Baltic Outlook September 2013 by Bookletia

SEPTEMBER 2013

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Rock it in London! Style and the city

Mark Rothko â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a wizard of colours

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Welcome aboard

Martin Alexander Gauss Chief Executive Officer

Dear Customer, Latvia had the EU’s fastest-growing economy in both 2011 and 2012, posting Gross Domestic Product growth of more than five percent each year. The country continues to shine, recording the EU’s best performance in the first half of 2013 compared to the same period a year ago. Official forecasts suggest continued strong growth of over four per cent for the year. We are delighted to see this in the Baltic context as well, with similarly strong growth in Lithuania and Estonia. In fact, the latter is set to take the lead in terms of economic development within the 17-country euro area this year. Latvian exports have increased by 20 percent over the past five years, being among the key drivers behind the country’s current economic growth. By linking the Baltic region with major commercial centres in Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Russia and the CIS, airBaltic is making it easy for exporters to establish themselves in new markets, and for investors to set up new ventures. We were happy to support the region’s businesses and to offer them additional flights and destinations. This summer alone, airBaltic made improvements to more than 20 routes. We introduced additional flights on eleven routes linking Riga with such destinations as Paris, Barcelona, Nice, Stockholm, Rome, London and Bari. This made your travel more convenient, reduced waiting at your connecting airport and gave you more time to conduct your business or enjoy your holiday. Furthermore, airBaltic itself is the largest Latvian exporter of consumer services through sales of airline tickets and travel-related services abroad in the region from Barcelona to Moscow and from Tel Aviv to Oslo. And... did you know that airBaltic switched to the euro almost five years ago? It was the first company to do so in the Baltic region. Thank you for flying airBaltic!

Yours, Martin Alexander Gauss

BALTIC OUTLOOK / SEPTEMBER 2013 / 5

CONTENTS / SEPTEMBER

Style and the city / page 58

September 38

Your next destination

Art epidemic in Oslo 58

Special Style and the city

Influential fashion blogger Yvan Rodic gives his take on street fashion in five European fashion centres

Travel Winemaking pioneers:

Georgia’s long standing winemaking traditions

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CONTENTS / SEPTEMBER

30 20

Edmunds’ thought September song

City icons Art in the abattoir

Agenda September 2013

Little black book Paris

Design Working from home?

Style Closest allies

People Fixed-gear bicycle racer Toms Alsbergs

Thing of the month Paintings by Mark Rothko

Food Take it with you!

Interview Toughened up by Wall Street. Latvian writer Tom Crosshill

Travel Cocktail hour in Milan

Cars Maserati Ghibli

Gadgets The new blacks

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Food & drink Latest in Riga

109

airBaltic news

Editorial Staff Chief Editor: llze Pole / e: ilze@frankshouse.lv Editor: Zane Nikodemusa / e: zane.nikodemusa@frankshouse.lv Copy editor: Kārlis Roberts Freibergs Design: Marika Kossatz Layout: Inta Kraukle Cover: Corbis / Scanpix

Baltic Outlook is published by SIA Frank’s House Stabu 17, Riga, LV 1011, Latvia / ph: (+371) 67293970 / w: frankshouse.lv / e: franks@frankshouse.lv Director: Eva Dandzberga / e: eva@frankshouse.lv Advertising managers: Indra Indraše / e: indra@frankshouse.lv / m: (+371) 29496966 Ieva Birzniece / e: ieva.birzniece@frankshouse.lv / m: (+371) 26416866 Inta Veinšteina / e: inta.veinsteina@frankshouse.lv / m: (+371) 29263692

Check out Baltic Outlook’s profile on Facebook The opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the authors and/or persons interviewed and do not necessarily reflect the views of airBaltic AS and the editors at Frank’s House SIA. Advertisers or their representatives assume full responsibility for the content of their advertisements, and for ensuring that this content corresponds with the laws and other normative acts of the Republic of Latvia. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher. Printed at Poligrāfijas grupa Mūkusala, Latvia, phone (+371) 67063187

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Colombinicasa Riga Jaunmoku iela 26 (next to shopping center Spice), Riga â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Tel: (+371) 67619268 info@colombinicasa.lv www.colombinicasa.lv

DETAILS / EDMUNDS’ THOUGHT

Text by Edmunds ValdemArs Bunkše, professor emeritus and geographer Photo by EmIls DesjatNikovs, F64

September Song Invariably

, September Song surfaces in my consciousness with the arrival of autumn. First I hum a few bars of the melody, then quietly sing a few lines. A light feeling of nostalgia sets in about the ending of summer. The song touched me deeply in my adolescence – a time when classical music and jazz were more exciting than the mostly boring beat pop music of that era. The Beatles had not yet come upon the scene. September Song became my time marker the first time I heard it, when summer no longer stretched before me like “a cat’s yawn”, to borrow a line from Nobel laureate poet Derek Walcott. As a month, unlike specific calendar dates, September is diffuse and does not concentrate thoughts. But the song, like any notable artwork, resonates within and leads to rich, unpredictable interpretations. The composer, Kurt Weill, best known for Die Dreigroschen Oper (The Threepenny Opera), was a major artistic figure of the 20th century, ostensibly influencing even rock and roll. Born in a Jewish family, he wisely fled Nazi Germany in 1933. The nostalgic tone of September Song still resonates in my own refugee’s soul. For me the simple lines, “And the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame” are the most

During the 18th century, nostalgia was regarded as a “geographic disease” evocative. September marks the slow end of summer. Inevitably autumn, then winter swallow up the summer. There are a few precious days by which summer may be extended. In my adolescence, it was the still warm Atlantic beaches to the east of New York City where

some precious summer moments could still be found. Gone were the millions of people who populated the beaches all the way through August. I have the fondest memories of sunny, windy September days, when giant waves rolled in from distant storms and could be survived only by diving into the base of their curving green walls. In Sweden near Lund I found shelter from the autumnal winds behind a low sea wall. On the Latvian beaches in Kurzeme there are similar places in the dunes for spending wonderful summer moments. Today, feeling nostalgic for one’s childhood, school days, or for a place where love was revealed is nothing extraordinary. But during the 18th century, nostalgia was regarded as a “geographic disease” associated with a long absence from one’s homeland. Specific symptoms were described in medical books, as David Lowenthal, a professor emeritus of geography at the University College London, has written. For me, Kurt Weill’s September Song is a lyrical expression of nostalgia, not so much for a place or landscape as for the liberating joys of summer. As such, nostalgia is not a horrible disease, but rather joy mixed with a certain amount of sadness – an epiphany about time’s wider reaches. BO

DETAILS / CITY ICONS

Text by Oskars Klauze | Photo courtesy of MACRO Testaccio

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Art in the abattoir Rome is not only about history and the past. Since Romulus, the city’s mythical creator, laid the foundations for his home, architects and masons have contributed wondrous new buildings and structures as testimony to their faith in the future of the Eternal City Among the magnificent monuments of MACRO’s main site at the former Peroni Ancient Rome, stately Baroque edifices and brewery, the MACRO Future branch was other timeless architectural masterpieces being installed in the hangars of a defunct of yesteryear, one might be slaughterhouse in the city’s The MACRO tempted to seek out more Testaccio district. Now known as Testaccio’s contemporary structures the MACRO Testaccio, this second industrial that may still be in the branch has become a vibrant architecture showcase for young artists, process of establishing their identities as iconic tourist architects, musicians and other creates destinations. One such place creative types. Over the course of a viable is the MACRO Testaccio, the synergy with more than a decade, it has served branch of Rome’s Museum the modern as a showcase for countless of Contemporary Art that is exhibitions, international projects art that is located in a former abattoir. and new forms of expression. displayed Like similar contemporary Visually, the MACRO Testaccio is inside art museums in other cities, an impressive site. Its striking the MACRO was built on idle late 19th-century industrial architecture creates a viable synergy factory grounds, at two separate sites in with the modern art that is displayed Rome’s case. While French architect Odile inside. The interior and its monumental Deq was working out the design for the

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steel constructions, which testify to the pavilions’ previous function, give the MACRO Testaccio the image of a dynamic and rebellious hooligan among Rome’s older venerable museums. Even its opening hours have been set to accommodate the schedules of the young-at-heart – the MACRO Testaccio opens its doors only at 4 in the afternoon, and is accessible to the public until 10 PM. After that, visitors can continue enjoying their evening at the numerous music clubs, bars and restaurants that are lined up beside each other on the nearby Monte Testaccio, offering an additional opportunity to get acquainted with this unusual and inspiring part of Rome. BO MACRO Testaccio Piazza Orazio Giustiniani 4 www.museomacro.org/it/macro-testaccio

201 Brivibas str., Riga. Ph.: +371 26606060, www.podium.lv

DETAILS / LIFESTYLE

Text by Zane Nikodemusa and Roger Norum | Publicity photos

SPOTLIGHT ON INDIAN SUMMER Five things that you should do in Latvia in September • Go shopping on September 14 and 28 at the Slow Food Farmers’ Market in the Bergs’ Bazaar (Berga Bazārs – Elizabetes iela 83/85), something that has now become a Riga tradition. • Enjoy the dizzying honey-like smell from the beds of violet-coloured heather at Kurzeme’s pine-tree-lined beaches. • Watch in person how Latvian fans show their devotion to high-class ice hockey and the powerful Dinamo Rīga team (www.dinamoriga.eu). • Attend the Homo Novus international new theatre festival, which always provides a surprise with its contemporary and cosmopolitan shows (www.homonovus.lv). • Look up in the sky at flocks of migrating birds heading south, and observe the dances of cranes in the cleared grain fields.

ON THIS MONTH’S MENU

THE TREND:

Celebrate life in all its splendour with some tips by Baltic Outlook Music While listening to legendary Canadian bard and poet Leonard Cohen’s whispering voice, many listeners get wise about how the world operates and where people are heading. During September, Cohen will be on tour in Europe. www.leonardcohen.com Design The latest collection of The Queen lamps by Latvian design company mammalampa will instantly conjure up a warm romantic feeling in any living room or kitchen. Elegance honed to perfection. www.mammalampa.lv

Beauty The well-known optics brand Carrera has released a luxurious collection of sunglasses in collaboration with fashion designer Jimmy Choo. This is glamour with which to catch the first rays of the autumn sun. www.carreraworld.com

READING LIST

Artemis Cooper, Patrick Leigh Fermor (11 EUR, www.johnmurray.co.uk) This acclaimed biography of England’s heroic soldier, daring traveller, brilliant writer and international man of mystery (Somerset Maugham described him as “a middle-class gigolo for upper-class women”) has been affectionately penned by Fermor’s friend and confidante Cooper. Offers some brilliant anecdotes of an innocent and brazen era of travel, now all but lost. Jared Diamond, The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn From Traditional Societies? (14.99 EUR, www.penguin.com) The famed polymath author of international bestseller Guns, Germs and Steel has published this insightful, mesmerizing enquiry into how our ancestors have lived for millions of years. Though more pop anthropology than travel writing, the tales from his 50 years working and living in New Guinea make a great, inspiring read for the armchair traveller.

CONCERT AT A PALACE

INSTAFASHION Christian Louboutin

instagram.com/louboutinworld

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The aristocratic and inspiring Small Mežotne Palace can be found at a picturesque site right on the shores of the Lielupe River, only 76 kilometres from Riga. The restored palace has a large hall with great acoustics, which has become a favoured concert venue for the best Latvian musicians. Outstanding jazz soloist Daumants Kalniņš will perform there on September 27. More information at www.mazamezotnespils.lv. Ticket prices from 20 – 35 EUR through www.bilesuparadize.lv.

