Monthly Archives: December 2022

Christmas 2022 – Baltics and Back to the Netherlands: Trip Overview

Posted on December 25, 2022 by WolfeStreetTravel

After intentionally foregoing Europe at Christmas for the last 4 years, a few factors drove us back this year: nostalgia for winter weather in the season, a truly authentic Christmas experience, and the paucity of other options with availability and reasonable travel costs. One day we’ll get to Namibia or Peru for Christmas, but not this year.

We initially targeted all three of the Baltic states for this year’s trip: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania:

Northern Europe to meet the winter climate criteria
Great Christmas tradition (Tallinn holds the distinction of hosting the Europe’s first public Christmas tree in 1441)
Have not visited any of them before (they would put WolfeStreetTravel’s country count over 70)

However, WolfeStreetTravel flight criteria and the need to keep the trip limited in length due to work resulted in the following refinements:

Lop Lithuania off the itinerary (maybe we’ll get back there when we can also visit adjoining Belarus; we certainly can’t go there now, with Putin stooge and corrupt autocrat Lukashenko in charge)
Bookend our stay in the Baltic states with some time in another country with direct flight in and out of Europe

The UNESCO World Heritage site of Old Town Tallinn, Estonia, from atop the castle hill of Toompea:

Riga, Latvia, from the spire of St. Peter’s Lutheran Cathedral in the center of town:

Regarding the direct flight bookend, we found a perfect candidate in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. United offered direct flights there from IAD, and BalticAir offered direct flights to Estonia and Latvia from Schiphol. Plus, we’d add a few days in Haarlem on the front end and a few days in Amsterdam on the back end to break up the flying time.

Haarlem decked out for Christmas:

The canals of Amsterdam during our stay:

In the middle, we’d fly direct:

From Amsterdam to Tallinn, Estonia, then
From Tallin to Riga, Latvia, then
From Riga back to Amsterdam

Between the direct flights to and from Europe and the direct flights to, within, and from the Baltics, we planned this perfectly to minimize the impacts of inevitable flight delays. Nothing could go wrong now, with no connecting flights that could be impacted by delays on the initial leg – the bane of any traveler’s existence.

Then, more than a month after we bought our tickets, United saw fit to eliminate the direct flight from IAD to Amsterdam, screwing things up and requiring some rework and now unavoidable two-leg flights in and out of Europe. Not a disaster by any means, but it just meant more risks.

Which, of course, did materialize into actual problems, although none too bad, in the great scheme of things: our connecting flight on the way in got cancelled when we were in the air, and the connecting flight on the way back resulted in total travel time almost twice as long as the time the original direct flight would have taken. But, we weren’t impacted by domestic air travel calamity wrought by the massive Christmas snowstorm, and got back on time on December 28, so we consider ourselves relatively lucky.

After arriving (late) at Schiphol, we beelined it to Haarlem, where we stayed for the next 3 days (including watching the World Cup Final, where we were cheering on Argentina and the Dutch were rooting for France simply because Argentina beat them in the Semis, which was fun).

Haarlem’s Christmas lights throughout the city were the profile of the town’s landmark cathedral:

The functioning Molen de Adriaan windmill right in the heart of town, which we toured while there. Super cool.

From Haarlem, we flew northwest to Tallinn, Estonia, which was still initially blanketed by snow, which is exactly what we were hoping for.

Heading into the town square, dominated by Tallinn’s 15th-century town hall and host to the town’s Christmas Market.

St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral on Toompea in Tallinn, a vestige of the Russian Empire’s role in Estonia’s history (and also, we got some good snow!):

Tallinn was mostly undamaged during WW II, and its medieval walls and defensive towers are still intact:

Dining highlight during our stay at the Chef’s Table of 180 Degrees Restaurant, which lasted 4.5 hours. This was about an hour and a half longer than it needed to be.

Due to Tallinn’s latitude, the sun set at 3:20 during our stay, resulting in lots of surreal, perpetual twilight afternoons in town:

After 3 days in Tallinn, we headed a little south, to Riga, Latvia – country # 70 for WolfeStreetTravel:

23 degree weather on Christmas Eve!

Riga’s Christmas Market was actually better than Tallinn’s.

And boasted multiple stalls across the market hawking mulled gin, which was a new one to us. It was fine, but we prefer traditional gluhwein (they had that too).

Riga still maintained some of their town’s fortifications, as well.

And was also home to Europe’s greatest concentration of Art Nouveau architecture, since Riga’s prosperity peaked at the same time as this arts and architecture movement at the turn of the century, and Riga wasn’t bombed into oblivion during WW II, preserving the buildings in this district.

Christmas night dinner at 3 pavāru restorāns in Riga, which bested the much fancier 180 Degrees a few days earlier in Tallinn.

After Christmas in Riga, we headed back to the Netherlands, this time to Amsterdam, which we had visited in 2015 at the end of our bike trip through Holland.

Very nice Christmas trip, overall. We’ll post more on each of these locations after we get through a lot of backlog from three previous trips.

