Light and Sound at Malbork Castle
Into the Dawn – Polonia
Thursday, Jun 12, 2014: 10:45 pm, the full moon is rising in the east over the flat terrain. I’m on a bus bound for Gdansk after spending a day in Kaunas, Lithuania. Due to lack of logistical planning, I had to abandon the room I had booked for the night as there are only overnight buses bound directly for Gdanks. This left only half a day to explore Kaunas after arriving from Vilnius in the morning. Alas, it was not near sufficient time to explore the city in full. What little time I had was spent walking the length of the old quarters, lunch at a restaurant, strolled down the pedestrian streets, and a jazz show at dinner amongst the locals. Although not stellar, the city does have bountiful charms. The local folk consistently turn askance to steal a curious glance as I pass, unaccustomed to strangers like myself passing through. Soon enough, the evening passed, and it was nigh time to part company with the Aussie I had been traveling through the Batics for the last two weeks.
The long night slowly dims ever slightly. But, as we are nearing the summer solstice, the western horizon retains an orange glow on the few scattered clouds. The rising moon blanches over the dark-green landscape. Come morning, I will arrive in Gdansk to the welcome reception of an old friend.
In Vilnius, Lithuania
Latvia … the Old, the Familiar, the New, and the Strange
Into the Baltic North – Estonia
After 5 days based in Helsinki, Finland, I caught the morning ferry and crossed the Gulf of Finland into Tallin, Estonia. Only a generation ago, this nation was subject to Soviet rule; and yet, all metrics now indicate Estonia as a thriving developed economy and ranked highly the Human Development Index, education, and press freedoms. The post-Soviet era also spurred impressive economic freedoms and advancement. By many measures, it is much closer related to Scandinavian countries than to its Baltic neighbors.
As with Helsinki, being this far north in latitude affords much daylight during summer. The sky remains a deep blue with the western horizon glowing a subtle white through the night before rising at 3:30am. In the old quarters of town, one can wander through the night down many a cobblestone corridors guided by the faint light, accompanied only by the echoes of your own footsteps off the ancient walls.
Tallin is one of those city that you instantly fall in love with. Perhaps its nigh approaching high tourist season, but passing through the town center is tantamount to a slight time warp to medieval times. There are taverns and ale houses lit only by candles, with walls blackened by hundreds years of smoke. One tavern serves only one dish: elk soup in mostly chipped earthenware, served to you by a wench with snarky attitude. Not far, actors dress in medieval armor battle to the delight of tourist and locals alike. Other restaurants have fair maidens posted out front to attract customers, while musicians in full costume play tunes from 14th century instruments.
The last couple days has been spent touring the old bastion underground tunnels, seeing the standard city tour, a bonus ghost tour of the town at night steep in local lore. But even from such a passing glimpse, it is certain that Estonia has much more hidden gems to offer. But, alas, a passing traveller must not linger long. It is enough to breathe a sigh of regret that no matter how thorough an effort to plan, one can never see everything. After many castles, cathedrals, bridges, forts, belfries, town squares, it’s more rewarding to rest these tired feet by an alley-side cafe and watch the local town folk milling about their (extra)ordinary lives. The forest and villages more remote shall have to wait for some future occasion.
Tomorrow, I’ll be bound for Pärnu before continuing onto Riga, Latvia.
A Dreary Day Afield
In Suomi… Day the First
After landing in Helsinki from Copenhagen, I did the standard routine of navigating to my lodging in yet another new city, with yet another strange language (Indeed, Finnish is stranger than most languages). It is 14 minutes pass midnight; yet, the western horizon still glows faintly with light. Although the weather is a bit more dreary then the last two weeks in Scandinavia, glimpses of the sun did break through the gloom today — albeit, due to its low traverse, the sky maintains a strange luminescence throughout the late evening.
This is the land of two hundred thousand lakes, archipelagos, Sebelius, reindeer, birch, saunas, and the midnight sun.
No Borders
In Catalonia…
The Iberian North
It is some mundane nondescript Friday afternoon by the Atlantic seaside of Gaia, Portugal. This wandering traveler has again followed the capricious winds of whim and blown ashore for a few days respite from weeks of continuous travel to visit a friend. The gracious hospitality of her and her family is much appreciated as they have genuinely welcomed my intrusion into their tranquil dwellings. Often times I am unsure how to requite such the sincerity of their welcome. Although the economy here is still foundering,and they are by no means rich, they offer more than I require…as such, I count my blessings all the same and shall remember them with much gratitude.
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
Nächster Halt: Bastei
Visiting the Eastern Bloc(k)
Seeing the Dutch Countryside
Bruges by Day, Ghent by Night
To be lost wandering down endless warrens of old-world Europe is an experience not easily forgettable. Such was today’s itinerary of a late morning train from Ghent to Bruges. The routine is getting customary: first walk from the station to the city walls, see the ancient town square, the market, the belfry, the cathedral, or the castle, perhaps a museum of note; finally, finish off by sampling local foods or wandering off to more pedestrian quarters for a perspective of local life. And yet, it is never a dull affair.
No matter how tired the feet, one presses on a bit further hoping for a surprising encounter, or occasionally as luck would present, a small marvel of some quaint courtyard with spring buds vying for the slanting sun, or perhaps nothing more unusual than some random schoolgirl astride her bicycle, rounding a curve, riding homewards over the uneven cobblestones; and in that wondrous moment a gentle breeze will catch a tuft of her shining hair and imprint it into my memory.
