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Our trip continued in Latvia. The weather had become much better, dry and sunny. In Riga, we had some high fog until noon, but only thin.
Overview
This map shows our journey across Latvia. It began at the northern border crossing from Estonia, then proceeded directly to Cēsis. From there, we traveled via Sigulda to Riga, Latvia’s capital. After spending a full day sightseeing there, we were impressed by the vast bog near Ķemeri. Then we headed straight south toward Lithuania; there is no border crossing there, only a sign.
Cēsis
The German name for the city of Cēsis (pronounced "Tseh-sis") is "Wenden"; however, this has nothing to do with the Wends (Slavic people in Germanic territories) but rather originates from the Livonian language. People come here primarily to visit Cēsis Castle, a former stronghold of the Teutonic Order. Built in the 13th century, it is the best-preserved castle ruin in Latvia.
Very close to the town lies the Zīpari farm, where wooden shingles are crafted using traditional methods, fruit is grown, and honey is produced. After a brief tour of the farm, we were invited to enjoy a typical Latvian dinner there.
A lovely hotel (shown on the right side of the map) offered us a chance to relax in its small park. Our scheduled tour began there along the blue route; later that afternoon, I walked the orange route.
Sigulda
Anyone interested in winter sports has surely heard of the luge and bobsleigh track in Sigulda. We paid a brief visit there, though naturally, with it being well outside the season, no athletes were present.
Sigulda lay on our route from Cēsis to Riga, but we had plenty of time to admire the magnificent scenery. The town is situated at a valley deeply carved by the Gauja River, and the cable car ride across the valley offers beautiful views. The area is often referred to as "Latvian Switzerland."
In addition to the landscape, there were, of course, castles to admire here as well. Tucked away on the hill reached by the cable car, you can find the ruins of Krimulda Castle. A little further on, you reach the Turaida Museum Reserve, home to another well-preserved castle.
The blue paths on the map indicate our walking routes; the cable car ride is visible as a red line at the bottom, and we took the bus from Gutman's Cave to Turaida (also in red).
Rīga
Latvia’s capital was a particularly fascinating stop on our trip. The density of Ferraris in the parking lots was staggering; perhaps the only place with a higher concentration would be Monaco. During the day, the city offers plenty of history and ecclesiastical architecture. Once darkness falls, the streets of the Old Town teem with people, and there is live music every few meters.
We spent a full day here, but one could easily have spent another day in the city.
Our sightseeing tour began at our hotel (bottom center of the map, above the railway line). The red route marked our official itinerary, taking us from the Cathedral up to Albert Street (famous for its Art Nouveau facades). In the afternoon, I walked the orange route to the Academy of Sciences (bottom right); the building is a prime example of Stalinist Eastern Bloc architecture but offers a fantastic panoramic view in all directions. In the evening, we visited the lounge at the Radisson Blu Hotel (blue route).
Photo collection
Public images
Please wait until the last part (Lithuania) is completed.
Latvian language
Unlike Estonian—the language of its northern neighbor—Latvian belongs to the Indo-European language family, making it related to German and English. However, one shouldn't overstate this connection, as Russian and Polish share a similar relationship. Even if you think you recognize a few words, you are still far from being able to simply understand Latvian. The word you encounter most often while strolling through the streets is "iela" (English: "street"), which is most likely linked to the Latin verb "ire" (to go).
Latvian orthography, on the other hand, is highly phonemic; by and large, the language is pronounced exactly as it is written. There are a few special diacritics:
- A macron (a horizontal bar) over a vowel indicates that it is pronounced as a long vowel, as in Rīga.
- Some letters feature a comma-like mark either below or above them (ģ, ķ, ļ, ņ), indicating palatalization. Simply put, the consonant sounds as if followed by a "y" sound—for instance, *ņemt* sounds like "nyemt."