Categories: Estonia, Europe, Latvia, Netherlands | Tags: amsterdam, baltics, baltics christmas, Estonia, estonia christmas, Haarlem, haarlem christmas, Latvia, latvia christmas, Molen de Adriaan, Netherlands, riga, tallinn, tallinn christmas market | 2 Comments

Protected: Christmas 2022 – Baltics and Back to the Netherlands: Haarlem

Posted on December 25, 2022 by WolfeStreetTravel

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Christmas 2022 – Baltics and Back to the Netherlands: Tallinn

Posted on December 25, 2022 by WolfeStreetTravel

After a couple of days in Haarlem, we headed to the first of our actual Baltic destinations: Estonia and its capital city of Tallinn. We were hoping for snow, and we got some! (Initially, anyway.)

Tallinn’s main square and Christmas Market on our first evening – perfect!

But the next day (and throughout our stay), the snow on many of the streets and squares turned a little slushy.

Definitely more of a winter, Christmas atmosphere than Alexandria, but still. . .

Tallin’s settlement dates back thousands of years but the first fortress appeared around 1050 AD, demonstrating the importance of the town to the north Estonia region.

As a trading town on the Baltic coast, the town (then known as Reval) became a member of the Hanseatic League in 1285. We previously visited the Hanseatic towns of Lübeck and Hamburg in Germany and Bergen, Norway. (Riga, Latvia, another Hanseatic town, would be our next stop on this trip. Apparently, Berlin, Cologne, and Krakow also were Hanseatic towns due to the river system, but we have decided to ignore this because they’re not on the Baltic coast.)

Snow still covered some streets – very cool medieval town.

Tallinn Old Town is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The spire of Tallinn’s Town Hall:

The town hall was first mentioned in 1322,

but the structure actually dates back to the 1200s.

It’s the oldest surviving town hall in Europe.

At the top of the spire stands Old Thomas, first placed there in 1530.

The figure memorializes a peasant who became famous for winning a crossbow competition held by the Baltic German Elite.

The tower – and Old Thomas – was damaged in 1944 during a bomb attack during the war. A new Old Thomas went up with the repaired tower in 1952, but it was weathering too much, and the Estonians put another one up there in 1996. The 1952 Old Thomas hangs out in the Tallinn City Museum. Nice codpiece.

Viru Gate – one of the original eight gates in Tallinn’s city walls.

The first wall around Tallinn was ordered to be constructed by Queen Margaret of Denmark in 1265 (Denmark controlled northern Estonia from the early 13th century until 1346, when the Danish king sold it to the Teutonic Knights).

Fully taking shape during the next three centuries, Tallinn’s city wall was one of the strongest defense systems in Northern Europe at the time.

Plus, there are chunks that are still intact and walkable (that’s Tower behind Monks in the background)

Not a lot of snow, but Tallinn proved to be pretty atmospherically wintery, nonetheless:

Located across town, we found Tallinn’s Great Coastal Gate, first mentioned in 1359:

The Great Coastal Gate was the most important gate when Tallinn was a Hanseatic town because it protected the main route for traffic between the port and the market square.

Above the gate stands an impressive dolomite carving bearing Tallinn’s coat of arms (from 1529):

Protecting the Great Coastal Gate? FAT MARGARET! Dating from the early 16th century, Fat Margaret not only served as a fortification against invaders of the town’s port but also a military monstrosity to impress visitors arriving by sea.

Michelin 2* dining experience at 180 Degrees:

Pretty good perch at the Chef’s Table

where we could watch all the cooking and prep work for multiple courses.

Heading up the next morning to Toompea, Tallinn’s central hill district, which is home to. . .

Estonia’s Parliament, the Riigikogu:

And also the Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, built in the late 19th century:

Crests for local noble families along one wall:

Because the church was built when Estonia was part of the former Russian Empire, and because it represents Russian Orthodoxy, and because the Estonians are outraged by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, there’s a movement in Tallinn to raze it and replace it with a park.

Back through the walls:

To yet another stretch of Tallinn’s extant city wall. Here, we have Kiek in de Kok (“Peek into the Kitchen”) on the left, an artillery tower so named because the garrison could see into the kitchens of the nearby houses; and Maiden’s Tower on the right.

And a creepy, faceless monk statue perched on one segment of the wall. This is one of three faceless monks in this area; this one is “Observing Monk.”

More city wall-and-towers action:

Loewenschede Tower:

Enough with the tower names; here’s a buttload of towers. Definitely a cool, preserved medieval town.

Heading to dinner one night; one cannot escape the walls, man.

Rataskaevu Street, where the novels featuring Melchior, the 15th-century Tallinn apothecary / amateur sleuth are set (or at least where his apothecary is located). The first book – pretty good! The second – should have been tossed down that well.

Featured in the Apothecary Melchior novels are Tallinn’s medieval guilds. The Great Guild hall, dating from the very early 15th century is right off the main square. It was used as the headquarters of various merchant and artisan guilds until as recent as 1920.

Aaand, the House of the Brotherhood of Black Heads. Also featured in the Melchior novels.