DETAILS / LOCAL AGENDA

Latvian National Opera building’s

anniversary concert

Latvian National Opera, Riga September 5 and 6 The Latvian National Opera’s (LNO) new season will be special, as it will mark the

150th anniversary of the LNO’s building. Two splendid concerts will mark this event on September 5 and 6. In the first concert, viewers will see excerpts from the best ballet performances of the Latvian National Ballet, whereas the second concert will be dedicated to the opera. In honour of the festive event, world-famous Latvian opera stars – for whom the stage of the LNO’s White Hall was once a trampoline to international recognition – will be arriving in Latvia: Kristīne Opolais, Aleksandrs Antoņenko, Inga Kalna, Inese Galante and Egils Siliņš. The evenings are sure to be memorable events through the combination of beautiful music, outstanding performances and a festive mood. More information at www.opera.lv Tickets at www.bilesuparadize.lv Aspazijas bulvāris 3

SEPTEMBER 2013 Public lecture by His Holiness the

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Jūlijs Feders, Park Art Museum Riga Bourse, Riga Until November 10 This autumn, the Latvian National Museum of Art is marking the 175th year since the birth of outstanding Latvian landscape painter Jūlijs Feders (1838-1909), introducing the broader public to the artist’s era and his flair for life through a selection of his paintings. The prominent painter was known for his high level of professionalism, landscape images, diversity of motifs and pictorial quality, the wide range of which is revealed at this exhibition. His achievements were unique in Latvian art, as alongside his professional mastery, one sees the unhurried observation and respect for nature through the eyes of a 19th-century person. More information at www.rigasbirza.lv and www.lnmm.lv Doma laukums 6

Avoti, Riga September 5 – 15 The fifth international Survival Kit contemporary art festival, in which more than 50 artists from around the world will take part, is set to be full of surprises. A wide-ranging exhibition of their works will be on view in one of Riga’s most lively neighbourhoods at Avoti on Lāčplēša iela 60. As a reaction to worldwide social trends, the

internationally recognized artists will be given the task of reflecting on strategies that could change the existing system or of creating a new alternative. The exhibition as the festival’s central event will be enriched every day by captivating concerts, performances and artists’ presentations. More information at www.survivalkit.lv Lāčplēša iela 60

stay 2 nights save 20% Rooms from 42 EUR* Enjoy a weekend break at one of our colorful hotels in: Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipeda or Tallinn

the expenses related to his visit. Any remaining funds will be directed towards charitable activities in Latvia. More information at www.dalailama.lv Tickets at www.bilesuserviss.lv Skanstes iela 21

contemporary art festival

Adding Color to LifeSM

Survival Kit

Arena Riga, Riga September 9 His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, will pay a visit to Latvia from September 8 to 11. The key themes in all of the engagements by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate will be non-violence, compassion and dialogue. The main event will be The Culture of Compassion, a public lecture delivered on September 9 at the Arena Riga. Anyone is welcome to sign up for the lecture and acquire tickets in exchange for a donation at www.bilesuserviss.lv. The funds raised through ticket sales will help to cover

PHOTO BY Manuel Bauer

XIV Dalai Lama

Jūlijs Feders’ Ainava (Landscape) exhibition

Text by Zane Nikodemusa | Publicity photos

parkinn.com

* Rate is per night per double room incl. VAT and breakfast

DETAILS / EUROPEAN EVENTS

In association with www.anothertravelguide.com | Publicity photoS

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ONE WAY

between the modernist, avant-garde and post-modernist schools of art and architecture, while showcasing Barcelona as a significant European cultural metropolis. The journey through the city’s history begins with the World Fair of 1929, which left its mark on Barcelona’s architecture, graphic design and applied arts; continuing through to the 1992 Olympic Games, which initiated a new urban, architectural and social revival in the city; and which were later followed by the bursting of an unsustainable property bubble. Although formally the exhibition tells the story of Barcelona’s evolution, it can also be seen as a harsh portrait of the reckless pursuit of profit that is so characteristic of our times. MACBA | Plaça dels Àngels, 1 www.macba.cat CaixaForum Barcelona Av. de Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, 6-8 www.fundaciolacaixa.es

Josep Guinovart  Homenatge al pintor de parets, 1964

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MACBA and CaixaForum Until January 6

from

Munich’s International Design Museum (Die Neue Sammlung), a branch of the Pinakothek der Moderne, is starting off the fall season with a unique and inspiring exhibition of Moroccan nomad carpets from one of the world’s largest and most significant private collections. In the early 20th century, the abstract designs and powerful motifs of Maghreb Berber weavers inspired such European and North American modern artists as Le Corbusier, Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to claim that Moroccan carpets have influenced avant-garde Western art. The exhibition thus highlights the cultural links between the abstractionist designs seen in Berber carpets and similar traits in the works of such modern artists as Mark Rothko or Cy Twombly. The Islamic prohibition on depictions of the human being in art led the Berbers and Arabs of the Maghreb to adopt to a radical form of abstraction, employing a completely free and (to Western eyes) very modern approach to color and shape. The early 1900s were a time when Western artists sought to go “back to the roots” of art, studying the artworks of so-called primitive cultures in Africa, Asia and North America. The “unifying designs” that they discovered inspired their own work and induced a number of well-known avant-garde artists to follow a similar path. This particular collection of Moroccan carpets belongs to Munich professor and architect Jürgen Adam, who has spent several decades of his life amassing and researching these distinctive works of woven art. Barer Straße 40 www.die-neue-sammlung.de

€85

Arte, Two Points. Barcelona Lives Contemporary Art

Munich

This long-awaited exhibition has been jointly organized by the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) and the CaixaForum, and is simultaneously being shown at both locations. It is also the most important happening in Barcelona’s cultural event calendar for 2013. During the next four months, the exhibition will showcase 400 works by 125 artists, including Joseph Beuys, Tony Cragg, Lucio Fontana, Richard Hamilton, Joan Hernández Pijuan, Paul Klee, Jannis Kounellis, Gerhard Richter and Jeff Wall. These will be drawn from the combined total of more than 6000 works at both institutions, and which constitute one of the important collections of contemporary art in Southern Europe. Within the context of Barcelona’s history and development, the comprehensive exhibition also underscores the relationship

from

Art contemporani © Vegap, Barcelona, 2013. Foto © Arxiu fotogràfic Fundació “la Caixa”

Moroccan Carpets and Modern Art

Die Neue Sammlung – Pinakothek der Moderne September 29 – January 6

Carpet, 200 x 127 cm, Boujad (market town), Middle Atlas, Morocco, Collection Adam, Munich

Barcelona

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Royal Academy Until October 13

Richard Rogers: Inside Out

Terminal 4 of Madrid’s Barajas airport

107, rue de Rivoli www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr

London’s Royal Academy is marking the 80th birthday of British Architect Richard Rogers with a monumental exhibition devoted to his work. A winner of the prestigious Pritzker Prize, Rogers has designed various well-known edifices, including Lloyd’s Building in London in London, Terminal 4 of Madrid’s Barajas airport and the Welsh National Assembly building. However, Rogers’ best-known and most influential architectural work is the Pompidou Centre in Paris, which he co-authored in the 1970s together with Renzo Piano of Italy and other architects. Burlington Gardens www.royalacademy.org.uk

London

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Vienna This year marks the 10th anniversary of the refurbishment of Vienna’s legendary Albertina museum. Among other things, the museum boasts one of the world’s largest and most precious collections of graphic art, housing a wide array of works by artists ranging from Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Dürer to Pablo Picasso and Mark Chagall. A cornerstone of this year’s festivities is the exhibition Matisse and the Fauves, which opens on September 20, offering visitors the chance to view 150 works by Henri Matisse and his fellow Fauvists. Many of these oeuvres will be shown to public for the first time. The official birth of Fauvism is

ational Gallery of Art, Washington Collection of Mr. and N Mrs. John Hay Whitney © Succession Matisse/VBK, Vienna 2013

Paris

This exhibition, whose title could also be translated as “the hidden mechanism”, is devoted to the male and female undergarments that have served to sculpt the human body like plasticine, in accordance with prevailing fashions and ideals of beauty. The crinoline, the corset, the bra, the stomach belt, metal hoops,

padding and various other vestimentary devices for fashioning people’s figures – all form a veritable arsenal of secret “architecture” that has faithfully fulfilled its modelling functions from the 14th century to the present day; and this without any surgical intervention! The emphasis is more on the mechanical side, providing visitors with a completely different perspective on the history of clothing and fashion.

Albertina September 20 – January 12

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Musée des Arts Décoratifs Until November 24

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La mécanique des dessous

Matisse and the Fauves

DETAILS / EUROPEAN EVENTS

Henri Matisse The Open Window, 1905 Oil on canvas Fly to Vienna with airBaltic from

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attributed to an exhibition in 1905 at the Salon d’Automne in Paris, where Matisse and his colleagues generated a veritable sensation. The works on display were characterized by wild, seemingly rushed and spontaneous brush strokes, together with bright and unnatural colours. In a review of the showing, art critic Louis Vauxcelles called the artists “fauves” or “wild beasts”, a label that then stuck. Although Fauvism lasted for only a few years, it is seen as the first avant-garde movement in early 20th-century European art and a pioneer of the Modernist movements that followed. Albertinaplatz 1 www.albertina.at

Paris, France

DETAILS / CITY MUST-SEES

Little Black Book

In association with www.anothertravelguide.com | Publicity photoS

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Five reasons for going to Paris this fall Festival d’Automne

September 13 – January 12 This annual Paris autumn festival encompasses theatre, concerts, dance, cinema and exhibitions, taking pre-eminence in the cultural scene of the French capital. Although the Festival d’Automne with its avant-garde direction features mainly new works, recognized luminaries and classics also have a place in it. Among them is an enduring festival guest of many years’ standing, French grandmaster and explorer of the field of dreams and secrets, Claude Régy. This year, Régy’s latest show, La Barque le soir, centres around an old man whose impending death reveals things to him that no-one else knows about. This year’s festival pays particular homage to American avant-garde theatre director Robert Wilson, with three of his shows included in the programme. The Louvre Museum is also opening its doors to the director, naming this gesture Le Louvre invite Robert Wilson. From November 9 until February 17, Wilson’s exhibition Living Rooms can be seen there. www.festival-automne.com

Paris’ fashion museum reopens its doors with an exhibition dedicated to French fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa Paris’ legendary fashion museum – the Musee Galliera – reopens its doors to the public on September 28 after an extensive reconstruction. The museum is located in a 19thcentury Renaissance-style palace that houses a collection of more than 90,000 items, including fashion gems from three centuries and costumes from the most outstanding designers of their time. The opening exhibition of the museum is dedicated to one of the most respected contemporary fashion designers, a cult name and a living legend – the French genius of Tunisian extraction Azzedine Alaïa. His costumes embody glamour, self-confidence, sexuality and sensuality; they are like a second skin and continually challenge every notion about the body and material. Musée Galliera - Musée de la mode de la Ville de Paris 10 avenue Pierre Ier de Serbie

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A stop-off for gourmets and art lovers – the Monsieur Bleu restaurant Everything ebbs and flows like the wind in Paris, so if you want to visit while this is the place to be, then don’t delay and reserve yourself a dinner table at the new Monsieur Bleu. The restaurant’s home is a no less important place on the Paris art scene, being located in the largest contemporary art space in Europe – the Palais de Tokyo, which reopened its doors last year after a large reconstruction. And, if the truth be known, you can only consider the Palais to be complete now, with the reopening of Monsieur Bleu. The interior of the restaurant embodies slightly decadent luxury with an injection of nostalgic Art Deco. The chef is a new star of the Paris gastronomic scene, Alix Lacloche. 20 avenue de New York www.monsieurbleu.com

Georges Braque, 1882 – 1963

Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais September 18 – January 6 As a founder of Cubism, the famous 20th-century French artist Georges Braque once said: “There is only one valuable thing in art: the thing that you cannot explain.” Among the artist’s endless experimentations, one of the brightest periods of his life was his friendship with Pablo Picasso. For four years, they talked to each other nearly every day, with Braque describing their relationship as being like “two climbers roped together on a mountain.” In turn, Picasso at times tended to honour Braque as “my wife”. This large-

Buddha-Bar in the image of a hotel When the legendary Buddha-Bar opened its doors in Paris in 1996, it was almost impossible to gain entrance there. True, everything has its ups and downs and the bar’s fame has faded somewhat, but the brand has now begun developing a network of hotels. The first two are in Budapest and Prague, while the third one recently opened its doors in Paris. For those who have had enough of minimalism and Scandinavian reserved aesthetics and want something more charmingly kitsch, this temple of hedonism in a historical 18th-century building will be a true Nirvana! There are no imitations and nothing is average about this place. If it’s red, then it’s a dark blood-red hue; if it’s black, then it’s tar, but if it’s gold – then that stands out prominently. The room design reminds one of an Oriental boudoir and you’ll feel just like James Bond while juggling the five control switches in your hotel room (for lighting, music, etc.). The mattresses are truly magnificent! 4 rue d’Anjou |

www.buddhabarhotelparis.com

scale retrospective reveals all of the periods in Braque’s career, from Fauvism to Cubism and the bird series in his later life. 3 avenue du Général Eisenhower www.grandpalais.fr

DETAILS / DESIGN

Publicity photos

According to business leadership coach Bernd Geropp, home offices and working from home can improve a company’s performance if the objectives are clear for all employees, and if there is a high level of trust between all levels of management

Working from

The biggest problem is the question of trust, since many employers are afraid that they will be taken advantage of. On the other hand, without the constant stress of an office environment, it is easier to concentrate, plus one also learns to discipline oneself and to plan one’s time more efficiently. With the increasing numbers of self-employed people and freelancers, working from home is becoming an everyday occurrence. This tendency has induced the leading design company VITRA to create a special Home Office line of

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furniture. VITRA takes the global and fluid nature of a working space into account; the increasing reliance on technologies means that the static environment of an office is no longer essential for productive work. With Skype, smartphones, e-mails and video conferences, the home office is a future that is already happening. In cooperation with leading designers, VITRA has created a collection for a comfortable and efficient working environment, without losing the relaxing nature of one’s home. For example, the Map

home?

