Tallest and Most Northerly

Posted on September 13, 2023 by Clunegapyears

11-12/2023

Leaving Sillamae, we started westward, away from Russia. We’ve felt its presence on the last 2 stops. Russian being the main language, people looking more Russian (whatever that is) and the sheer proximity.

The plan was to stop at two waterfalls in the northern coasts cliffs … the tallest and the widest. The tallest, Valaste, was a damp squib. Actually, not damp at all. It was dry. I’m sure it’s spectacular in winter when torrents race through, or when the spray freezes on trees. J and C declined to descend the 376 steps down to the beach. Followed by the 376 steps ascent. I deserved that ice cream after, even if it wasn’t a very good one.

*Water … no fall. And a drop of only 26m. Estonia really is very flat. The tallest mountain is only 318m. And taller than any in Lithuania or Latvia. To put that into perspective, Sca Fell Pike* is *978m, and Ben Nevis is 1345m … I did fact-check* *these*!

*The 376 steps down to the beach. And yes, Autumn is showing in the leaves.*

Much of the north coast was a USSR military defence zone. We passed some derelict military buildings later. This area is now national parks, and there are walks along the coast. Despite this, we decided we could live without seeing the widest waterfall!

We drove directly to one of the peninsulars of the Lahemaa National Park … the Parispea Penisula. I’m sure pronouncing it Paris-pea must be incorrect. This is Estonia’s most northerly point.

*We didn’t much fancy crossing the seaweed, so this was as far as we went. Judging by the cairn on top of a large rock, others had. It was enough for us to jump from boulder to boulder thus* *far.*

*Lots of boulders brought down by retreating glaciers*. *A really* *tranquil* *place*.

We struck up a a conversation with a young Estonian. His parents had bought their forest house just after independence for about €15,000. He talked about the ‘them and us’ … Russian speakers who don’t speak Estonian. Segregated schools and living areas. The female prime minister had started an initiative to make all kindergartens Estonian speaking to further integration. The flaw is that there are insufficient teachers. We’ve since learnt that the PM is in the mire for loaning her husband money… he runs a company in Russia. I’d read that the government was concerned that Estonians wouldn’t have the will to fight a Russian invasion. His response was one word. NATO.

We stayed there overnight. It’s a permitted forestry camping spot with small bins and compost toilets. The main carpark had about 6 campers in it, so we stayed in the one just a bit back on our own. It was pitch black at night with some fab stars.

The next morning, we stopped at Viinistu on the P-pea Penisula (chortle). It’s a tiny hamlet with a decent art gallery in a former fish processing collective, restaurant and hotel. All Estonian artists from C18 to present day. It was set up by Jaan Manitski who had fled Estonia as a baby with his parents to Vienna, Finland, and then Sweden. Made his fortune as the financial manager for ABBA! He lived in exile until independence. He was a mushroom farmer, co-owner of a daily newspaper and politician – Minister of Foreign Affairs 1992. He established the art gallery in 2003. Would like him at a dinner party!

Silly Me … it doesn’t exist

Posted on September 11, 2023 by Clunegapyears

11/09/2023

We drove though, and then had a wander through a town that didn’t exit. During the Russian occupation, since WWII, it was a secret town. It didn’t even appear on maps. Sillamae (Silly Me) had long since been a mining town. The Swedes had extracted ores and then oil shale. The Russians discovered that the oil shale contained small amounts of uranium. It was developed to become USSR’s 3rd largest uranium mine and processing plant. But they needed a workforce. 5000 Russian political prisoners built the mine and 3800 Baltic Prioners of War (they’d served in the German army) built the accommodation. Blocks of apartments for workers and villas for management. All was designed by Russia in the Stalinist Neo classisist style in the 1940s and 50s. Wide boulevards with decorated facades. As the town grew, further apartment blocks in later Russian architectural styles were built. A Kulturhaus was built. The town hall was built with a spire to make the centre look more like a normal Estonian village. No churches as Communist Russia saw religion as a threat. Sillamae was described as a gilded cage for its residents. They couldn’t leave and people couldn’t visit. A large portion of the population was Russian, moved in to work at the mine. And it still feels very Russian.