Described as a social club for single merchants and other tradesmen in the Melchior books, it “was a professional association of ship owners, merchants, and foreigners dating from the 14th century.“

“The House of the Blackheads was visited by several Russian Emperors including Peter I, Paul I and Alexander I who also became honorable members the Brotherhood.“

Just some Art Nouveau architecture down the street, which was pretty cool. (But NOTHING like we’d see later in Riga.)

Toompea at night.

Tallinn’s Victory Column on Freedom Square, commemorating the Estonian War of Independence at the end of WW I.

More winter scenes from Toompea’s stretch of wall.

Next stop: Riga!

Categories: Estonia, Europe | Tags: Estonia, Europe, tallinn, travel | Leave a comment

Christmas 2022 – Baltics and Back to the Netherlands: Riga

Posted on December 25, 2022 by WolfeStreetTravel

From Tallinn, Estonia, we headed slightly south to the capital of Latvia: Riga.

Although not a walled, medieval, historically preserved town like Tallinn, Riga nonetheless offered its own flavor of charm and architectural notability. Case in point, Riga’s own House of the Blackheads. As with Tallinn’s House of the Blackheads, Riga’s building housed the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried merchants, shipowners, and foreigners in Riga.

Unlike Tallinn’s modest townhouse (albeit with a very cool door and lunette), Riga’s House of the Blackheads is huge and ornate. The original building erected in 1334 was the largest public building in Riga at the time.

Unfortunately that building, updated over the centuries, was bombed out of existence in 1941 during a battle between Germany and the Soviets. The Soviet government razed what was left in 1948, but it was rebuilt in the late 1990s based on extensive archeological studies.

Right around the corner from the Blackheads lies Riga’s capitol building. Very unassuming, we thought.

Riga’s Christmas market in the shadow of the Dome Cathedral was pretty great.

But some stalls were actually branded, which we’d never seen before, and gave areas of the Christmas market a commercial taint that we didn’t welcome:

Nonetheless, the overt booziness of the place was pretty cool – not just glühwein, but all sorts of booze, including – weirdly for both time and place – gin stalls.

Lots of food. . .

which had a distinct eastern Europe flair – check out the pig snout:

Or maybe it’s an entire pig submerged down there? Who knows.

Pigs a poppin’ in this place:

Riga’s Powder Tower, originally built in 1330 as part of the defensive wall system, that one was destroyed during an attack by the Swedes on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1621. (Livonia [which encompasses parts of multiple modern Baltic nations including Latvia] was a fiefdom at the time).

The current iteration dates from 1650.

Next door lies Jacob’s Barracks, built in the 18th century to house the garrison, the structure continued to be used until 1997 by various militaries as the area’s geopolitics evolved over time. The length of the barracks are now home to bars and restaurants, but the end, with its depiction of the coats of arms of Latvian towns and municipalities, was the most intriguing to us.

Portions of the old city wall running along the barracks:

The Swedish Gate – the only portal in the medieval city walls to still exist. Beyond lies Trokšņu iela (Noisy Street) which ironically is one of the quietest and most charming street in Riga now. I’m sure we walked through here and down this apparently amazing street, but we have no visible evidence of this. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Instead, here’s some pics of Riga’s mammoth Central Market.

Absolutely any variety of food one could desire is available here.

The Riga Central Market (there’s a bird’s eye view later in the post) is composed of multiple, massive, hanger-like structures and is not only the largest shopping destinations in Latvia, but one of the largest markets in Europe.

The aforementioned bird’s eye view would come courtesy of St. Peter’s Church steeple.

Built in chunks over centuries, the first St. Peters was constructed as early as 1209; then a few decades later, in the middle of the 13th century; then the early 15th century; then at the end of the 17th century. Pretty plain brick church though, much like the Scandinavian Gothic brick churches encountered in Denmark.

As with Tallinn’s cathedral, portions of the interior are adorned with local noble family coats of arms (one of which looks dangerously close to the esteemed crest of the Connells):

Something in the crypt we think? Dunno – pretty cool though.

Views from St. Peter’s steeple observation deck – pretty awesome perspective on the town.

Renaissance facades in front of the Dome Cathedral:

Another, higher view of the Powder Tower:

Riga’s Central Market hangers:

Down the street lies Riga’s Freedom Monument. A large statue of Peter the Great astride a horse once occupied this plaza, but it disappeared during WWI and the Latvians weren’t eager to replace it. Instead, the Freedom Monument was erected in its place in 1935.

Flowers are allegedly placed at the foot of the monument each day (we didn’t see any) as an act of defiance – such a gesture was punishable by deportation to Siberia during the Soviet era.

Dinner at 3 Pavāru Restorāns – definitely the dining highlight of our stay.

Riga’s Art Nouveau district on our Christmas Day walk. Riga’s period of peak prosperity happened to coincide with the Art Nouveau arts and architecture movement between 1890 and the outbreak of WWI. Although not at all unique to Riga, the town benefited from not being bombed into oblivion during WWII, resulting in a concentration of buildings in this style not seen anywhere else in Europe.