Table system by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby embodies these designers’ experience in architectural design. They have created a multi-functional and creative system of tables that is adaptable to various configurations. The separate tables can turn your home office into a conference room or a workshop space in mere minutes. Another creation by the designers is the already iconic Tip Ton chair, which is designed to enhance the health benefits of a forward-leaning sitting position in a healthy and fresh home office environment. Tip Ton chairs are available in various vivid colours to brighten up the working space and to create a more casual and informal feeling for your home office. Famous Italian designer Antonio Citterio has designed various stylish pieces of office furniture, such as the Meda Chair for an elegant and light interior, the lounge chairinspired Skape for ultimate brainstorming comfort, and the multi-functional Ad Hoc

Executive Tisch, which is ideal for a small and compact working space. With Home Office, VITRA has created not only highquality office furniture that can be used at the home, it offers a whole new approach to working spaces, providing a contemporary look at the future of efficient and flexible office environments. A home office is both a luxury and a necessity – not only for those working from their private residences, but also for those who take their work home or have other projects outside of their office hours. The essential ingredients for a productive home office are determination, smart timeplanning and complete trust between the employer and the employee. Once these things are in place, a home office can be the most productive way of working. According to most people who work from their residences, the biggest problem is motivating oneself to work in the comfort of one’s own home. Thus, a perfectly planned home office can be the answer. BO www.vitra.com

DETAILS / STYLE

Style by Ilze CeCina | photos by Reinis Hofmanis, f64

Brown shoes that are accented by comfortable, bright blue suede pants. Quite suitable for an eccentric artist, for example. Shoes, 55.95 LVL / 79 EUR at Zara Trousers, 105.90 LVL / 149 EUR at Gant

Closest allies

Durable leather half-boots and road dust-coloured jeans. Shoes, 89.95 LVL / 127 EUR at H&M Trousers, 70.20 LVL / 99 EUR at Marc O’Polo

Unobtrusive dark brown shoes and grey pants. The story lies in the shoelaces. Shoes, 111.70 LVL / 157 EUR at Marc O’Polo Trousers, 35.95 LVL / 51 EUR at Zara

The trendiest shoes of the season and an affordable pair of long-lasting jeans. Shoes, 59.99 LVL / 85 EUR at Este Trousers, 34.95 LVL / 49 EUR at H&M

When wearing classical business attire, it is more important to abide by established rules of style than to follow fashion trends. Shoes should be darker than trousers, and trouser bottoms should end a bit above the shoes – straight in the back and slightly bent in the front. Shoes, 55.95 LVL / 80 EUR at Zara Trousers, 35.95 LVL / 50 EUR at Zara

Shoes reflect one’s personality. They might indicate the wearer’s business acumen, spirit of adventure or sense of inner peace. Pants should be chosen so as not to overshadow the main player

Addresses in Riga: Gant, Marc O’Polo, Este and H&M at the Galerija Centrs, Audēju iela 16; Zara at Tērbatas iela 30.

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DETAILS / PEOPLE

With no freewheel mechanism, gear speeds or brakes, a fixed-gear bike or fixie is a hymn to the bicycle in its original, simple form. And the place where this hymn has been sung the loudest over the past few years is the Red Bull Mini Drome. Known as the world’s smallest velodrome, this plywood construction is only seven metres long, four metres wide and 3.5 metres high at both ends. It can be set up and dismantled in a matter of hours and has travelled to various places all around the world. It takes a lot of daring to ride at full speed on such a small track, and Latvian racer Toms Alsbergs (27) is the undisputed pace-setter for the sport of fixed-gear short-track racing in Europe. He set a still unbeaten world record on the Mini Drome two years ago. That is quite a remarkable achievement for a lad who hails from Riga, which was an uncharted territory for fixedgear bikes as recently as four years ago. With the firm belief that fixed-gear riding is here to stay, Toms keeps racing at the travelling Red Bull Mini Drome and is now preparing for an upcoming race in Paris.

Record-breaker

Mini Drome races are action-packed and thrilling to watch. Each lap is only 25 metres long, with two competitors racing around

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Truly fixed

Text by Kate Krumina | Photo courtesy of Toms Alsbergs

the course at speeds that can reach 30 km per hour. The sport requires strength, balance, manoeuvring ability and intense concentration in a race that lasts less than a minute. Toms has several championship victories under his belt, and holds the unmatched world speed record of 10 laps in 33.555 seconds. He recently received another gold medal at the Urban Bike Festival in Gijón, Spain, where he also won the goldsprint competition, which involves racing on stationary bikes. Toms usually takes part in four or five competitions per year, and while he is the undisputed king of fixed-bike sprinting in Europe, he lost out in the final to Florida native Addison Zawada at a race in New York earlier this year.

Just riding

Of all the bicycle disciplines, fixie-riding is among the most closely associated with street culture, and accordingly, Toms rides for hours on the streets of Riga as part of his training programme. During the summer, he might leave his car standing in the driveway for weeks on end. When he isn’t wakeboarding (another of his favourite sports), Toms is training on his competition fixie, provided this season by Black Market Bikes.

Once the fall and winter set in, Toms spends a lot of time at the gym, keeping in shape and increasing his endurance under the watchful eye of a fitness trainer, while avoiding the build-up of excess bulk. Toms’ successes on the velodrome have not lessened his enthusiasm for other extreme sports, such as white-water rafting along Latvia’s raging rivers during the early spring floods.

Eight stitches

Toms suffered a minor injury earlier this summer at the Red Bull Tru Fix competition, which he himself had organized at the Latvian Railway Museum in Riga. “I was in the lead during the morning stage, but tripped and went flying off my bike, right onto the track. Eight stitches later, I was back for the afternoon stretch, but fell again,” says Toms resignedly. “Perhaps that was for the better. It probably wouldn’t have looked good for me to be standing on the victory podium at a competition that I myself had organized,” he adds with a rueful smile. While all fixie racers must wear helmets, most choose to dispense with gloves, elbow and knee pads. Toms admits that he enjoys the adrenaline rush of flirting with the extreme, and that calmer sports just don’t cut it for him at this point in his life. BO

DETAILS / THING OF THE MONTH

No.10 by Mark Rothko, 1963. Oil on canvas. From the collection of Christopher Rothko

Mark Rothko – a wizard of colour The works of Mark Rothko (1903-1970),

one of the 20th century’s leading figures in abstract expressionist painting, are so evocative and valuable that for the past several decades, even reproductions of his works have been hanging in some of the grandest city offices around the world. This month marks the artist’s 110th birthday. Mark Rothko (1903-1970) was born in Dvinsk, known today as Daugavpils, Latvia, into a family that belonged to the Jewish intelligentsia. Art historians compare his works to Nothing, although this does not

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refer the value or content of the paintings. Nothing refers to a painting without an image. His works are like a primal chaos in which each viewer must discover an inherent meaning. Rothko himself saw his paintings as “portraits of the state of the soul”. By choosing to paint the large-format works that have come to be associated with his name, he was able to lose himself in his art and simultaneously lose the ability to dominate the creative process with his will. Smaller-format works were more calculated and dominated by reason.

Text by Zane Nikodemusa | Publicity photo

What makes Rothko’s paintings so unique and special? In her article in the visual arts magazine Studija, psychologist Dina Kagāne emphasizes the emotional charge that the viewer gets from Rothko’s works, which are appreciated by people from a multitude of ethnic and social backgrounds. You can easily test the breadth of the emotional messages in Rothko’s works for yourself: choose one of his paintings and allow yourself to merge with it. Then write down all the words that come to mind on a sheet of paper. You will be surprised at the deep connection between what you have just written and your personal life. The monetary value of Mark Rothko’s works is also remarkable. For instance, last year, Rothko’s painting Orange, Red, Yellow (1961) sold for the record price of 86.9 million USD at Christie’s in New York, becoming the most expensive work of contemporary art ever sold. This sum exceeded the previous record for a Rothko work – 72.84 million USD – which was obtained for the painting White Center (Yellow, Pink, and Lavender on Rose – 1950) several years ago. Since April of this year, the famous painter has had an institution devoted to him in the city of his birth – the ambitious Mark Rothko Art Centre in the Daugavpils Fortress. It boasts six original works by the artist, which Rothko’s children donated to the centre. Art experts claim that the central work of this exhibition is valued at around 60 million USD. However, the exclusive opportunity to display Rothko’s works in Daugavpils has also had its price. Transportation costs alone were 50,000 USD, while the insurance for the works cost 49,000 USD. For this reason, even the world’s best-known art museums rarely show several Rothko art works together. Surely the right time to visit the Mark Rothko Art Centre in Daugavpils is in September, during the celebration of the artist’s 110th birthday. BO For more information about this unique opportunity, see www.rothkocenter.com

Text by Agra LieGe | style by agneija lapsa photo by GATIS GIERTS, f64 | glass BOWLS FROM STOCKMANN

DETAILS / FOOD

Take it with you!

sandwich with 1 Club oven-roasted bacon and Brie cheese

INGREDIENTS 4 slices of toast Thinly sliced roasted bacon Slices of Brie cheese Sprout mix (pea and cress) Slices of red onion Sliced gherkin Sliced tomato PREPARATION Put four slices of white bread into a toaster and spread some butter over them when they’re ready. Arrange thin slices of tomato and some red onion rings on the first slice of toast. Cover it with the next slice of bread, put thinly sliced roasted bacon on the second slice of toast and sprinkle a handful of sprout mix over it. Cover that with sliced gherkin. Put the third buttered slice of bread on top of this and add more sprouts along with a generous layer of Brie cheese. Put the last slice of bread on top of it so that the cheese melts. Pierce the tower-like sandwich with horsd’oeuvre sticks so that it’s easier to slice diagonally into four triangles. Cut off the crust before you slice it so that the texture is softer and so that the sandwich speaks more of the toppings than it does of the bread.

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Bringing a lunchbox with a home-prepared meal can be a great way to ensure that you get a filling and a healthy lunch. The options are more than just a quickly prepared cheese sandwich and a banana tossed into your bag. Jānis Sproģis of the 3 pavāru restorāns (Three Chefs’ restaurant) presents three ideas for easily-made and nutritious meals to take to work in your lunchbox

of chanterelle soup 2 Cream with ground nutmeg

and berry salad with cottage 3 Veggie cheese and mint dressing

INGREDIENTS 3 small shallots 5 cloves of garlic 400 grams of chanterelles 2 medium-sized potatoes 500ml double cream 500ml water 1 sprig of thyme Fresh nutmeg Salt Pepper Croutons for decoration

INGREDIENTS (for the dressing) 4 tablespoons of Greek yoghurt 2 tablespoons low-fat cottage cheese 5 leaves of fresh wild mint Salt Pepper

PREPARATION This is one of those rare soups that are hot and creamy, yet won’t take an entire afternoon to prepare at home. For four portions, thinly slice three shallots and five cloves of garlic and lightly fry them in a tablespoon of butter in a saucepan. Add 400 grams of chanterelles (they’re small, so you don’t have to worry about slicing them) along with 2 medium-sized chopped potatoes. Add a sprig of thyme and grate in a pinch of fresh nutmeg. Add half a litre of water, salt and pepper, and let the mixture boil for about 20 minutes. Once the potatoes are soft, add half a litre of double cream and keep it on the stove for a while longer. Puree the soup in a blender and serve with croutons. Store in a glass container and if the soup needs reheating, then keep the lid of the container on – that way it’s quickly reheated all the way through!

For the salad: A quarter of a cucumber 2 radishes 4 slices of fennel A quarter of a carrot A piece of broccoli stalk 6-7 raspberries 4 cherry tomatoes Green salad – rucola, beet leaves, lollo rosso Roasted pumpkin seeds PREPARATION Prepare the dressing first by mixing the yoghurt with cottage cheese. Add crushed mint leaves, salt and pepper. Pour the dressing into your take-away container so that it stays on the bottom, or use a separate container for it and later mix with the salad. Then mix the green salad with thin shavings of the four vegetables – radish, carrot, fennel and broccoli stalk (best if you can keep the shavings in ice-cold water for a while before adding to the salad – this will make them extra crunchy). Add sliced cherry tomatoes, cucumber, raspberries and roasted pumpkin seeds. Add more greens on top of the salad, and it’s ready to eat.

YOUR NEXT DESTINATION

Art epidemic in Oslo

Almost

Text by Una Meistere, www.anothertravelguide.com Photos by Ainars Erglis and publicity photos

Bad luck, somebody has already taken the Anothertravelguide brochure about Oslo, but don’t worry, all the information is also available at ANOTHERTRAVELGUIDE.COM in cooperation with airBaltic.

