Memorial of Mother Teresa

"God still loves the world through you and through me today" - Mother Teresa

This is printed on the front page of a brochure I received from a nun on my flight to Warsaw in May 2013. She is from the Missionaries of Charity (MC), a Roman Catholic organisation, established by Mother Teresa in 1950. She was on the way back to visit her family after having served 10 years in MC. I had a short chat with this nun and was very impressed with her serenity and dedication to the mission.

Mother Teresa

Little did I know then that several months down the road, I would have the opportunity to visit Macedonia, the country where Mother Teresa was born. I visited the Memorial of Mother Teresa in Skopje.

Memorial of Mother Teresa, Skopje Macedonia

The memorial house cum museum is situated at the exact location where the old Sacred Heart of Jesus church was located. Mother Teresa was baptised in this church. 

Memorial of Mother Teresa

The museum was closed when we visited, so only took some pictures from the outside.

Memorial of Mother Tresa

Memorial of Mother Teresa

Memorial of Mother Teresa

Merry Cemetery, Sapanta Romania

Death is usually mourned and cemeteries are always very eerie to me. But somehow I find that Romanians celebrate life as well as death. I saw many well decorated cemeteries during my recent trip. These cemeteries are also located on higher ground, on hill slopes overlooking beautiful sceneries below. This is what Chinese would call 風 凉 水 冷.

Merry Cemetery in Sapanta is one good example of a well decorated cemetery. Bright and colouful is how I would describe Merry Cemetery.

Merry Cemetery, Sapanta Romania

The ancestors of Sapanta considered death as the beginning and not the end. Hence the oak wood "tombstone" is always in blue, the colour of hope and freedom. Sclptor Ion Patras began carving these in 1935 and his apparentice, Vasile Stan continues his works.

The carvings reflect the deceased's life and occupation. There are short stories written about the deceased's life in the local language.

Merry Cemetery Sapanta Romania

The local church under restoration.

Merry Cemetery, Sapanta

Paintings on the ceiling of the local church.

Merry Cemetery church

Estonia - Lahemaa National Park

Lahemaa National Park is located on Northern Estonia, 70 kilometers east from Tallinn and it took us about 1.5 hours to reach. It was the first area to be designated a national park of the former Soviet Union back in 1971. With forests covering more than 70 per cent of Lahemaa, the area is rich in flora and fauna. 

There are four manors situated in the national park, Palmse manor, the Vihula manor, Kolga manor, and the Sagadi Manor. Our tour visited Palmse Manor which is one of the grandest baroque mansions in Estonia. The mansion and open-air museum were the first fully restored manor complex in the country. Construction of the main building started in 1697 and  finally completed in 1720 and re-decorated 1782-1785. The first floor was built with high ceiling as that is where entertaining is done.The second floor was for bedrooms while kitchen and other household rooms were in the basement including a wine cellar.

Palmse Manor Estonia

From the picture below, you can see that Palmse Manor is surrounded by plenty of greenery.

Palmse Manor - layout

The garden behind the manor. Unfortunately the flowers in the garden was not blooming even in May as Estonia had a long winter this year. Our tour guide told us that the place was still cover in snow even up till April!

Palmse Manor- garden

The back view of Palmse Manor (left) and staff quarters (right).

Some photos of the interior of Palmse Manor, including the wine cellar and a musical box (bottom right) which still works today.

Palmse Manor -interior

On the way to Altja fishing village, we drove pass Sagadi Manor and managed to take a quick photo from the outside.

Sagadi Manor

Altja is a small coastal village that over a century ago supported small family farms and fishing. You can still see the original fishing hut used to store and maintain fishing nets and small boats.

Altja fishing village Estonia

Estonia - Tallinn

Estonia is the smallest Baltic state and yet it is the most vibrant compared to Lithuania and Lavia.

Our journey in Estonia started with a walking tour in the old medieval town of Tallinn which became a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 1997. We started our walk in the upper town and walked down towards the lower town. 