- Some letters may have a háček (an inverted caret) above them: č, š, ž. These are pronounced "ch" (as in *church*), "sh" (as in *shoe*), and a voiced "zh" (like the *s* in *measure* or the initial sound in *journal*), respectively.
There is also something interesting regarding diphthongs (double vowel sounds): Latvian has no "eu" sound—neither the "oi" nor the "ew" or "you" variety. In Latvian, Europe is called "Eiropa", and the Euro is referred to as "Eiro" or "Eira", even though the EU Commission mandated the official use of the name "Euro." The debate over the currency's proper name evidently continues.
As a rule, both elements of a diphthong should be clearly articulated; notably, "ie" is not a long "i" sound but is pronounced like "ee-a"—hence "ee-ala" for the word "iela" (street). The remaining letters are practically the same as in English. Exception: The letter C is always pronounced like "ts," regardless of what follows.
And there is another particularly striking feature: masculine words end with an S, and if one isn't already there, it is added—as in "Johans Gotfrīds Herders" (Johann Gottfried Herder). Old Indo-European conventions shine through here; one need only think of the "-us" endings in Latin.
Here are the first five numbers again:
| Number | Latvian |
| 0 | nulle |
| 1 | viens |
| 2 | divi |
| 3 | trīs |
| 4 | četri |
This already sounds much more familiar than Estonian. And yet, precisely because of the palatalization and the "sh" sounds, Latvian actually sounds a bit like Russian to my ears.
In Latvian, the word for Germany is Vācija—quite an unusual form that differs significantly from all other names for the country. One theory suggests it stems from "vaca," meaning "Viking," while another posits that it contains the Old Prussian word "wackis"—meaning "(war) cry"—referring either to warlike raids or simply denoting a language from which the locals understood nothing but unintelligible shouting (similar to the origins of the word "Nemets" in Slavic languages).
And now in Latvian: Un tagad izbaudiet manas bildes no Latvijas!
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Please have a look at the other photo collections while I am working on this part.
Latvia
Lithuania
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Our trip starts in Estonia. One of the reasons that the pictures took so long for publishing was, in fact, the weather. The weather was, well, not really inviting at the start, and then I actually lacked a bit of motivation to browse through hundreds of photographs with various shades of gray skies. So Tallinn, Estonia's capital, was covered by a thick cloud layer and weak light, also with rain on the first days, but it got much better from then on.
Estonia, and Tallinn in particular, have lots of interesting spots, though. Estonia was governed for a long time by the Teutonic Order since the middle ages. You can find many traces from these times, and as a German, I was surprised to find so many relics of German in the language itself (unlike Finnish, see my reports about the polar lights in Finnland), also in German names, German texts under statues and paintings, or in coats of arms.
Overview
This map shows our journey across Estonia. It starts in Tallinn (at the top), takes us west first to the town of Haapsalu, then to the island of Muhu with the village museum, and then to Estonia's largest island, Saaremaa. From there we set off on a hike on the neighboring island of Vilsandi. From Saaremaa we went to Pärnu, the summer capital, over lunch, before we left Estonia south towards Latvia a short time later.
Sightseeing tours
Before I present the photos, I would like to introduce some of the tours that we took at various stops on the trip. This also makes the background of the photos clearer, which can be found below.
Tallinn
Before 1918 (and unofficially to this day), Tallinn was known as Reval; however, whether the name truly originated from a roe deer and its fall from Toompea Hill is likely impossibleto prove. Nevertheless, at the alleged site of the fall, there is a small park featuring a statue of a roe deer. The name Tallinn, however, is more easily explained: Taani refers to the Danes (as Estonians do not use the letter D), while Linn signifies a castle or fortress—yet another nod to the city's eventful history.
The architecture still exudes this medieval flair: narrow, steep lanes winding up to Toompea Hill, half-timbered structures, ancient churches, and the old city walls of Reval. Then, in contrast, there is modern Tallinn—specifically the Rotermann Quarter—which underwent a complete redevelopment at the turn of the millennium. Where dilapidated industrial buildings once stood, one now finds a large cinema, a host of pubs and shops, and a vibrant gathering place for people of all ages.