Fly to Oslo with airBaltic from

€36

ONE WAY

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the first thing you notice as you alight from your plane in Oslo is a huge poster that says: Scream all over the world. Welcome to its homeland. Edvard Munch, the legendary Norwegian painter and pioneer of Scandinavian expressionism, would have turned 150 this year and Oslo is celebrating his anniversary in style. Right there at the airport is an improvised exhibition, where posters of Munch’s most famous works are on show. You could say that you’ve been thrown right into the Munch mood with your first steps in Oslo. The city is celebrating not only Munch, but art as a whole, without trying to hide its ambition of becoming Europe’s new art metropolis. Even though there is still a small way to go, Norway’s capital has now gained the status of a significant cultural destination. The Astrup Fearnley Museum opened its doors in September of last year in Oslo’s new Tjuvholmen coastal district. Well-known Italian architect and Pritzker Prize winner Renzo Piano came up with the museum’s architectonic image. Directly opposite, a hotel named The Thief opened at the beginning of this year. It currently has the most expensively insured hotel art collection in the world, one of the most impressive in its niche. Among other things a painting by Andy Warhol decorates its restaurant, while the lobby has artworks by Richard Prince, Niki de Saint Phalle and Tony Cragg. Both the museum and the hotel are private projects, visibly confirming the significance of culture as a sign of national identity on the Norwegian scale of values. Before passing away, Edvard Munch bequeathed 25,000 of his works to his native city. His friend, businessman, art collector and financial consultant Rolf E. Stenersen – who at the time owned an impressive private collection of works by Munch and other Norwegian artists – acted in a similar way. Such well- known Norwegian companies as Norsk Hydro,

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YOUR NEXT DESTINATION

Sculpture garden at the Astrup Fearnley Museum

Telenor and Nordea Bank also own impressive art collections. They often loan works to prestigious museums and hold individual exhibitions themselves.

Oslo Riviera The taxi driver who drove us to The Thief from the railway station wouldn’t accept the fare. “Only a five-minute drive,” he said with a smile. In other words, welcome to the wonderland of oil, where a “crisis” is something that happens in other worlds. There are construction cranes everywhere and the building profession is one of the most in demand, filled mainly by moonlighting workers from Eastern Europe. Next to the glass doors of The Thief lies a cast-iron man bent over as if praying. It is a work named Draw by British sculptor Antony Gormley. The Tjuvholmen Peninsula where the hotel stands was still a separate island in the 18th century, known as a home of drunks and thieves. Evidence from the time shows that a number of death sentences were carried out there by hanging. Tjuvholmen actually means “island of thieves” when translated from the Norwegian language. After the adjacent Aker Brygge district was transformed in the 1980s from a ship-building area into a neighbourhood of exclusive apartment building complexes and restaurants, the city made a decision in 2005 to transform Tjuvholmen into a residential territory as well. The plan was to make Tjuvholmen into a separate world, with apartments and office buildings, shops, cafés and art galleries. At least 25 architect offices took part in the territory’s construction and the final completion date is expected to be next year. Even now, due to the concentration of galleries and the Astrup Fearnley Museum, Tjuvholmen has come to be known as an “art island”. The locals call it “little Chelsea”. Reminders of a slightly surreal French Riviera dominate in Tjuvholmen on sunny summer days, with the Astrup Fearnley Museum’s glass roof sparkling like an inflated sail. The symbolic bridge that joins both of the museum buildings looks a bit like the deck of a yacht. The museum’s pebbled beach and lawn are covered with people who’ve laid out their blankets to catch a tan among sculptures by such well-known artists as Louise Bourgeois and Anish Kapoor. Most of the multi-coloured crowd are in bathing

YOUR NEXT DESTINATION

Blue Placebo by Cuban artist Felix Gonzales Torres is a highlight of the permanent exhibition at the Astrup Fearnley Museum

costumes – loving couples, urbane loners with books and mothers herding their little ones in the reeds. Right next door in the Oslo Fjord, motorboats and yachts move by, while large passenger liners slide past. Although the Astrup Fearnley Museum was subject to biting criticism when it opened due to its architecture and the art exhibited there (the aura of a corporate collection being attributed to it), watching the locals’ and tourists’ stress-free faces, it’s clear that many visitors feel quite happy. The museum has become the small peninsula’s centre, not just for art, but also as a magnet for enjoying life. “A museum isn’t a box, it is a kind of village,” maintained architect Renzo Piano in an interview. In a sense, the museum has something in common with another iconic Oslo architectural icon – the Oslo Opera (2008), which was designed by the Norwegian company Snøhetta. Like the Astrup Fearnley Museum, this glass and marble iceberg on the shore of the Oslo Fjord has become a paradise for sunbathers and holidaymakers on sunny summer days. This gives a completely different dimension to the building’s usual role as a place for the elite art of opera. The Astrup Fearnley Museum is also located right on the shore of the fjord, symbolically marking its borders. Its two wings are separated by water. One of them houses the museum’s permanent collection, while the other hosts temporary exhibitions. The museum was established in 1993 as the home of the Astrup Fearnley collection, which was previously located in the city centre. The collection was set up by two philanthropic foundations that had been founded by the heirs of the Fearnley ship-building family. The origins of the collection go back to the 1960s, with both Norwegian and international contemporary art represented. Essentially, it is a concentration of the most prominent (and most expensive) names in contemporary art. One space is devoted to Damien Hirst (there’s no shortage of butterflies or animals in formaldehyde, nor variations of spots and skulls), while another houses works by Jeff Koons. Among the highlights is Blue Placebo (1991) by Cuban artist Felix Gonzales-Torres, a work consisting of 130 kilograms of peppermint sweets wrapped in blue cellophane wrappers. This represents the combined weight of the artist and his partner at the time the work was created. An irony of consumer

Oslo’s new Tjuvholmen district or “art island”

culture and also part of the work’s essence is the way in which it interacts with visitors to the museum. Namely, the reaction when visitors are told that they can take the sweets, which are edible. Some recoil, others go for a grab at the sweets, while others just observe the spectacle from the sidelines.

Hotel – art gallery Speaking about new experiences and surprises, the drama of The Thief even surpasses the museum in a sense. As the hotel was being built, it was already with the intention that art would be exhibited there. Some of the works are from the owner’s private collection, while others (among them, the Warhol) have been borrowed from the adjacent Astrup Fearnley Museum, with which the hotel has a special cooperation agreement. Art is everywhere – in the public spaces, the rooms, even in the lift, where guests are always accompanied by another resident in the form of a video installation by British artist Julian Opie. The Thief’s art exposition has its own curator, former Norway National Art Museum director Sune Nordgren. He doesn’t hide the fact that the greatest challenge in the collaboration project between the two institutions was “to lift very well-known art works from the pure and protected museum context to a heavily designed interior. The luxurious concept of The Thief is almost domestic, as if I was asked to arrange the art works in a collector’s home.” In total, 105 art works are exhibited at the hotel and this impressive collection distinguishes The Thief from a string of other hotels, where the works of art serve mainly as decorative interior elements or an expensive marketing trick. At The Thief, they seem like part of its blood flow. The drama of feelings in which the exposition of the art works has been directed allows the hotel to slip into the dimensions of a gallery. “The works that I got the opportunity to choose from the Astrup Fearnley collection are by well-known and established names. I wanted to provide an undisputable prestige to enhance the profile of The Thief as an art hotel. When it comes to the art works that I purchased specifically for the hotel, I wanted to introduce some younger Norwegian artists like Charlotte Thiis-Evensen (video) and Camilla Løw (sculpture), but to also play a safer game with established artists like Peter Blake and Julian Opie.” According to

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21. K. Valdemara Street, Riga LV 1010 Call +371 6703 5300 info@rigapremiumoﬃces.lv www.rigapremiumoﬃces.lv

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YOUR NEXT DESTINATION

Richard Prince’s lithography Cowboy – The Horse Thief in the lobby of The Thief hotel

Sune, taking art outside an institutional context is crucial. “It is important to make art interact within different surroundings. I see it as a kind of test of the sustainability of the art. Such a venture has to be able to take the competition without just being spectacular. But it can also be an opportunity to find new audiences and trigger a new interest in the art.” In our seventh-floor room, supermodel Kate Moss gazes upon our bed. She’s the subject of a work of art (Shameless, 2010) by Brian Ferry of Roxy Music fame, and just one of a series that make up Ferry’s legendary album covers. There are ten of Ferry’s works in the hotel’s collection, and there are just as many by Peter Blake, a classic of British pop art. The artist has a special relationship with Norway’s capital city. Last year, during the same month that he turned 80, his exhibition The Oslo Suite was on show at the Stolper+Friends gallery, featuring works inspired by Norway’s landscape and iconography. Some of these works are also in The Thief’s collection, with the hotel’s most prestigious apartment symbolically being named “The Oslo Suite”. One of the “gems” in its interior is a photograph of legendary Norwegian figure skater (as well as art collector joint founder of the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter Museum) Sonja Henie, to which Blake has given an additional dimension by highlighting the cloud of ice fragments from her skating turn with real diamond dust. As Petter Stordalen – businessman, billionaire, art collector and owner of The Thief – once said in an interview, “people who visit galleries are a prepared audience. The challenge for this place is to work with an unprepared audience.” Who knows, perhaps a few nights in the luxury “art incubator” might draw a few more millionaires, who, while lying within the bedroom sheets at The Thief, start to dream of becoming art patrons. And another pleasant trifle – entry to the Astrup Fearnley Museum is free to hotel guests who show the key to their room.

Gourmand epicentre A half-hour walk away from Tjuvholmen, on the banks of the Akerselva River, is another new creative territory in Oslo – Vulkan. It gained its name from the steelworks that were once located there, around which nothing froze, even in winter, and where the snow didn’t last for long. Vulkan is located between the

The new Opera Quarter in the Bjørvika district

bohemian Grünerløkka district and St Hanshaugen, while on the other side of the road, not far from the cemetery where Munch and Ibsen are buried, is a colourful little street with historic wooden buildings. In the little gardens next to these houses, the owners fuss around in their flowerbeds. It is a surreal contrast, like a trip in a time machine from an almost pastoral idyll to urbanism in its most contemporary form. The heart of Vulkan is the Mathallen food hall, Oslo’s new gourmand epicentre, which opened its doors last year in the former factory building. The hall is the home of more than 25 independent local producers and restaurants. Here one will find everything the heart desires, from freshly baked bread, fruit, vegetables, wine and countless types of roasted coffee beans to accessories for kitchen interiors and various gourmet delicacies. In this genuine and positively charged market atmosphere, you only have to start up a conversation for the keys to Oslo’s gastronomic secrets to fall into your lap. Right opposite the market, almost next to each other, are two hotels, the Scandic and the PS: hotel. The first has a youthful design hotel look, and collaborates with local artists as well as art university students. The second provides accommodation within the framework of a social project. Nearly 90 per cent of its employees had been pushed out of the labour market for one reason or another (illness, unfortunate circumstances, etc.). The hotel also operates as a teaching centre for learning new professions or for people to find solutions to their current situation.

Some of the rooms and corridors are decorated with art works that have been created by people with autism. The PS: hotel is partly funded by the state and has already received many prestigious awards for its socially responsible philosophy. Plus, it’s doubtful whether you will have selected this accommodation unintentionally, as may sometimes happen with traditional hotel visitors. By staying at the PS: hotel, you are supporting a social initiative, and every night that you spend there gains an additional meaning. There are also two schools located in Vulkan – the Westerdals School of Communication and Einar Granums Kunstfagskole – as well as a dance studio, shops, restaurants and an artists’ residence. All of them are collaborating with each other and participating in the development of the district.