The first building we saw was this magnificent looking Russian church, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Talinn

Toompea Castle which is situated opposite Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is currently the House of Parliament. Ever since the castle was first built in 1227-1229, every foreign empire that ruled Estonia used this castle as its base. Front the front, what is visible is this pink baroque palace while a look from the base of the hill will give a more Medieval perspective.

Toompea Castle, Talinn

Kiek in de Kök is an artillery tower built in 1475. It gained the name Kiek in de Kok from the ability of tower occupants to see into kitchens of nearby houses. The tower is 38 m high and has walls 4 m thick. Cannon balls dating back to 1577 are still embedded in its outer walls. Throughout its working life, the tower was extensively remodeled. By 1760, the tower had become obsolete. At this time it became a repository for archives and some floors were converted to apartments.

Kiek in de Kok, Tallinn Estonia

More shots of Kiek in de Kok from the back where you can see the museum and there are also restaurants on the upper wall.

Kiek in de Kok, Tallinn Estonia

As our walking tour was a brief one, we didn't enter any of the buildings in the old town. Some photos below, some of which were taken when we walked about on our own after our official guided walk ended.

Tallinn, Estonia

We stumbled upon St Catherine's passage when we were exploring the old town on our own. At that time we didn't know of the significance of the passageway. Just thought that it was an interesting lane. Apparently the passageway is the remains of St Catherine's Church and is also one of the prettiest little walkways in all of old town. We didn't walk all the way to the other end as it was starting to get dark. After our little "adventure" with the homeless/drunk guy (see below), we decided not to be too adventurous :)

The old town of Tallinn is generally peaceful with tourists and locals walking up and down the different alleys minding their own business. But we were unfortunate that we bumped into a homeless/drunk guy who came after us asking for food initially and then for money. He refused to go away even when I had my umbrella in front of me, with the intention of "shooing" him away. He stopped following us when we reached the Town Hall Square where there were many people. Pheww,... thank God, he didn't attack us!!

Even after 7 centuries the Town Hall Square – Raekoja plats - still remains as the social heart of the city: during summer, it hosts several outdoor cafes, concerts and fairs and in December is transformed into a charming Christmas Market. Town Hall on Raekoja square, the only intact Gothic town hall in Northern Europe, now operates as a museum and concert hall. On top of the Town Hall tower, you will see the guard of Tallinn Old Town – Vana Toomas.

Town Hall, Tallinn

The oldest continuously working pharmacy in Europe, Raeapteek, is located right across the square.  

Raeapteek, oldest pharmacy in Europe

This building, RESTORAN KAERAJAAN, sounds like "Government Restaurant" in Malaysian. It's strange how diverse is the language and culture between Estonia and Malaysia and yet at the same time there are also similarities :)

Dome Cathedral - view from the back.

Dome Cathedral

The cross like structure on the left of the picture below is the Cross of Liberty  which was created to recognise the services of participants in the War of Independence 1918-1920.

Monument to the War of Independence

The Tallinn Song Stage was built in 1959 for the Estonian Song Festival. In 1988 Estonians gathered here – at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds – to sing patriotic hymns in what became known as the Singing Revolution that led to the overthrow of Soviet rule.Today, Tallinn's Song Festival Grounds are also used for hosting international concerts.

Tallinn Festival of Songs Venue

Our hotel in Tallinn for 2 nights - Sokos Hotel Viru - is just in front of the old town and we have a magnificent view of the old town skyline at all times :) 

Tallinn old town

Latvia - Riga (Part 2)

From the Freedom Monument, we walked through the park and crossed the road the see the Powder Tower in Riga. The Powder Tower is the only tower of the old fortification system that is still standing. Originally called the Sand Tower because it defended the city from the side of the Big Sand Road, it dates back to 1330. Rebulid numerous times, it gained its current name in the 17th century when they began to store gunpowder in the tower. Today it is part of the Military Museum. Next to the Powder Tower is an interesting building that is painted with different coat of arms in Latvia.

