At Sea
After a bumpy night, it was not surprising that breakfast began slowly and that the dining room was only half full for lunch. A residual swell from a passing storm aggravated by passing squalls gave us plenty of motion throughout the day, mostly pitching as we made for the Latvian capital of Riga. For those aficionados of a ‘real’ sea this was a bonus and the observation room was peopled by guests with good sea legs who were treated to some fine views of wind, waves and weather.
A full and varied program of presentations from the staff was on offer, as a distraction from the high seas. Karen Copeland started the day with an overview of the Baltic from a geological and maritime perspective, providing numerous insights into the physical background of a distinctive region. Our historian introduced the Baltic kaleidoscope of peoples, languages and cultures that we were already encountering, including a sequence of languages from the Indo-European family and some – Estonian and Finnish – intrusive languages originally from Central Asia. If languages have tended to divide the Baltic peoples, there have been countervailing tendencies providing cultural unity. At various times in its history, the Baltic has been described as a Viking, German, or Swedish lake. In the course of the voyage we will visit a number of towns that have remarkably similar features; the brick cathedral of Lübeck, the first of its kind in Europe, was quickly imitated in Gdansk and Riga and other Hanseatic cities. Finally, religion again acted to fracture: the western Teutonic Knights met Orthodoxy in the eastern waters of the Baltic, forming a religious frontier roughly following a line drawn between Tallinn and Helsinki. To further complicate the picture, the Reformation of the early sixteenth century saw Protestantism spread quickly through the German-speaking cities of the Baltic with the result that today the three Baltic republics have different languages and also different religious allegiances. The advice was to enjoy the contradictions and savor the paradoxes of Baltic history.
For those wishing to record their experiences, a photography clinic was held after lunch with advice offered to experienced and novice photographers alike. Following a scone tea, Sisse Brimberg, our National Geographic photographer, presented a photographic journey through the Hanseatic world, a series of stunning images that further deepened our understanding of this key period in Baltic history. Following Recap and Dinner, there was eager anticipation for the imminent calm conditions expected after our entry into the Bay of Riga.