The Munch route Wherever your travels lead you in Oslo, the central event of the year is undoubtedly the celebration of Edvard Munch’s 150th birthday. The culmination is the Munch 150 exhibition, which has come about through the cooperation of the Oslo National Museum and the Munch Museum and can be viewed at both institutions. With more than 220 paintings and 50 works on paper, this is the most comprehensive retrospective ever devoted to Munch, encompassing 60 years of his career from the early 1880s until the artist’s death in 1944. One of the highlights is the almost completely reconstructed series of Munch’s

YOUR NEXT DESTINATION Edvard Munch: Self-Portrait in Inner Turmoil, 1920

Edvard Munch: Evening on Karl Johan Street, 1892

paintings, The Frieze of Life (1902), which also includes The Scream (1893 – 1910) and Madonna (1892-1895). Known as the artist’s most iconic works, these have been inconspicuously slipped in among the other paintings at the Munch Museum, thus highlighting the fact that Munch had many outstanding works that are equally worthy of attention. Both The Scream and Madonna were also connected with one of the greatest ever art thefts. The Scream has even been stolen twice (in 1994 and 2004), while the Madonna was snatched away once, in 2004. The works were recovered but seriously damaged, and their careful restoration took two years. Munch liked to group his paintings according to his mood, with his works embodying his psychological and emotional condition at particular times. “I painted painting after painting, based on my emotional condition’s visual impressions of the moment. I painted in lines and colours that were fixed in my mind’s eye – stuck to my retina,” the artist, whose main themes were life, love and death, once said. The inquisitive Munch was fascinated by all forms of expression in his era. In the exhibition at the National Museum, a separate hall is dedicated to the period when Munch, in his searches for the language of painting, simultaneously experimented with all of the significant styles of the time, including naturalism, impressionism and symbolism. A magnifying glass has been added to each of the works as a witty accessory, so that the viewers can carefully examine each of the painter’s brushstrokes. Impressive compositions, along with a skill of working with colour and a dexterous

line, denote the most striking signs of Munch’s artistic handwriting. One stopping point along the Munch route is the Dagligstuen bar in the Continental Hotel. It is one of the oldest bars in the city, having been owned by the same family since 1909. The owners also own an outstanding collection of Munch’s drawings, which the head of the family purchased quite unintentionally in 1932. Wandering through the city, he’d spotted 12 of Munch’s drawings in an Oslo gallery, and the gallery’s owner offered to sell him the entire lot for an unbelievably low price of 5,500 NOK or about 600 USD. For many years, the drawings decorated the walls of his bar, but following the infamous theft of The Scream, the originals were replaced by photographs. In another Munch-related event, the lookout on Ekeberg Hill will officially be opened on September 26. From there, one can see the panorama that is immortalized in The Scream. Even though the landscape has changed, having gained a much more urban outline, the Oslo Fjord and mountain silhouette continues to be the same. The Scream is surrounded by countless legends. One of them states that Munch, who went for walks regularly in this locality, really heard screams at this spot. They allegedly came from psychiatric patients in the nearby hospital, with the artist later immortalizing the sound waves in the lines of his painting. Another story says that if small children stand opposite the painting, then they can hear a scream, while adults’ senses have been dulled by the contamination of their life experience. You have the opportunity to test this!

T/c „Spice Home” Jaunmoku iela 13, Rīga Tālr.: (+371) 66100047, (+371) 27477774 spice@gaismasmagija.lv www.gaismasmagija.lv

Brīvības iela 99, Rīga Tālr.: (+371) 66047077, (+371) 27709909 brivibas@gaismasmagija.lv www.gaismasmagija.lv

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Insider’s view

Oslo nerve

Dominic Gorham Officially, Dominic Gorham is the guest relations manager at Oslo’s new design hotel The Thief. He is also a miracle-worker, the best “keys to the city” that you could wish for, a whirlwind of inspiration and energy. Born in London, with an English mother and African father, he studied at Wimbledon College, played music, lived for a long time in Paris (where he at first worked as a barman in a café that was occasionally frequented

by Rudolf Nureyev), and later opened up a string of bars, clubs and restaurants (La Mousson, China Club and La Casbah). He’s lived the glamorous life to the maximum and at a frenetic pace. Dominic has now lived in Oslo for 15 years and shares its secrets with enthusiasm, regardless of whether it’s David Bowie or just an everyday person whose path has crossed his for a brief moment. Dominic mentions people’s humanity as one of the greatest Oslo values: “If you happen to trip over on the street in Oslo, someone will immediately come to your aid, as opposed to London or Paris, where, most of the time, they’ll simply walk past or climb over you.” Why did you leave Paris and London for Oslo? It’s the classic love story. I met a Norwegian model in Paris and she gave birth to our son in Oslo. The rest is history. How did you picture Oslo before moving there? I had visited Oslo, so it was not a complete shock, but it did take me some time to adapt to the slower pace of life.

How did your perception of Norway change after living there for a number of years? I soon realised that to enjoy the country, I had to embrace the beauty of the environment and nature, but it did take me some time. I was also very accustomed to the chic and glamour of the Parisian lifestyle and Norway was very far from chic. It’s a lot better now, as the whole of Scandinavia has become exotic to the international traveller. What do you like best about Oslo? Spring and summer are great times, as the people come alive. I also like the size of the city, which is perfect for walking. I appreciate the fact that many things have yet to be done and there are still great opportunities for new concepts and ideas. How would you describe the Norwegians as a people? Strong, healthy, honest and trustworthy. If you had artist Damien Hirst as your guest for three days, where would you take him? I’d take him fishing, which is one of my passions. I’m sure he would love

the solitude and tranquillity of the Norwegian countryside and its rivers. What should one definitely do to catch the nerve of the city? Take a walk around Grünerløkka, which has a great street vibe with its shops and bars. It’s the artistic and slightly bohemian side of town. Could you name your five favourite restaurants and cafés in Oslo? Alex Sushi – the best sushi in town. Hanami – a great location and vibe, along with a splendid garlic chicken. Le Benjamin – it has captured the essence of the true French bistro. Sol Siden – only open for the summer season and the best seafood in town. Rice Bowl – very good Thai cuisine and a cool, simple concept. Where do you go when you want to escape from Oslo? London, Paris, Marrakesh, the Caribbean. Have you discovered any methods for coping with the severity of the Norwegian winter? I skate as much as possible. I have an open-air rink five minutes away from my house. That’s my winter therapy.

YOUR NEXT DESTINATION

Insider’s view

GlasMagasinet (established in 1860). The shop will be open for a year. Stortorvet 9

By Vesma Kontere McQuillan, architect and designer, professor at Westerdals School of Communication

Photo by Gatis Rozenfelds

DogA DogA, the Norwegian Centre for Design and Architecture, provides a place for architecture and design exhibitions at the old transformer station on Hausmanns gate 16. It also houses a café and restaurant, along with a shop where Norwegian design objects and books can be purchased. The centre was established by Norsk Form and the Norwegian Design Council in 2005. Hausmanns gate 16

The National Museum – Architecture

in Oslo

Opened in 2008, this museum is located in a building designed by Christian Heinrich Grosch (1801–1865), Norway’s most prominent 19th-century architect. It was completed in 1830 as a division office of the Bank of Norway (Norges Bank). The building was later extended by Sverre Fehn (1924–2009), one of Norway’s most important 20th-century architects, and was the last project by the 1997 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate. The museum building is now a juxtaposition of classicist and modernist architecture.

Designerkollektivet popup shop GlasMagasinet

Utopia Retro Modern

Vēsma Kontere McQuillan

Places and spaces for contemporary art and design

Designerkollektivet is the first Norwegian fashion design studio, showroom and designer shop in one. This fashion community centre around 20 Scandinavian designers who often invite new talents to show their works. In August, during this year’s Oslo Fashion Week, Designerkollektivet launched a new pop-up shop in the oldest Norwegian department store,

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Utopia Retro Modern is a design gallery and a leading dealer in vintage design in Norway. Located on Kirkeveien, the main street of the Frogner district, the gallery was established in 2002 with the aim of cultivating an interest in 20th-century design, placing a special focus on Norwegian designers. Over the years, Utopia has provided collectors, museums

and enthusiasts with rare objects as well as popular furniture. The gallery has also held exhibitions on various themes, including Scandinavian movie posters. Here you can buy original pieces by famous Scandinavian designers like Arne Jacobsen, as well as by a less internationally famous but amazingly talented Norwegian designer, Torbjørn Afdal; or perhaps you might choose a poster from Ingmar Bergman’s movie Persona. Kirkeveien 72

Babel The locals really love the tiny Babel store in Grünerløkka for its great designer brands and nice relaxing atmosphere. This little shop offers a mix of French and Scandinavian midmarket fashion brands, such as Etoile Isabel Marant and Ganny. A special room contains vintage clothing. Markveien 54 TM

™51 is a spacious gallery with connected workspaces for people in the creative industry and cultural scene. The gallery opened its doors in December of 2011 with a vision of becoming the centre of “all things art” for the Oslo community. There’s always a good reason to stop by, such as to see and buy items by internationally acclaimed Norwegian contemporary artists. Lars Ø. Ramberg, who has been in the German headlines recently with the Palast des Zweifels, is but one of them. Thorvald Meyers gate 51

Gallery RIIS This gallery is located in the Mohn-Gården building, next to Tjuvholmen/Aker Brygge. Founded in Trondheim in 1972, the gallery has been situated in an industrial

building by the Oslo harbour since 2005, and has unique exhibition spaces that cover more than 500 m2. The gallery’s current programme reflects a longstanding exhibition history theme, with the primary focus on important contemporary art from the Nordic countries. Twice a year, the gallery hosts the most talented Norwegian fashion artists at Oslo Fashion Week. Filipstadveien 5

Pushwagner Gallery Love him or hate him, you still have to admit that Hariton Pushwagner (the pseudonym of Norwegian pop artist Terje Brofos) is one of the most important Norwegian contemporary artists. He’s a real celebrity in his home country, renowned for his hedonistic lifestyle and epic satires on modern life. You can find out about the artist’s work in the gallery and perhaps meet the artist himself, who drops by from time to time. Tjuvholmen allé 10

Tim Wendelboe Tim Wendelboe is a micro roastery, coffee training centre and espresso bar in Grünerløkka. It’s a favourite coffee place for students and teachers from Oslo’s art and design colleges, located directly across the Akerselva River. Tim Wendelboe is a World Barista Champion and the 2005 World Cup Tasters Champion. As the New York Times observed, small-batch roasters in the Nordic countries do a lighter roast than in the rest of the world, and Oslo does a lighter roast than elsewhere in Scandinavia. This roasting style is pushing coffee in a new direction, offering a delicate complexity that you can find only in Oslo. Tim Wendelboe really treats coffeemaking like an art. Grünersgate 1

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OUTLOOK / INTERWIEW

OUTLOOK / INTERVIEW

Toughened up by Wall Street Tom Crosshill, Latvian writer

Text by Zane Nikodemusa Photos courtesy of Tom Crosshill and by RUta Kalmuka, F64 Style by LIga Vekmane Photo session at the Kalnciems Quarter (Kalnciema kvartAls, Kalnciema iela 35) Clothing by H&M

Tom Crosshill (b. 1985), a new star author of 21st-century literature, has already been nominated twice for the prestigious Nebula Award, which is given to the best works of fantasy or science fiction published in the USA during the previous year. In an interview with Baltic Outlook, the talented Latvian writer, whose real name is Toms Kreicbergs, recounts his almost unbelievable path to international recognition During the past few years, your name has become known worldwide in connection with your two nominations for the Nebula Award. What does the award mean to you? The first time that I received news of my nomination for the award, I was in shock, because I had not expected anything like that to happen, even though I had been dreaming about winning the award since the age of 12, when I first began to write. Of course, I felt honoured at the fact that the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America appreciated my story Mama, We are Zhenya, Your Son. After all, some of the writers in that association are my childhood heroes. That being said, critiques and awards are not my main source of motivation. It is far more important for me to reach a wide audience; to write stories and novels that provide a bit of fun and adventure to the reader, along with some food for thought. I realize that I still have a long way to go and that I have to continue working hard, because writers mature later than mathematicians, for example, who are at their intellectual prime between the ages of 20 and 30. Along with intellect, a writer also needs life experiences to draw on.

Speaking of life experiences, besides the fact that you are a talented science fiction writer, you have also worked as an operator at a nuclear power plant and as a financial specialist on Wall Street. Yet you are not even 30 years old. Did you consciously choose these atypical work environments to gain as wide a degree of experience as possible for your writing? Yes, you could say that. I’ve tried to do many different things in order to put them together later in my

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literary works. Even the most talented writer doesn’t create anything dramatically new. He simply combines his life experiences with already existing stories and character types in an unusual manner. If one examines the evolution of literature and music, then one clearly sees that each following genre or style is in response to something that has been created earlier.

In your strivings to experience as many different things as you can, when do you get the inspiration to write? Every day. For example, as I walk along a street, I might spot some interesting visual details that I can use for adding colour to the description of my protagonist. The hardest thing doesn’t lie in finding characters and situations to write about. It lies in choosing the right motifs among the hundreds and thousands of thoughts that enter my mind every day. I believe that a writer must know who his readers are and find out what is important to them. As writers, we aim to reach our readers, to enrich their lives, to give them food for thought. That’s why I think that writing about anything that pops into your head or something that interests only you is very egotistical. At the same time, I don’t want to write something only because it might be commercially successful. I worked for several years on Wall Street, so I know as a fact that there are many different ways for making money quickly, and lots of money, at that.

How do you establish what is interesting for your readers? People want to read about things that are connected with their own lives. If I had to choose between

BALTIC OUTLOOK / SEPTEMBER 2013 / 51

OUTLOOK / INTERVIEW has a family of some kind, and families are a place where bigger or smaller struggles take place all of the time. The same applies to the relevance of schools in literary works, because most people who know how to read have attended a school at some point in their lives.

It sounds like you make cold-blooded calculations about every sentence that you write. Well, not really, although I do believe that 80% of a writer’s success lies in the mastery of his craft, and only 20% in artistic inspiration. In order to perfect one’s abilities as a writer over the course of many years, one needs knowledge, an excellent writing technique and a variety of other professional tricks of the trade. The best writers rely above all else on a solid base of writing skill, which is then complemented by great ideas and inspired thoughts.