When Estonia gained independence in 1991 the uranium extraction and processing stopped. Other precious metals are now mined by an America company. But the EU has had to step in to contain the uranium radio active waste … radiation levels are within acceptable levels … for now!

We wandered in from our parking and had a few drinks. Hard to find bars or restaurants in the centre. Even the shops seemed camouflaged.

*Our overnight … disturbed a little by air horns of trucks from the mine.*

The next morning we wandered back into the centre to visit the museum, housed in the nuclear bunker under the Kulturhaus. It was shut, but the Kulturhaus was open. A Russian speaking member of staff showed me around using Google translate. After independence, the director of the building protected the building from the de-Russianising that was prevalent.

*Fabulous huge chandelier from Moscow. Lowered mechanically for cleaning and changing bulbs.*

*A few of the lobby portraits of famous Russian writers and composers*

*Bright colours were used to cheer folk post war.*

Sillamae is trying to reinvent itself as a seaside / tourist destination. A lot of money has been spent recently on the sea front promenade.

*Sports facilities, bars, bbqs and beach access along the new promenade*

Onions and Fish

Posted on September 11, 2023 by Clunegapyears

10/09/2023

We set off on the bikes to learn about the Old Believers. We arrived at the first museum. It was shut. At this point, I realised I’d not brought the bike lock keys. We’d locked the bikes up, but now no way of unlocking them. Fortunately, it was under 5km for me to march back to Jez. I drove back to J, Corrie and the bikes! With the keys!!!

The other museum was also shut. So were both the churches. There were (living) family members tending the graves in the cemetery, so we didn’t like to go in. Shut, shut and shut.

However, a restaurant was open. Let’s have lunch then! When we were full time in the motorhome, Sunday was cleaning and go out for lunch day. Well, we managed half of that.

The Old Believer’s were fishermen and renowned for pungent onion growing. You can guess what a lot of the menu was! I had fish soup followed by bream. J had smoked fish salad and then chicken. All very good, although homely.

*My Old Believers tea was the most interesting. Served black, with a sugar and cream tablet sweetener. Essentially … fudge. I noticed I wasn’t the only diner eatin*g it!

At least the guidebook was able to fill in some information about the Old Believers. During the 1600s, Russia adopted the Greek Orthadox religious practices. The changes seem minor to us. Things like how many fingers are used for the sign of the cross. Those who refused to adopt the changes were persecuted. So they left and made their home on the shores of Lake Peipsi. They made their living from fishing and selling onions. We saw many folk selling bags of onions along what is called the Onion Road. This really is the most ‘foreign’ place we have been this trip.

*View of Lake Peipsi. The Russian border runs through the middle. Only about 30 km across to Russian.*

Estonia … megaphones and Rouge

Posted on September 11, 2023 by Clunegapyears

09/09/2023

James ran and I swatted mosquitos whilst doing Pilates. It was a driving day with stops.

The first stop was a forest installation of megaphones. University students created them. Lying inside, you should hear amplified forest sounds. Unfortunately, there was no wind so little to hear. Other than one bird and Corrie having a pee!

Our second stop was Rouge. The guidebook described it as the prettiest Estonian village. More the location than the village. Pretty, as there were ground undulations and water. The driving has been pretty boring through Latvia and Estonia so far … flat, fields and forest. Very long, very straight roads with not much habitation.

We did the short walk up to the crow’s nest observation tower, only to discover a food festival. Result. Interestingly most of the signs were in Russian … had to put Google translate onto Detect Language. We met a British lady gin and vodka producer who had moved to Estonia 13 years ago with her small family.

