Godoy in Haapsalu

Dear Fran,

I send you what my friend Godoy wrote about his stay in Haapsalu

<<12/09/19 Thursday.

Yesterday I was walking a lot and I wrote little. I wanted to make up the flight hours I had to spend to get to Tallinn.

Today I am at Bussijaam, bus station, waiting for the bus to Haapsalu. As I have time I take Andy Bounds' book from a bookcase. The Jelly Effect. How to make your communication stick. You know, that of open and closed groups, knowing what to say and warnings like the rule when approaching groups of any size is to always ask permission. As if one, by oneself, did not know when to approach and talk to a person! Some quotes are not bad; they are of interesting people: G B Shaw, John Wanamaker... but when the sharp reflection is told by Homer Simpson I return the book to its place.

I arrive at the old Haapsalu train station, which they built ex profeso for the enjoyment of czars and bourgeois in past centuries. If someone has to go from this station to the city center, my advice is to walk along the old train track that, stirking the coast, gives you beautiful views of the area. It was the path that I followed to go to Päeva Villa, my hotel.

I take benefit of a bench to breathe deeply and get carried away by Tchaikovsky's music (it is said that in the summer of 1867 he was with his brothers resting very close to where I am now). It is said.

 

Väike viik

Mary, this is a swampy area with reeds and related plants, which allows many birds to be at ease. How much you would enjoy here!

The lady at the reception of the Päeva is very friendly; she has even changed my room because the one in which I had been assigned bothered the wind a lot. After check in, and advised by this woman, I enter the Müüriääre Kohvik. Cozy place, with wooden roof and a bolero sounding pleasantly. I order a Hapsal Lager craft beer and something to eat.

Since yesterday was hard, I want to rest my feet and retire for a while in my room. 40 minutes later and with the camera on my shoulder I begin to wander around the city.

Yes, I know, Haapsalu is known in the world as the spa town, but in addition to the Czars (Peter I stayed here in summer of 1715) Haapsalu has among its inhabitants people who I personally admire.

To begin with, Bernhard Laipmann. ‘Punitive troops imprisioned him and executed him. Laipmann soon became memorialized as a martyr for the Estonian revolutionary cause and became the primary subject matter for Estonian art and literature evoking the terror of 1905.’

Cyrillus Kreek. Composer, conductor and music teacher. ‘A monument was erected in front of his home.’

Cyrillus Kreek´s home

Rose bushes surround Tchaikovsky's bank as I continue my journey on the Promennadi towards Africa Beach.

 

Africa Beach

Mary, do you know who was the founder of the spa therapy tradition in Estonia? 'Phisician Dr Carl Abraham Hunnius. Hunnius was the first to study the curative effects of the mud obtained from Haapsalu Bay and started to use it for therapeutic purposes. The first mud therapy establishment was founded on his initiative in 1825.’

That's how I get to the kuursaal, but it's almost getting dark so I leave for tomorrow what I have left to see about Tagalaht and the eastern part of the city. Before leaving the 'back bay' I took some pictures of some pictures on a board of Jaan Poska's family, who led the Estonian delegation in peace negotiations with Soviet Russia and signed the historical Tartu Peace Treaty in 1920.

Kuursaal

Tranquility. Time seems to pass more slowly.

Enviable views from my room. In those moments prior the night I can see the silhouettes cut out in of the ducks the gloom.

13/09/19 Friday.

Several groups of children with their respective teachers accompany me for a moment. There are no more than five students with each teacher and I wonder if the ratio in Haapsalu and Estonia is this. If so, I would not be surprised if education in this country is a success. In Spain, at least in Andalusia, the classrooms do not go down on average twenty-two or twenty-three little angels. I am excited about what has to do with teaching.

I enter the Haapsalu Linna Algkool 1838 ... 1938 ... 1990 because my pencil needs to be sharpened. What better place to ask to borrow a teritaja? As I want to continue at the point where I left it yesterday, I head towards Africa Beach and on Mängu Street I am in front of Kuursaal; I climb the observation tower, linnuvaatlus torn, from where I am able to distinguish swans, ducks and, I think, one great crested grebe; surely you would see countless species. After a while I return to the city centre, finding in my path the St John´s church.

