Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
Starting my trip to the Baltic states at Tallinn, Estonia (formerly also called Reval) was a perfect idea. Relaxed and rather quiet people, a wonderful city with a well-preserved old-town (Vanalinn, a UNESCO world heritage site), the Toompea hill and the parks around it and a tech-savvy nation that makes travelling easy. It already starts with the fantastic and small airport that is really welcoming and the cute Finno-Ugric language.
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When you’re at Estonia and walk around at night you’re required by law to wear cat eyes. A special situation I never had before and they tell you also where to wear them: at knees height on the right side of your body. It is necessary that they are visible from back and front. I learned about this from the travel advice of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.
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When preparing for the trip to Tallinn, Estonia the English name for the country somehow had a strange sound for me. But I couldn’t remember why. That changed only when I was standing in front of the memorial ‘Katkenud liin‘ (broken line) – it remembers the victims of a ferry disaster in 1994. The ferry boat ESTONIA sank on its way from Tallinn, Estonia to Stockholm, Sweden and 852 persons lost their lifes.
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Travelling by public transport through Tallinn, Estonia is easy and fun. The transport system uses tramways, bussess and trolley busses – like in a lottery you sometimes get a brand new one or a historic vehicle. Locals typically use smartcards they can charge up and validate them when entering the vehicle at any door. You can also buy tickets by using the ‘pilet.ee‘ smartphone app (‘pilet‘ means ticket).
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Bornhagen is just a tiny village in Thuringia, Germany. People getting here stop for a drink or a meal at the Klausenhof restaurant, to take a look at the sausage museum dedicated to the tradition of home-made sausages – but most often they get here for the beautiful castle ruin Hanstein. Nowadays the village has another interesting thing; a memorial that cannot be seen while walking through Bornhagen.
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The city of Kassel, Germany has two exclaves – or better said property outside of the boundaries of the city: the Lenoir mausoleum at Hessisch Lichtenau and the Gut Kragenhof at Staufenberg. The Kragenhof is a farm within a sinuosity of river Fulda. Since 1901 it belongs to Kassel but it is only accessible via Staufenberg and also has its postcode and area code.
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The hill Schäferberg (‘shepherd mountain’) near Espenau, Germany received its name because the farmers of Hohenkirchen often brought their cattle there. The inhabitants of Kassel mostly know the name because of the big hotel Waldhotel Schäferberg where you can get to have a good brunch or some cake. But there is also another story to tell: in 1943 the Nazis created here a camp for forced-labour workers from different European countries.
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Already in Roman times the city of London, United Kingdom had important harbours within the city and at Southwark. Over time the importance grew and more space was needed. In the east of the city along river Thames a large area became dedicated for loading and unloading goods: the Docklands. It is no official name and the area includes parts of the city quarters Greenwich, Lewisham, Newham, Southwark and Tower Hamlets. With the rise of containerization and container ships the docks of London became too small and had all to be closed in the end of the 20th century.
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Montenegro (or Црна Гора/Crna Gora, black mountains) is a young state on the Balkans which became independent only in 2006 (before that it was part of the federation of Serbia and Montenegro, before that it was part of Yugoslavia). It is a country that is mostly unknown to western Europeans; if they get here then mostly, they get to the Adriatic coast or by cruise ship to the UNESCO world heritage site Kotor.
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Yes, Podgorica is the capital city of Montenegro. But it doesn’t feel like a capital city. It is a town with 150,00 inhabitants and rather a silent capital. It has many green places, the buildings like in many areas very old and gray. The name means ‘at the foot of the hill’ but a lot people still know the city under another name: Titograd. Between 1918 and 1992 Podgorica belonged to Yugoslavia and was named like this to honour Josip Broz Tito who was communist prime minister and president of Yugoslavia.
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