The first two days were dedicated to the capital; the map illustrates our walks through the Old Town (click to enlarge). The blue path marks our official morning sightseeing tour, during which we walked from our hotel—passing the Town Hall Square—up to Cathedral Hill (left) and concluded our tour at the Independence Monument (bottom). From there, we walked (red path) in smaller groups northward, crossing the Town Hall Square to reach the famous Café Maiasmokk, where high-quality marzipan is available for purchase. Afterward, we headed to St. Olaf’s Church—climbing to the top—before making our way back through the Old Town. I then climbed up onto the Tallinn city walls near our hotel. In the evening (magenta), we went out for dinner (not shown), then strolled through the Rotermann Quarter (right); subsequently—approaching from the north—we traversed the Old Town one last time by night before returning to our hotel.
Vilsandi
The island of Vilsandi is part of Vilsandi National Park, which comprises numerous smaller islands in addition to Vilsandi itself. Vilsandi is inhabited—albeit primarily by just a few researchers—but it has no actual settlements. Visitors are transported to Vilsandi by boat, which must maneuver its way through the cluster of small islands.
On Vilsandi, one can experience an abundance of unspoiled nature—if only the weather had been a little nicer (though, at least, it stayed dry)—while following long hiking trails that lead to a solitary lighthouse situated at the island's westernmost tip (built in 1809). Traversing a forest in the center of the island, we eventually made our way back to the harbor, where the boat took us back to Saaremaa.
Pärnu
Right on cue, the weather demonstrated that it was capable of something other than that neverending, damp grayness just as we arrived in Estonia’s "summer capital", treating us to the long-missed sunshine.
Pärnu is, of course, considerably larger than the sightseeing tour map would suggest; the entire area across the river has been omitted from it. It has a population of around 50,000 and was founded in the mid-13th century by the Teutonic Order under the name Pernau. It is a renowned seaside resort—a status it maintained throughout the Soviet era, when it served as a popular spa town.
We explored the historic city center, found a nice spot for lunch, and strolled past the Art Nouveau Villa Ammende on our way to the beach—a genuine sandy beach, right here in the far north. Afterward, in the afternoon, we continued our journey southward by bus, eventually crossing the border into Latvia.
Photo collection
Public images
Please wait until the other two parts (Latvia, Lithuania) are completed.
Estonian language
As with my other trips, I am always interested in the local languages, and Estonian is fascinating in several aspects.
Estonian is closely related to Finnish, as you can see with the first numbers already:
| Number | Finnish | Estonian |
| 0 | nolla | null |
| 1 | yksi | üks |
| 2 | kaksi | kaks |
| 3 | kolme | kolm |
| 4 | neljä | neli |
In fact, "null" is borrowed from German (which got it from Latin ultimately), whereas Finnish got it from Swedish.
Estonian features a rich case system with 14 cases (compare German with just 4 cases or English with 2). These cases replace the prepositional constructs in the Indo-European languages.
Where the German cases refer to the questions for
- wer (who), wessen (whose), wem (to/for who/whom), wen (who objective)
the Estonian cases ask
- who, whose, of what, into what, in what, out of what, to where, on what, from where, for what, up to what, as what, without what, and with what?
and modifies the word accordingly. For instance, toomkirik is the cathedral, and a sign on one photo showed the form toomkirikusse. This word as such translates as "into the cathedral".
This is in fact a challenging grammar for Into-European speakers, be it German, English, French, Norwegian, Greek, Italian, Czech and so on.
Luckily, Estonian is easy to read for us Germans. The writing is phonematic, that is, each letter represents a sound, and most of the letters are well-known in European languages. The only exception is
- Õ (O with tilde, that is, a wave above), for instance: õhk (air) oder even doubled: Urmas Sõõruma (the architect of the revovcated Rotermann quaters).