Tom believes that 80% of a writer’s success lies in the mastery of his craft, and only 20% in artistic inspiration

During the time that I worked on Wall Street, I spent every spare moment writing writing a very specific novel about a goat herder in the mountains of Afghanistan, for example, or about the recent financial crisis and intrigues on Wall Street, then I would write about Wall Street. Even if my novel about the goat herder turned out to be a great piece of work, relatively few people would be interested in reading it. However, since many people have been personally affected by the financial crisis, they would be more interested in reading a behind-the-scenes novel about Wall Street. Furthermore, the written and unwritten rules concerning the job market on Wall Street are very similar to the policies that companies follow in the majority of developed countries. This means that many readers can find something to latch onto. It is similar with themes about the family, which interest most readers, because almost everybody

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What does your room look like while you are writing? The stereotypical image of a writer surrounded by piles of paper is probably something that one sees only in the movies nowadays. It’s true that I don’t have any papers around me, because I write on a laptop, and I do that in many different places, such as at home, on an airplane or in a café. For example, a couple of days ago, I was sitting at a library in London and writing very productively. I am used to writing in all kinds of locations, because no matter where I’ve been working to make money, I’ve always continued to write in parallel. I had written several novels already by the time I finished high school. Admittedly, they were of poor quality and not publishable, but they were novels all the same. I invested a lot of time and energy into writing while my friends played computer games, went out drinking or looked for romance. During the time that I worked on Wall Street, I spent every spare moment writing.

In the creative process, how important is it to establish a work plan for the day, such as a fixed number of hours for writing? There was a point earlier on when I tried to establish quotas for myself, such as writing for eight hours a day or producing a set number of written pages each day. That doesn’t work with me. It is much healthier to establish smaller goals for oneself, such as that I will spend the afternoon or even the entire day writing to writing. I also spend quite a bit of time thinking out my projects. Planning a novel might take a month or two before I start writing.

Do you read a lot every day? Yes, I do, although lately I’ve been doing a lot more

OUTLOOK / INTERVIEW a temporary step so that I could pay back my student loan, get acquainted with the business world and spend some time in New York.

listening than reading, in the form of audio books.

What do you expect from a book that you have decided to read?

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I look for ideas and emotions. I read some books because I like the heroes. In other books I don’t like the heroes, but see something familiar and interesting in the things that they do. Good literature guarantees a whole scale of various different emotions.

Tom worked on Wall Street during the financial crisis, which means that the atmosphere was particularly poisonous at the time

Why do people read fantasy literature and science fiction? To escape from reality? For 20 years, we have been a leading partner of architects, building companies and private homeowners. We oﬀer you all kinds of wooden ﬂoor coverings, as well as products for their installation and maintenance.

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That is by no means the only function of a work of fiction, but it is an important and underappreciated one. For many people, books provide the only means for escaping into a better or more interesting world, even if it is only for a moment. For example, in situations when a family has experienced a tragedy, books provide the means for briefly escaping from the pain. I’ve heard many stories about books that have saved people from committing suicide.

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Yeah, that’s for sure! My experiences on Wall Street were quite educating and I still draw on them today. Since I returned to Latvia, I have been teaching presentation and business negotiation skills, and working on the side as a financial consultant. I like this line of work, because every day I meet people from various fields and from companies of different sizes. Every day brings a new story and new problems to solve.

Actually, I write realistic stories and novels as well. However, sci-fi and fantasy have always drawn me because there is a tremendous amount of freedom in these genres, and there are lots of opportunities to play with characters and metaphors. I also like the grandiose themes that I can express in science fiction and fantasy.

Studying physics in the USA and working in a nuclear reactor during my studies was a way for me to prove something, both to myself and to others. Although the courses that I took at my high school in Riga were heavily geared toward the exact sciences, I didn’t have particularly good marks in physics. Therefore, after graduating from high school, I wanted to prove that I could also be strong in physics, despite the fact that I had thought more about studying economics or writing. I proved myself and

Everybody who’s worked on Wall Street has his share of experiences. Mine are associated with people who have been taught to think only in terms of money. The main thought on everybody’s mind is how to get more money and how to make a bigger profit. On top of that, people are constantly being manipulated and all kinds of machinations take place. You can’t trust anybody there, because people say one thing, but think and do something completely different. I worked on Wall Street during the financial crisis, when people were being continually laid off, which means that the atmosphere was particularly poisonous. I always had the feeling that practically no good was resulting from all of the things that we were doing. We conducted huge, structured deals with oil and natural gas, we bought oil resources and lent out money. I don’t recall doing anything that I could be proud of. Of course, I did learn quite a lot during those four years, but nothing that fit in with my core values. However, I won’t pretend that I left Wall Street for those reasons. I left because I was tired of working such long hours. I wanted to be happy.

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It sounds like you’ve been lucky in a sense, because you found out quite early what you want and what you don’t want from life.

And why do you write fantasy and science fiction novels? Also to escape from the realities of daily life?

It seems that you also choose to do pretty grandiose things in real life, like working in a nuclear reactor and amid the wild business jungle on Wall Street.

They say that Wall Street is like a battlefield for the ambitious and the self-seeking.

... when experience matters

Once again, you don’t fit the classical stereotype of the writer as a die-hard loner. even spent a few months working deep within a zinc mine in Japan. However, during the summer before my last year of studies, which was supposed to be devoted to research, I was spending more time watching TV shows than working in the laboratory. That told me that I was doing something wrong with my life. Moving on to the financial sphere on Wall Street was a natural step after my studies in physics, because I wanted to work with people and do something that provided more tangible results. On top of that, my analytic thinking and knowledge of mathematics provided me with a perfect background. Admittedly, that was

I try to balance periods of solitude with work among people. I’m not the type who enjoys attending big parties and I don’t like chatting it up with large numbers of people, but am very comfortable when it comes to talks within a business context. Also, my biggest hobby, Latin dancing, lets me hang out with people more.

What are your favourite Latin dances? My favorites are Cuban salsa and rumba. Dancing is a whole lot of fun! I like the music and the feeling of freedom that I get when I dance. It’s particularly fantastic when you get a great partner and dance with her as if you both were one single entity. From the side, it might look like the dance has been well-choreographed, but in Latin dancing everything is often done at the spur of the moment, through improvisation. Earlier this year I spent two months in Cuba, because I wanted to improve my dancing skills. I trained for three to four hours a

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OUTLOOK / INTERVIEW What would you bring along if you were told that you had only five minutes to pack for your next trip? My passport, laptop and credit cards, as I wouldn’t really need anything else. It’s pretty easy to travel nowadays. I don’t know what will happen in the future, though, once the earth’s oil and other reserves run out.

What do you predict for the future of the human race?

In 2010, Tom won 1st place in the influential Writers of the Future Contest (USA) for best science fiction story

I wouldn’t trust anybody who says that he knows what’s going to happen in 50, 100 or 200 years day and then danced during the evenings. It was hard and intensive work. On top of that, Havana is a very complicated city and full of contradictions. There are a lot of things that I don’t like about it, such as the negative effect of communism on people’s way of thinking and the extremely contemptuous attitude toward tourists. However, even though Havana gives the impression of being a city in decline and decay, I find the music and dance culture there to be extremely enticing. Dancing has become a very important part of my life, and I think that I might even teach some dance classes in the future.

Science fiction writers like to think up various scenarios about the shape of things to come. In truth, people are pretty bad predictors of the future. I wouldn’t trust anybody who says that he knows what’s going to happen in 50, 100 or 200 years. The future is unfolding within an extremely complicated framework that involves interactions between billions of people. You never know where the next invention will come from and when the next economic crisis will arise. What role does writing have to play in all this? We can write up all kinds of stories about the future, based on things that are happening today. George Orwell’s legendary anti-utopian novel 1984 is a perfect example of that.

In speaking about the future, you mentioned only people. Does your perception about the order of things in the world involve only people? People represent only one of two factors that are able to influence the world order. The other factor, in my opinion, is the environment. Sadly, I think that we will accumulate a huge bunch of problems over the next hundred years, because we have inflicted a huge amount of damage to the environment – the other crucial factor. I make no claim to being a saint in my life, but I try not to do too much damage. Not to people, and not to the environment. BO

OUTLOOK / SPECIAL

Text by Agra Liege Photos courtesy of Yvan Rodic

Face Hunter Street-style bloggers have changed the face of fashion and Yvan Rodic is one of the world’s most influential figures in the field Today, in the era of street fashion blogging, the street is your new catwalk. What we wear and yearn for is no longer decided solely by the heavyweights of the industry, and with 24-hour access to the internet, style blogging has become an art form in itself. Acutely aware of the happenings within the world-famous fashion houses and on their catwalks,

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fashion bloggers have nevertheless desacralized the catwalk. According to Yvan Rodic, the famous street-style photographer and blogger who goes by the name of Face Hunter, with the rise of street fashion blogs, people have realized that “it is not just about the seasons. It is more about the constant flow of different options. ” This also means that your

photograph could one day be taken by a celebrity... Yvan Rodic is a widely recognized groundbreaker in his field, and has gained the respect of the major players of the fashion industry. Born in Vevey in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, he started his professional life working for advertising agencies like Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi, with work stints in Geneva, Brussels and Paris. Then he started to take pictures and post the results online, assuming the name of Face Hunter in 2006. Yvan is based in London, which he sees as the beating heart of the fashion world, contrary to what many might think. He travels at what appears to be light speed and visits an incredible number of cities, later posting the photographs of the most inspiring personalities in his Visual Diary at www.yvanrodic.com. He always compiles his photographs by city, and a look through his diary lets you see the street style and vibe of each metropolis through his all-seeing eye. We met Yvan in Riga after he had attended Positivus, one of the largest summer music festivals in the Baltic States. We asked him about his work and plans, and about worldwide tendencies in the perception of fashion.

How do you pick your travel destinations? And how do you manage to visit so many cities all over the world? It is a combination of the commercial projects that I am working on, such as campaigns, shooting deals, fashion weeks and various conferences that I attend, and the places that I want to photograph, so I try to combine all of these tasks somehow. There is a lot of travelling involved and that is part of the reason why I have based myself in London, which is an easy place from which to travel everywhere. People ask me if it is not too tiring, which it sometimes is, but then again, some people travel two hours to

work every day. When I see the outcome of my work, I know it has been worth the effort.

What do you look for in a prospective model? What is it that catches your eye on the street? I am always looking for something fresh and surprising but not superficial, because superficial looks don’t really attract attention. There has to be a different radiance, some additional dimension to the person and the situation. It’s rather hard to put in words.

Do you plan to attend any of the upcoming fashion weeks? Most of them. I will be going to the ones in London, Paris, New York, Milan and elsewhere. I will mostly be covering the shows, but I have some additional commercial work planned as well. For example, I will be doing a kind of a photo diary for the website of a company in London, a project related to the fashion week there.

Do you also sometimes take photos of celebrities? And are there any celebrities whose style you find inspiring? I don’t take that many photos of celebrities, mainly because when I work, I want to get my one good picture. I don’t want to be just taking photographs among other photographers, which is what happens when you attempt to take a photo of a famous person in public. It compromises the quality of the photo, and there is not

much use for it. I do find some celebrities inspiring though, such as Alexa Chung (a British TV presenter, model and a contributing editor at British Vogue – ed.), but more the Alexa Chung of a couple of years ago, when she was not as wellknown. I also find the young Cara Delevigne (a British fashion model – ed.) very inspiring and did like taking photographs of her, but when she got really big, it became crazy. Now she is always surrounded by photographers who want her photo, and there is always someone overly protective around, who makes a big deal out of this photographytaking. It’s too much fuss with celebrities most of the time.

Has the massive following that street fashion blogging now enjoys shifted the weight in the fashion industry? Has it altered the status and the role of designer fashion? I think that street-style blogging has definitely taken some of the mystique away from the catwalk, which was previously the only source of fashion inspiration people had. I think that in the last couple of years, with the blogging culture becoming more and more widespread and significant, people have realized that fashion is not only about seasonal trends. They see radiant and inspirational photos online of people in the streets. This allows them to see that there are many different options for fashion, not just the trends set out by the industry.