Powder tower, Riga

Opposite the restored portion of  Riga's old fortification wall is Jacob's Barrack (yellow building below) which used to be the longest building until recent times. The old Swedish gate (bottom right) is the only town gate that has been preserved in its original form.

Riga Old Fortification Wall

The Three Brothers are good examples buildings during medieval  Rīga. The eldest brother, house no. 17, is the white building and it was built in the late 15th century. It is the oldest stone dwelling structure in Riga. No 19 and 21 were built  in the 17th and 18th century respectively.Being built in different centuries, I think they are too old to be brothers, they are more like son, father and grandfather :)

The Three Brothers

In the heart of Old Riga is the largest square, Dome Square, where the Dome Cathedral is located. The Dome Cathedral has been destroyed and rebuilt many times, so presently it is a composite of different architectural styles. The cathedral's last reconstruction took place in 1776 where the tower was raised to the height of 90m. The famous organ of the Dome Cathedral was made in 1884 and it was the biggest organ in the world comprising 6,718 pipes. Unfortunately, we arrived when the cathedral was closed and hence didn't get to see the organ.

Riga Dome Cathedral

St Peter's church was first mentioned in 1209. Throughout the centuries, the church tower was burned down and rebuilt many times. It was first destroyed in 1666 and the last calamity it suffered was on St Peter's Day in 1941.

St John's church was built as a chapel for the Dominican monastery after 1234.

The House of Blackheads, built in 14th century belonged to the Guild of Unmarried Merchants. At the time it was the richest and most prestigious venue in the whole city. It was severely damaged during WWII, but was rebuilt again in 1999.

The House of Blackheads

The Central Market is one of the largest and oldest markets in Europe with five food pavilions located inside vast converted Zeppellin hangars. By the time our walking tour ended, we could not go to to the market as it was already closed.   And our local guide wasn't aware and was not responsible to take us to the market.  This is another problem with Parlo Tour, bad planning.! There seems to be a lot of miscommunication between the local guide and our tour operator. The local guide's scope of work is much narrower than what is prescribed in our itinerary. Hence, a couple of sites were left out and we didn't have time to enter many of the historical buildings, not only in Latvia but also in Lithuania and Estonia. And our dear tour leader was very defensive when a couple of us asked about the differences.

Our local guide Margita was kind enough to come half an hour earlier the next morning so that she can take us to the Central Market. But only to the fish and vegetable pavillion. That's the most we can get in 20 minutes. The market is very clean, no wet floors like the ones we have in Malaysia. Even the fish pavillion smelled fresh :) And there was plenty of my favourite fish - salmon! Fresh salmon, grilled salmon, smoked salmon, salted salmon...:) You name it, they have it!

Central Market, Riga

Central Market, Riga

After the quick visit to the Central Market, we traveled up north towards Turaida Castle. Work on the Turaida Stone Castle began in 1214 and it was mainly used by Riga's Archbishop as their residence outside of Riga. As a results of the many war over the centuries, parts of the castle wall was destroyed and had to be reconstructed.

Entrance toTuraida Castle

 View of Turaida Castle from the tower. As can be seen from this picture, Turaida Castle is surrounded by lush greenery.

Turaida Castle

The different shades of green coupled with the clear blue sky made Turaida look really really beautiful. The name "Turaida" which means "God's garden" is indeed a very appropriate name for this place. I may not know how God's garden look like but being surrounded by the beauty of God's creation in Turaida does make me feel like I'm in heaven!

Turaida

Tulips are aplenty in Turaida. But somehow these tulips has dark center, looks kind of like poppy. Could they be poppy?