This letter somewhat sounds like a mix of o and ö in German, as if someone from Saxony with a broad accent says "Boot" or "Not". Roughly said, you have to pronounce "o" with retracted lips.
Also mind that double vowels indicate length (not like o vs. oo in English, which changes the sound), and double consonants also mean a long sound.
So all that is left to say for me is: Ja nüüd nautige minu pilte Eestist!
Partly translated with the assistance of Google Translate
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In this part I present the last three days (Tuesday-Thursday) in one go, as we have fewer interesting single places but lots of pictures of the landscape.
On day six (Tuesday) we visit the upper-right edge of the island, the Ponta de São Lourenço. Our bus takes us along the east coast where we pass below the runways of the airport, then drops us about halfway on that headland.
On that hiking trail, we can discover fascinating rock formations. The path slopes up and down slightly, not too difficult. When you turn back, you can see the airport in the background, with its runways set on concrete pillars.
Casa do Sardinha is a welcome place of rest for some of our group; the rest tries to get to the ultimate point on the Pico do Furado.
After that we walk back to the bus stop, where the bus takes us to Pico de Facho, a small hill east of Machico. Then we head for the beach; pick the sunscreen from the bag, it is about time ... well, if there were not those clouds. As mentioned, Madeira is not exactly known for its sandy beaches, there are only a few, and they are artificial: The beach of Machico is built of sand from Morocco, as most other beaches. After some 90 minutes we pack our bags and return to our hotel.
Day 7 (Wednesday) ist our last day with a travel programme. Before noon, we have a stop at the Pico dos Barcelos, a hill within Funchal, which offers us a great panorama of the city and the environment. Some minutes later, we continue with our bus trip on the ER 107 road towards the middle of the island, heading for the entrance to the hiking trail to Curral das Freiras (Pen of the nuns).
Again, an impressive trail with steep rock walls and deep drops, taking about 90 minutes to walk. We reach Curral das Freiras, have a lunch in the restaurant Vale das Freiras, and have a look inside the chestnut museum that is located next to the restaurant. Our bus brings us back to our hotel, some of us ask to be dropped of in downtown Funchal to do some shopping.
Day 8 is the day of returning home. Some of us have their flight in the afternoon which allows us to go for a short walk around the hotel and have a final lunch.
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In this part I present the important points of the days 4 and 5 together. We have some longer bus trips and hiking so that there are not so many good pictures. Also, there is not too much to talk about.
On the fourth day (Sunday), our bus takes us right across the island. We start at the fishermans' village of Camâra de Lobos and the continue to the stepp cliffs of Cabo Girão, featuring a lookout with glass floor platform. After another break at Ribeira Brava we travel towards the middle of the island, having a stop at the lookout north of Serra de Água.
The first big item on our list for today is the Vereda do Fanal, a hiking path. Located at the northwestern end of the plateau Paul da Serra, we finally get some stretched-out landscape ... if there were not that fog (actually, the clouds). Sometimes, the air gets clears and sun passes through, but the fog does not disappear until we reach our bus again. At least the trees served for a spooky scenery.
We carry on towards the north coast where we have a short stop for a view, then reach Porto Moniz in the northwestern corner of the island. This city is know for the natural swimming basins, formed by solidified lava.
After some bathing and a quick lunch we start our way back, stopping near the waterfall Véu da Noiva (Bride's veil) and having a Poncha drink at the Taberna da Poncha.
On the fifth day (Monday) we start for another levada hiking, this time along the Levada do Furado in the east of the island. As with all levada paths, this one is easy to walk, but you should have a safe step when looking down. The start of our path is a trout farm.
The whole track takes us about 4.5 hours, but there are many impressive sights towards the coast. Shortly before it ends, the levada splits up, and we follow the Levada da Portela. At the end we have our afternoon snack in the restaurant Portela a Vista.
Public pictures