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OUTLOOK / SPECIAL

Style and the city

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We asked Yvan to map out some of the most famous cities in fashion terms. That he did, demolishing worldwide cultural and style stereotypes commonly attached to them

Yvan moved to London from Paris, which is where he first lived when he started blogging. He visited London a few times and grew to feel that he could really flourish there in his new career. He says that his move to London was “a very organic choice”. “London has an incredible street culture compared to most of the other bigger cities. The music scene in London is very strong; it is very progressive and experimental, and Londoners’ style is very much influenced by this scene. There are a large number of local English bands in London and lots of gigs take place practically every night. They play really good music and in London the locations are charming as well, so lots of people gather there and dress accordingly. “The style in London is about the rock vibe, which is still very much in the air. Over the years and despite the new fashion trends and movements, a rock vibe has always remained. There is always going to be a black leather jacket in sight when you walk the streets of London. People wear dark colours, darker than pretty much anywhere else. “There are, however, a lot of other aspects to the fashion trends in the streets of London. Generally, you can find all kinds of different styles inspired by trends from other countries. This probably makes London very different from the rest of Great Britain – unlike Stockholm, which is similar to the rest of Sweden. Foreign influences are welcomed and some people like to try highly experimental and weird things in terms of fashion. Of course, lots of people dress glamorously and there are quite a few women who wear very sexy clothes. Local stars on reality TV shows and the like also have an influence. It is a very mixed bunch of different style cultures that somehow holds together reasonably well. “London might be the most intriguing place style-wise, and for that reason it is pretty far from being the most elegant. This is, again, somewhat influenced by the local culture. For example, women in London tend not be afraid to wear absolutely anything, which means that they can sometimes disregard their body type when choosing outfits. People seem to be in two minds about it, because it is clearly a good thing to feel free enough to do what you want. On the other hand, one should probably give a bit of a consideration to the fit when it comes to picking clothes. “London is very vibrant. It seems to react to new ideas, yet hold on to some traditions. One can find and see anything in London: rocky, glamorous, sexy or weird. Yet the influence on people’s style, at least the more visible street style, has come mostly and still comes from the local rock music scene. I find it endearing for an extremely modern city like London to be so eclectic and a little old-school in preserving its most memorable style ‘moments’over the years.”

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Hipster paradise Berlin

Rock it in London

Yvan’s visual diary from his many visits to the capital of Germany might not correspond with the classical image of the place – and of the whole country, for that matter. “Berlin is a juvenile city. It is young, playful and vintage at the same time, which could be summed up in one word as ‘hipster’. Berlin gives the impression of an ‘all play and no work’ city. Everyone in Berlin looks like they have 24 hours of free time a day. Berlin doesn’t seem like a place for seeking serious work and establishing a career. It seems more like a place where you go when you are young. You spend a year of your life there, enjoying yourself, partying and living a crazy lifestyle. People rarely appear to have 9 to 5 jobs in Berlin. It is a playground, a place where people are eager to just

enjoy themselves. Berlin is a youngster’s fantasy. “Obviously, people work there and make a living, like everywhere else. But fashionwise in the streets and in the way that people party, you sense a 1967 San Francisco Summer of Love atmosphere. Berlin is carefree in terms of style. It is not very trendoriented either. If we single out just the outfits that people choose, then Berlin might not be the most interesting place. Berliners and Parisians are similar in the sense that they don’t put too much effort into dressing up when they go out onto the street. In Paris people wear plain and comfortable clothes, while in Berlin the style is more vintage, colourful and noticeable. Berlin is also very international, because a lot of youths from other countries also go there to explore and to have fun.”

OUTLOOK / SPECIAL

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Tees and jeans in Paris “You’ve heard that Paris is the city of love, the city of fashion, the city of romance and what not... In some ways, Paris really is what people think of it, but in some ways it is completely different. The city is extremely beautiful, mostly due to its marvellous historic architecture, and to the incredible number of museums and galleries that it houses. In this sense, the cultural stereotypes about Paris ring true. “For centuries, Paris has also been a fashion capital. The fashion industry as we know it evolved there, a lot of fashion houses are still based in the city and many fashion weeks still take place there. This is why lots of people from other countries go to Paris thinking that it will be the most stylish and the most glamorous place in the world. But then they get disappointed when they arrive and see that it is mainly foreigners like themselves who live this Parisian dream of fashion. It’s ironic: people go to Paris with the idea that it is a fashion superpower, and then they discover that

they themselves are the most stylish. “In truth, most Parisians dress very plainly, wearing the simplest jeans and T-shirts, along with casual shoes – both men and women. French and especially Parisian women seem to think that if someone makes too much effort with regards to their appearance, then they are silly. Sexy and feminine is fine, nothing is banned per se, but the look should not be too polished. Even when Parisian women go out for an evening, they don’t wear skirts and high heels that much. This is miles away from the change that you see in London from everyday clothes into going-out clothes. “Paris is truly a cultural city, with all kinds of events taking place, including good concerts, but mostly with foreign bands. The scene is less progressive and experimental than in London, where street fashion has a lively connection with the contemporary cultural scene and especially with music, so that form of culture is relived on the streets there.”

Edgy and androgynous Stockholm

OUTLOOK / SPECIAL “Stockholm is one of the most stylish cities in the world. It is one of those places where not only the people within the fashion industry dress well. Pretty much everyone you see has a sense of style. Most of us have come across the stereotype that Scandinavian women, liberated and emancipated, insist on paying very little attention to fashion and to looking feminine. It turns out that one part of this assumption is true, while the other part is not. Namely, Scandinavian women (and also men, for that matter) actually do think a lot about fashion. However, they choose an androgynous approach to it. This is probably the most noticeable difference between style in Stockholm and pretty much everywhere else. “Women in most other countries wish to look extremely feminine, to place emphasis on their body curves and to wear lots of makeup. This is their take on being stylish and sexy. In Stockholm, however, women appear very comfortable wearing androgynous clothes. Everyone dresses in a simple and casual manner, but often you see some quirky details added to outfits, which makes the look rather edgy. You see people having fun with fashion in a relaxed and inspiring manner that is not hypersexualised, because women do not feel as if they must look sexy at all times. “The Scandinavians’ approach to fashion inspires other countries in Western Europe

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through the export of such Scandinavian fashion brands as Acne. The fact that Scandinavia is years ahead of most other countries in terms of this unisex approach to style might be due to the basic values that the people share. Their style is an expression of the culture that is present in most parts of the area. The more conservative concepts of family and workmanship that exist in other cultures – which make women want to be women and men want to be men – have dissolved in Sweden, where it is now much more common to look neither too feminine, nor too masculine. “It is also likely that the Swedes’ relaxed, yet still creative and unique style is due to the fact that Sweden was one of the first countries to have a fashion blogging scene. Before other countries even knew what the term “blogging” means, there were already professional bloggers around in Sweden, since the year 2005 or so. Therefore, it is not only Acne and other famous Swedish fashion brands that have been exporting Swedish style. Blogging has also had an important role to play. In addition, Stockholm is what could be called a small big city. It is not that large, but there is a lot happening. In terms of shopping for clothes it is great, because Stockholm offers not only lots of international brands, but also affordable and good local brands.”

OUTLOOK / SPECIAL

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Brands and sweatpants in Milan “Usually one thinks of Milan as a dream location for fashion shopping. It doesn’t offer you much of interest in terms of street fashion, though, because the city is so brand-obsessed. When you walk the streets in the most central districts of Milan, practically everyone is wearing brand-name clothing. This gives off the unfortunate air of “brands over style”, to the detriment of fashion. It is in the few very classy areas in the central part of Milan where you will see men and women who look like they have come out of fashion-brand billboard advertisements. Beyond that area, however, style gets diluted. “Milan’s street style is very much influenced by sportswear, which is what the majority of young people are wearing in the city these days. Once a particular item of clothing – especially out of the sportswear collections – becomes popular, every single person sets out to wear it, later swapping it for a similar item in a different colour. “Milan shares some similarities with Spain, where the

predominance of sporty and comfortable clothing can be explained by the people being very laid-back. The Spaniards live in a warm and sunny place, where they just want to relax and enjoy life and the weather. This sense of style is not really that inspiring. But in Milan, even though the comfortable sportswear culture is there, the vibe of the city is very different. Milan is far from being very relaxed and joyful. It actually feels quite closed-up and private. The heart of the city feels strangely hidden and inaccessible. Milan doesn’t seem like a place that you will explore and meet new people. The most visible part of the city is, of course, very glamorous and stylish, at least when one looks at the new seasonal offer by the big brands, but the “street offer” is quite poor. It seems that while runway fashion has a place in this city, street fashion lacks in inspiration, and that the new generation is losing touch with what should lead to an independent sense of style.”

OUTLOOK / TRAVEL

More work in the vineyard, less in the winery

Winemaking pioneers

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The roots of modern winemaking lie in the mountainous landscape of the Kakheti region in what is now eastern Georgia, with archaeological evidence of wine production going back to at least 6000 BC. It is therefore hardly surprising that winemaking and drinking play an important role in Georgian culture. The country’s long-standing winemaking traditions have led to a big demand for Georgian wine all over the world, and provide many opportunities to visit the vineyards, wineries and wine bars of the country Text by Kalle Heino photos by Kalle Heino AND CORBIS/SCANPIX

The serpentine road gets narrower as it rises up into the mountains, passing through small, idyllic villages. One is treated to panoramic views of the misty fields below, with the majestic peaks of the Caucasus in the background. From time to time, we enter a thick mist, finally arriving at a place that offers a dizzying view of the vast vineyards below. We are 100 km east of Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, in the centre of the winemaking Kakheti region.

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We have reached the village of Sighnaghi, which is still waking up in the early morning. All around are dozens of telltale qvevris, clay vessels of different sizes in which the Georgian wines are fermented and aged. The qvevris are, in fact, an iconic symbol of Georgian winemaking. However, it’s not yet time to go to the vineyards and wineries, as a Georgian wine tour should not start from the fields, but from a restaurant table – the first step for getting in touch with the fruit of Georgian soil.

ONE WAY

In a combined restaurant and wine bar in the centre of Sighnaghi, a wide selection of Georgian wines has been chosen for tasting. The selection begins with white wines made from Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane grapes, and red wine from Saperavi grapes. Although Georgian wine is respected all over the world by wine enthusiasts, these are not just any Georgian wines. Chinuri is a light and attractive white wine with a taste of walnut. The blend that I taste is of grapes that have not been fermented together with their skins, resulting in the need for less sulfites to preserve the wine. Another white blend made from Mtsvane grapes, called amber wine, has a sensitive smoky flavour. The wine bar is in the territory of the Pheasant’s Tears winery, which offers some of the best natural wines in the country. Natural winemaking is a growing trend in Georgia, also occupying an increasing share of Georgia’s wine exports. One of the best examples of superb natural wine is now in front of us, a Rkatsiteli white from 2012, served unfiltered straight from the winery. “Wine should be natural. If work is done properly in the vineyard, then you don’t need to do much work in the winery. If you need chemicals in the vineyard, then you need chemicals in the winery,” says John Wurdeman, an American who fell in love with Georgia and started producing natural wine in accordance with the country’s established practices. Interested in art and folk traditions, John first came to Georgia in 1995 in search of singers who practiced Georgian polyphonic singing. A year later, he bought a house in Sighnaghi, where he has lived ever since. In 2005, he was painting a vineyard near a highway in the Alazani Valley when Gela Patalishvili, a local villager, spotted him and invited John over for dinner. “I was wondering why a guy who I didn’t know wanted to invite me to his house. But Gela said that if I am painting here, then I must be as crazy about these vineyards as he is,” John recalls. A few years later, with a spirit of innovation overtaking the Georgian wine industry, the two men’s friendship led to the purchase of a small vineyard and the joint establishment of the Pheasant’s Tears winery.

Who was first? In order to understand the history of Georgian winemaking, one has to understand that wine plays an important part in Georgia’s cultural heritage, including songs, poetry, celebrations and rituals. In this predominantly Orthodox country, the vine is a widely used symbol even in religious images, and its shape has influenced the look of the letters in the Georgian alphabet. The vineyards in what is now Georgia were even mentioned in the works of Homer and Apollonius of Rhodes. Of course, there’s always the question about the real course of history. Who was the first to start cultivating the vine for wine? For ages, Georgians and Turks have argued about this issue. The archaeological evidence of clay vessels tends to favour the Georgians. In any case, from areas in Georgia and Turkey, the tradition of winemaking spread to Mesopotamia and beyond. Today, Georgia is taking advantage of its long-standing winemaking traditions. Tbilisi is full of small tour operators who offer wine and food tours to the Kakheti region. From simple one-day vineyard visits and winetasting trips to one-week tours around the region, the opportunities to learn about winemaking and wine traditions in the Kakheti region are too numerous to mention. One can even help in reaping the grape harvest and attend a legendary Georgian supra dinner, which I will elaborate upon later. Starting from around 80 EUR per person per day, which includes everything from travel costs to visits, meals and drinks, even a quick tour might change the course of a traveller’s relationship with food and wine. Indeed, Georgia’s food and wine are among the best reasons to visit the country, which is experiencing an upsurge in tourism and which can ably compete with other more traditional Eastern European destinations. John admits that the business for Georgian wines is not easy at the moment, but is hopeful due to a rapidly growing demand, both within Georgia and abroad. According to the National Wine Agency of Georgia, over 15 million bottles of Georgian wine are exported annually. With the reopening of the

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OUTLOOK / TRAVEL

OUTLOOK / TRAVEL market in Russia earlier this year, following a seven-year Russian import ban on Georgian wine, export numbers are expected to skyrocket. In June, the export of Georgian wine had already grown by 25 percent compared to the same month last year. However, following the Russian ban, which was imposed in 2006, many Georgain wineries changed their profile to produce more upscale wines. These are now making inroads in such Western countries as France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Belgium and Holland, as well as Japan in the Far East. Many top European restaurants are eager to offer some of the best Georgian wines. One advantage is that even with high-quality Georgian natural wines, the price of a bottle is quite reasonable. For example, a typical Pheasant’s Tears wine might cost about 20 EUR per bottle in France.