According to a small guide that the person in charge of showing the church gives me

Jaani kirik, as the church is locally known, is an Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church. According to its primitive message of humility and simplicity, it shows a space without great ornaments. Possibly the most artistic and economic value are its organ, the pulpit and the altarpiece carved out of stone, which is rare in Northen Europe. It is the only stone altarpiece in Estonia that has survived.

 

St John´s Church

In one of the streets I discover this plaque:

1839 AASTAL ASUTATI

CARL ABRAHAM HUNNIUSE

POOLT ESIMENE EESTIKEELNE

KOOL HAAPSALUS

In which again appears the name of Dr. Hunnius. Here people are very grateful to this benefactor.

Mary, did you know a woman named Anna Hedwig Büll? Not me, but this journey has helped me to get to know her. She was born and grew up in Haapsalu and she dedicated her life to helping Armenian Christians. ‘She saved the lives of thousands of Armenian orphans during the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. This activity earned her the nickname Mother Büll among Armenians.’

There are still people who deny these horrendous crimes.

Before entering the Episcopal Castle, I take a picture of a panel at the entrance to the Kraviaed Gardens. At the bottom of the picture you can read ‘Alexander, heir to the Russian throne, with his family and entourage in front of De la Gardie Castle in summer 1880. Sitting on the carpet are future Russian emperor Nicholas II (1868-1918) and his brother George (1871-1899). Sitting in the first row are lady of the court Aleksandra Apraksina; Alexander III (1845-1894), who would become emperor the following year; his wife Maria Fjodorovna (former Danish princess Maria Sophia Fredericka Dagmar, 1847-1928); and other members of the imperial court.’

Imperial family

Mary, excuse the shine on women's clothes. I could not fix it.

I enter the park of the episcopal castle and also in this castle a lady dressed in white appears! I am interested in the legend behind this mysterious appearance. Naïve. But in a second paragraph they give a more rational explanation of what really happens. I don't want to write any of the two things here; I prefer to tell you in person when we meet.

 

Episcopal Castle

On the other hand, I think I did the right thing by following Mr Milhazes' suggestion by advancing the travel three or four weeks. I smell the first chimneys.

For lunch I enter the Hapsal Dietrich 'one of the best restaurants of Estonia 2016' and finalist of the Silver Spoon of 2017 and 2018.

I feel some discomfort in my right foot, so I return to my room as it starts to rain. From my window in the Peetri tuba (my room) I see it raining... horizontally! I am on the second floor and the window panes do not get wet. Windswept water does not rise four or five meters above the ground!

I'm leaving. It wasn't going to be all afternoon waiting for it to stop raining.

I continue my journey where I had left it in the morning, so I arrived at a pavilion dedicated to Ants Laikmaa 'who attended the Haapsalu Elementary School in 1876, lived in Haapsalu over the period of 1901-1903, being intensively occupied by painting. Also, I have untiringly fought for the preservation of Krahaviaed, or the Count´s Garden. It was primarily due to the active protests of painter Ants Laikmaa that the current territory of the Count´s Garden was not closed for public use. '

Mary, have you recognised the last name Laikmaa? In effect, it is the family name of a family rooted in this city. Bernhard was his brother.

 

De la Gardie

I stop at the ‘Palace of De la Gardie, that supported the creation of the first mud therapy establishment in Haapsalu. Many prominent figures of the Russian Empire, including the imperial family, used to stay at this palace during the summer season. Then, in 1927, the palace was converted into a county hospital. It is now used as a Lääne County hospital nursing home.’

I access Haapsalu Linnagalerii and talk to Kersti Aaloe, who, by the way, has an impact calligraphy. We chat - half an art, half a story - for more than half an hour. In those thirty minutes he has told me experiences that are similar to those suffered by the Blumthal family. A conversation — despite my weak English — that will take me long to forget. I say goodbye to Kersti and head towards the new part of the city because I want to buy some fruit. On the way I ran into another plate dedicated to Nikolai Roerich

Remembering Nikolai Roerich

What to say about this man's personality! How much wisdom! What a sense of fraternity! Mary, if Picasso drew the Dove of Peace, Roerich wove the Flag of Peace.

I bought some fruit and I look for the shelter of the Päeva Villa. The afternoon is getting black. I don't have time to arrive. I am completely wet and go straight to the shower. Hot water, very hot.>>

Y. a.

Mary