*We sat and listened and watched for a while.*

*J and Corrie would not have liked the see through* *floors on the* *observation* *tower. Nor the fact that it swayed!*

*We shared lunch. Didn’t know what we were getting, just pointed … it was fish.*

Pudding was an ice cream from the village shop. A local apologised for cutting the queue and then asked what we were doing here. He went on to quite forcibly state that in 2 years, Russia would invade. They had built the military infrastructure on the other side of the border. Once the Ukraine was sorted, Russia would invade Estonia. It’s sobering to reflect that the borders we know now have shifted over centuries and will continue to do so.

Our destination was Lake Peipsi, the 5th largest lake in Europe and forms the border with Russia.

Riga

Posted on September 11, 2023 by Clunegapyears

07/09/2023

We stayed the previous night in another temporary city camping at the Expo centre. There was an event on, so the car park was pretty rammed. We managed to slot between two motorhomes … too close to be comfortable. I apologised in my best school girl German, to one neighbour and moved to a corner once the car park cleared. The office was only open in the morning, but fortunately, another German (yes, 8 German vans, 1 other UK and 1 Estonian) told me where to find everything. Just as well as showers were turn right … back of one expo hall, right again into next! It wasn’t as quiet as the Vilnius City Camping … boy racers doing wheelies, screeching tyres disturbed my sleep. At least it was only a short bike ride into the historic centre.

We joined a free (give a healthy tip at the end) walking tour. Another well-educated and well-informed guide. He did an intro on the history and influences of Latvia to start. Occupied mostly by Germany and tzarist Russia and briefly by Sweden and Poland. He also explained that the Latvian language was only created in the 1860s. Latvians had been serfs up till 1860, so they didn’t attend schools and spoke numerous dialects. The language is an amalgamation of these; phonetic, simple rules. It was adopted as it was taught at schools, which then became mandatory. However, 40% of the population speak Russian as their first language with Russian speaking schools teaching Latvian as the second language. A legacy from the Tzarist occupation when Russians were shipped in to work in growing industries.

Unlike Lithuania, which is strongly Catholic due to a long Polish occupation / affiliation, Latvia is not particularly religious … late to the Christian faith, originally Catholic, then the Russian influence of Orthodox, and under Soviet rule, religion was repressed. So churches have swapped faith and been redeployed as theatres, markets etc. Only returning as functioning churches after independence in 1991.

The only other time Latvia has been independent was 1920 until 1940. Even that didn’t go smoothly as a dictator took over in 1934. From 1940, it was occupied by the Germans and then the Soviets from 1944/5. So J and had a discussion about whether Latvia should even be an independent country. What contributes to national identity etc? At least when Russia invades, they are mostly bilingual!

After the walking tour, we used gps.mycity app to visit some other sights.

Statue on the parliament building. From a folk story where the hero attempts to slay a lion that represents all the country’s occupiers. The tale ended with a symbolic stalemate … there is the ever present *threat*.

*The House of the* *Blackheads building. Formally it operated like a guild of trades. Latvia claims they erected the world’s first ever decorated and lit Christmas tree*. *This and neighbouring buildings were flattened in WW2 and reconstructed.*

*We tried to have lunch at the huge market, but no dogs inside the food hall*

*Russian cannon balls in the wall of Powder Tower, a relic of the fortifications. It got its name as it was used as gun powder storage in C17*.

*Loved wandering the pretty streets and squares.*

*The 1934 dictator used speak* *from this* *balcony,* *so had* *the houses in front* *demolished* *to make a space for* *people to hear him!*

*Houses of the Three Brothers. Actually quite unrelated*, *as they* *were built at* *different* *times in different styles.*

We both really liked Riga. It’s very small but we walked around feeling pleased to be there. Lunch eventually … was a fab Mediterranean soup for me and good old fish and chips for J!

Rather than pay another €25 to stay at the city camping, we did the services and joined the stationary traffic to get across town. Let’s go away from town and around the ring road said I. Over an hour later, we finally escaped the traffic!

Clune Gap Years

A journal and reflections of our motorhome travels

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Tallest and Most Northerly

Silly Me … it doesn’t exist

Onions and Fish

Estonia … megaphones and Rouge

Riga