Turaida

Turaida Castle is the last place in Latvia that we visited. On our way to Talinn in Estonia, we were supposed to go to Cesis to see the old Latvian town. But due to timing issues we had to take another route directly to Talinn. And guess what excuse our tour leader gave us for this change? She said the person who planned the itinerary did not look at the map. Palm in my face!!

Latvia - Riga (Part 1)

We crossed over from Lithuania to Latvia on 12 May 2013. Our first sight seeing spot was the Latvian Ethnographic Museum in Riga.

The Open-Air Museum, which covers an area of 87.66 hectares of a pine forest in Riga on the shores of Jugla Lake, is one of the oldest and largest open air museums in Europe. The museum houses 118 old buildings from all historical districts of Latvia – Kurzeme, Vidzeme, Zemgale and Latgale– built from the end of the 17th century up to the second half of the 1930s.

Latvian Ethnographic Museum

Within the open air museum, there is a church at 10am every Sunday at the Usma Church.The interior of the church is decorated with paintings of angels playing musical instruments. Interesting!

Usma Church - Latvian Open air Ethnographic Museum

It was a very pleasant walk for us through the open air museum given the fresh air and the abundance of greenery around us. However, the occasional wind and drizzle did send the temperature down by a fair bit. As winter was long, small little flowers were just beginning to bloom when we were there. Here's a picture of Jugla Lake together with some of the new blooms and leaves we saw.

Plants in open air museum

After enjoying the nature, we were brought back to Riga city and checked into our "home" for the next 2 nights at the Radisson Blu Daugava Hotel. Our hotel provides free shuttle to the Old Town which is across the Daugava river right in front of the hotel. The shuttle which stops at the House of BlackHead ends at 9pm. You can also take the bridge across the river, though we did not as it was freezing cold!

View of Riga old Town, such a beauty :). No wonder it has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Riga Old Town

The next morning we visited Rundale Palace, which is located in the south of Latvia. The Rundāle Palace ensamble, one of the most outstanding monuments of Baroque and Rococo architecture in Latvia. It was built between 1736 and 1740 as a summer residence for Ernst Johann Biron, Duke of Courland and a favourite of the Russian Empress Anna Ioannovna. The palace was designed by the Russian court architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli and built under his supervision.

Rundale Palace

Most of the interior decorations were created between 1765 and 1768 when a sculptor from Berlin Johann Michael Graff, and Italian painters from St. Petersburg Francesco Martini and Carlo Zucchi worked at the palace.

Rundale Palace

Both the interior and exterior, including the garden, of the Rundale Palace reminded me of Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, only that Schonbrunn Palace is much bigger and was very crowded at the time of our visit. 

Rundale Palace

At the reception counter of our lunch place, I found narcissus flower! They look so much like a daffodil with 6 petals all around and a little trumpet in the center. Maybe from the same family/species? I took many shots of the narcissus since there was plenty of time. Who knows when I may need to make a gumpaste narcissus? This picture will definitely be my guide:)

Narcissus

After lunch, we went back to the city and was taken for a walking tour of the city of Riga. As we were walking towards the Freedom Monument, we came across a magnolia tree, my first time seeing a real magnolia :) Unfortunately the flowers have withered and I couldn't take any good shots of magnolia to add to my collection of flowers of the world. Even with withered magnolias, the magnolia tree is still such a beauty, isn't it?

Magnolia

Next to the magnolia tree, we saw another beautiful flower, the rhododendrum. Aahhh...I am in love with spring :)

Rhododendrum

The Freedom Monument is a memorial honouring soldiers killed during the Latvian War of Independence (1918–1920). It is considered an important symbol of the freedom, independence, and sovereignty of Latvia. The words “For the Fatherland and Freedom” is inscribed at the base of the Freedom Monument.

 And next to the city canal there is also a love lock bridge like the one in Salzburg, Austria.

Freedom Monument and love lock bridge, Riga

Riga is such a beautiful city:) There are so many more photos that I want to share. Will continue in the next post. Stay tuned!