
Before the trip, I do not know what we expected, but one thing is sure, I did not expect Rasmus to say this:

“I finally realize the meaning of an educational trip, after having done this trip with you, Ellen!”

I do not think he expected that either, but I hope he will continue on developing his new taste for art-history and great cuisine. Next time I will bring him on a Southern European art- and wine-tasting trip. If you also want to see the light, you can sign up for the next trip on: www.EllensCulturalCaravan.dk. “Turning boys to men”… in a non-sexual way 😉
Please note: Your cost of living might double.

A short overview of what is worth to see!
First of all we only visited capital cities, so there is still a lot to see. Second of all, everything is interesting, but I try to pinpoint the sights that really made an impact in each of the capitals. Last but not least, this is my personal opinion and I am definitely biased.

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Lithuania, Vilnius:
I personally loved this city. Every time you pass a corner, you are met by amazing old buildings, especially churches. The history of Lithuania is a little bit older than the history of the other countries in the Baltic States (fewer Soviet and other occupations), and the history is really alive in the baroque style capital. Things you have to see: 1) St. Peter and St. Paul’s church, which is a beautiful catholic church. 2) The KGB museum or Museum of Genocide Victims, not sure of the name, but this place will make an impression that lasts, with its gruesome history during the Soviet occupation and the KGB cellars and execution chambers. 3) The Republic of Uzupis. It started with hipsters taking it to the next level and ended as a self-declared state with a flag, a constitution written in 23 languages, an 11-man army and an independence day the 1^st of April. Rasmus and I considered asking if they needed a national chess team, since the whole point is humour. Things you should not do: go to the “Forto Dvaras” restaurant. It might sound cool, that they serve traditional Lithuanian food in a stone basement, but when we asked the waiter what she would order from the menu and she answered “nothing”, we figured that the food was not going to be the highlight of Lithuania.

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Latvia, Riga:
This city is designed for groups of young people who want to party and still experience some culture. There is a little bit of something for everyone – from big food markets to free walking tours. Unfortunately this was also the city, were we had the least amount of time, because of our chess detour to Jurmala. Things you have to see: 1) The Rock Café is the centre of Riga’s nightlife. This club is in three floors and has everything you need for a place to party. We are talking huge dance floors, live rock bands and much more. I was here twice but was not capable of taking a photo. 2) Riga central market is a gigantic market selling every fresh produce you might desire. Here you can just enjoy strolling through the cheese, fish, meat or vegetable building with something nice to eat in you hand you bought because you were not able to resist the temptations. It would definitely be a dream come true, to have a market like this in my backyard. 3) On the other side of the river there is a part of town built in the “Art Nouveau” style. Here you can enjoy the art nouveau architecture with big ornaments and other decorations while just being satisfied with experiencing a place, that most tourist probably miss out on. Things you should not do: DO NOT DRINK BALSAM. IT IS HORRIBLE.

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Tallinn, Estonia:
Welcome to wannabe-Finland. You do not understand the language, you do not find better Internet speed, but you do get to experience a combination of the modern city with big glass buildings and the cobbled roads of the old town behind the fortress walls. This city is fantastic and the list could be miles long, but I will try to restrain myself. Things you have to see: 1) The Estonian National Museum is a paradise for every slightly art-interested soul. This is the place that I made it happen… referring to Rasmus’ transformation from an uneducated boy to a man fascinated with art! This museum has great short text-explanations placed in every room, so that even the people with the minimal knowledge of art have a chance to understand the transformation from Baroque to Expressionism from Socialist realism to Post modernism and so on. 2) The “Kiek in de Kök” museum. What? Yes you read it right. This museum offers both a glance from the top of one of the artillery towers after climbing 4 floors of Estonian history and a guided tour through the bastion tunnels. It might be expensive, but it is worth it. You will laugh because of the name at least once, I promise. 3) The place where the Danish flag fell from the sky and became the first national flag in history. I am definitely biased on this one, but even though the story is not completely true it is worth knowing. Things you should not do: Bring Rasmus to a beer-pong tournament, he is not worthy of being anyone’s beer-pong buddy.

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Our trip ended with me waking in the middle of the night and realising that Rasmus is about to miss his plane… as usual. I luckily managed to wake him after several tries. Rasmus calmly looked at the clock and left the hostel as if nothing was wrong. I was really tired the next day. My trip continued to Helsinki in Finland after this, but here I met up with Nils, and we were not as ambitious with our sightseeing. Next time we decided to pick a more romantic and warmer place to visit… our next trip together is in April, and we are going to Reykjavik…

There is no place like home and yet again
I am currently home in Aalborg and calques my father’s house for some pocket money for my next trip that will start the 29^th of March. I just need to stop the fire in my bank account. Luckily the rumour goes, that beer is cheaper than water in Eastern Europe.