Along with the country’s wonderful wines, the food is another Georgian asset Qvevris lined with organic beeswax As we enter the vineyards near Sighnaghi, the Georgian autumn can be sensed in the air. The harvest of vines has just been completed and the work – or passive notworking, as the philosophy of natural wine production stipulates – has begun. Pheasant’s Tears has built cellars in the vineyard itself to minimize the damage to the grapes in transportation, allowing the harvest and the pressing to be completed before the hot midday weather sets in. In a matter of hours, the harvested grapes are already pressed and set in the cool qvevris. The amphora is another ancient vessel connected with winemaking. However, unlike the amphora, the qvevri is used not only to store the wine, but also to ferment it. The traditional Georgian winemaking method includes the addition of the ripest of stems to the grape skins, juice and pits, for both red and white wines. The maceration time depends on the grape variety and the size of the qvevri, taking between three weeks and six months. With many of the white wines, it’s important to have zero or minimum grape skin contact during the fermentation and maceration processes. Still, the skilled usage of grape skin contact in the qvevris gives many of the Georgian natural white wines their famous amber-like orange colour. Most of the natural Georgian wines are fermented by using naturally occurring yeasts, and the grapes are grown in rich Georgian soil using only organic methods. The qvevris where the wine is fermented are lined with organic beeswax and buried into the earth to maintain a cool and even temperature.

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Bottles sold years in advance Of course, it is possible to get acquainted with Georgian wines by staying only in the capital Tbilisi, where a variety of wine bars will provide a tasteful insight into some of the best wines that the country has to offer. Following our field trip to Kakheti, we meet with John and several Georgian makers of natural wine. They have brought some of their best products to a small and cosy underground wine bar in Tbilisi. Ramaz Nikoladze displays a sample of his Tsolikouri and Tsitska wines, which are not so easy to buy, even in Georgia. He has found a promising market for these wines in Italy and France, where he now sells some bottles even two years in advance. Soon after, Gaioz Sopromadze pours glasses of his Tsolikouri and Chkhaveri wines from the Imereti region. All of those present talk with passion about wine and Georgian winemaking traditions. To them, their craft is a labour of love. Sopromadze gives a summary of natural wine philosophy, which starts in the vineyard and ends at the dinner table: “It is a pleasure to drink natural wines. After two glasses, everybody starts singing. Industrial wine doesn’t make this happen. It puts people in a bad mood and makes them angry,” he says. John Wurdeman emphasises the term “natural”. In his opinion, all wine should be natural, as the word indicates. That’s also one reason why most of the makers of Georgian

OUTLOOK / TRAVEL natural wine haven’t applied for organic certification. They feel that they don’t need certificates when they personally know the local producers and personally inspect how the wine has gone through all the phases of cultivation and production.

Nectar of the sun The wine bars are also good places to enjoy superior Georgian cuisine. Along with the country’s wonderful wines, the food is another Georgian asset. Georgian cuisine combines Asian, Middle Eastern, European and Russian influences. And of course, some of the most tasty wild food combos can be enjoyed with Georgian wine. This includes wild mushrooms, herbs and berries. A satisfying meal is a perfect way to finish a long day, together with Georgian wine. Georgians traditionally gather together with their friends and family for long dinner evenings. These feasts, called supras, are informal, but have established rules that can be difficult for a beginner to understand. The tamada, or toastmaster, proposes toast after toast, talking about a specific topic each time. Still, the supra doesn’t involve heavy drinking, but rather a respectful attitude toward wine and food, as well as having fun with one’s fellow diners. The tamada faces the most difficult task of all: with toast proposals and speeches, he has to consume a large amount of alcohol during the evening, while showing no signs of drunkenness. Typical Georgian dinners can be made from chicken, lamb, local fish and vegetables such as eggplant. These may be complemented with plum sauces, pomegranates, cilantro, crushed walnuts, roasted meats, homemade yoghurt and sheep cheese. Amid all of these flavours, local wine plays an important role in putting it all together: the food, the people and the joy of life. No wonder Georgians call wine the nectar of the sun.

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OUTLOOK / TRAVEL

Eating and other pleasures in Tbilisi

Vino Underground

Shemoikhede Genatsvale

6 Rkinis Rigi

5 Marjanishvili Street 25 Leselidze Street

This restaurant is one of the best spots for an introduction to Georgian cuisine. Everything from dumpling-style khinkalis to khachapuri bread, baked mushrooms, walnut-eggplant rolls, Georgian kebabs, mint cheese and salads spiced up with cilantro. The low prices and cosy atmosphere make it easy to feel welcome and even get acquainted with a friendly local or two.

15 Galaktion Tabidze Street

If you don’t get your fill of wine-tasting in Kakheti or just want to stay in the capital, then Vino Underground is a perfect place to learn everything about Georgian wines. The wild food snacks are just what is needed during the tasting and the shop has a wide selection of natural wines from all over Georgia.

Maidan This fine dining restaurant hidden in a corner of the Old Town takes Georgian cuisine to lofty heights, but at moderate prices. The restaurant also features live music and entertainment from traditional Georgian performers.

Azarphesha 2 Ingorokva Street

Luarsab Togonidze’s restaurant is a great place to participate in a supra, or Georgian feast. The lovely family restaurant serves delicious Georgian

food with a nice personal touch, and if you meet Luarsab personally, then he can probably answer any questions you have about Georgian food and wine.

Café Kala 8/10 Erekle II Street

This smoky little bar offers the combination of a laidback Georgian café and trendy place to hang out. Live, jazz-oriented music almost every night.

Orbeliani Baths Abanotubani The district of Abanotubani is full of bathhouses with the trademark Georgian sulphur baths. The Orbeliani Baths are the most famous and most easily recognisable with their Persian façade. However, any one of the bathhouses in Abanotubani will give you a unique experience of Georgian bathing traditions. A bath in the public section (separate for men and women) costs just a few euro, while private rooms cost around 10 EUR. BO

OUTLOOK / TRAVEL

Text by KristIne Mihalova Photos courtesy of the bar camparino and corbis/scanpix

Milan

is an industrious city. Other Italians joke that the Milanese only read newspapers on the metro, drink their espressos standing up and think while they’re asleep, so as not to waste any time. However, there comes a time each day when businessmen in their designer shirts leave the office to continue their conversations in the more informal setting of the city’s outdoor bars. They are joined by models from around the world, many of whom are indulging in the sinful pleasure of a cocktail. After 7 PM or so, it’s aperitivo time in this hectic business city, and for an hour or two, almost all of the bars and cafés in town are full of residents and city guests happily clinking their glasses and enjoying the La vita è bella atmosphere. An aperitivo (derived from the Latin term for “to open”) is an alcoholic beverage that precedes a meal. Literally – a drink to “open the stomach”. For this reason, aperitivos are usually light, mostly dry and slightly bitter drinks that stimulate the appetite. Colloquially, the term aperitivo applies to both the drinks themselves and the process of enjoying them, often accompanied by specially chosen snacks. Not just the usual nuts and olives, but also warm and cold salads, sandwiches and fresh vegetables.

Cocktail hour in Milan September evenings are ideal for cocktails and leisurely conversation. Here’s your perfect guide to Milan’s aperitivo culture and bars. Enjoy!

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In Milan, the aperitivo is a ritual and a way of life. It may be used as a pretext for a rendezvous with friends, for starting a business deal or just for spicing up your social life. True Milanese know that the best first date is an aperitivo – if you don’t hit it off, then the atmosphere is open enough to part as friends and avoid the risk of an embarrassing situation. However, if the hearts beats faster, then the evening can continue at the dinner table.

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OUTLOOK / TRAVEL The most stylish aperitivo If you’ve come to Milan not just to see its historical and cultural attractions, but also feel why it has been granted the status of fashion capital, then definitely plan a visit to the Corso Como. This small street is full of designer stores – from fresh and upcoming to legendary and influential – while a variety of creative professionals have made their homes on the upper floors above the shops. For the Milanese, an apartment on the Corso Como is a status symbol, indicating a desire to be up-do-date, creative and original. However, not everyone is completely true to their desires and talents, so if you make friends with a Corso Como dweller, make sure to distinguish the “valuable originals” from “skilful copies”, so to speak. After all, many come to Milan in search of fame, while only a few achieve real success. Corso Como only attained its iconic status on the map of Milan a

The most traditional aperitivo The beginning of Milan’s relationship with aperitivos can be traced to world-famous beverage master Gaspare Campari’s arrival in the city. The legendary creator of the Campari drink settled in central Milan’s prestigious Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, opening the iconic Caffé Campari there in the 1870s. Later, in 1915, Gaspare’s son Davide Campari replaced it with another bar, Camparino. To provide the highestquality service to its clients, a previously unseen system was installed in the bar, ensuring a constant flow of soda water from the basement vaults. Thanks to this innovative method, the bar’s clientele could enjoy a perfectly prepared and chilled cocktail at any time. The bar’s modern décor and enchanting atmosphere ensured its popularity among both the privileged classes and ordinary people alike. Camparino was a place where the Italian aperitivo tradition developed and evolved. It was also a place where passionate debates gave rise to new ideas and trends that affected other

spheres of life throughout Italy. Now, after a break of several years, Camparino has returned to its historic location, and just like in days gone by, visitors are served cocktails by an elegant waiter in white gloves. He takes orders in an enchanting dialect typical of Milan – with an article preceding almost every word. The distinctive mood is enhanced by the bar and gallery’s antique and luxurious decor, as well as the view of Milan’s Duomo cathedral and the stylish visitors of Europe’s oldest shopping centre. To get to know the aperitivo culture, it’s worth starting right in Camparino, with its must-try cocktail, the Americano. This is the first cocktail that Gaspare Campari created with Campari – a sophisticated premium-class alcoholic beverage, it’s bouquet including bitter spices, aromatic plants and fruit. Originally, the cocktail was called Milano-Torino in honour of its two main ingredients – Bitter Campari, produced in Milan, and Cinzano vermouth, which was made in Turin.

few years ago, when a prestigious lifestyle gallery opened at No.10. It combines a fashion and design store, art galleries, a bookstore, a restaurant and a hotel. The gallery fits in with the “lifestyle shopping” idea, letting you seamlessly move from the fashion store to the nearby garden bar to enjoy an aperitivo in honour of a fab new purchase. If you’re lucky, worldfamous designers and models might be discussing the newest season’s collections at the next table. There’s a particularly good chance of seeing some fashion luminaries if you’ve planned your visit during fashion week. Order an Aperol Spritz – an orange, sparkling beverage, especially refreshing on a warm Indian Summer evening. The cocktail became popular in the Venice area, and has also charmed Milan in recent years. After enjoying an aperitivo, dine in the nearby Isola district, more untamed and genuine compared to the glamour of the Corso Como.

The most contemporary aperitivo Surrounded by small, winding streets, the Brera district, also known as Milan’s Monmartre, turns into a magical kingdom at night. Strolling along the bohemian Via Fiori Chiari, you’ll meet both artists creating visions of the future with their brush strokes, and fortune-tellers reading their clients lives in the cards or from the palms of their hands. If you happen to pass by, be sure to say hello to fortune-teller Signora Rosa, who, her red sequined dress fluttering, calls out loudly “Sexy, sexy love” and promises to reveal the secrets of the best lover for only a nominal fee. Although they say that the promised recipe for love is the same for all, it might still be tempting for some to give in to the bewitching words of this unusual lady. Naturally, Brera really comes alive at night-time, and you can enjoy an aperitivo here later than elsewhere in town. If you’re lucky, many bars will still be offering snacks from the buffet up to 9 PM or so. This area becomes particularly lively during Design Week, when aperitivos are served not just

in the bars, but also in numerous shops and boutiques. Brera’s bars and cafés stand out with a more contemporary approach to aperitivo culture. For example, the Brera Garden Floor terrace on the 8th floor of the Hotel Milano Scala (Via dell’Orso 7) serves snacks prepared from organic products only. This rooftop bar is a lush garden of vines, lavender, rosemary and lemon trees full of fruit, reminiscent of the “secret gardens” of Milan’s most prominent buildings. On the nearby Corso Garibaldi, a Japanese restaurant offers sushi aperitivo; instead of the usual snacks, aperitivos are accompanied by a wide range of Japanese gourmet delicacies. If you decide to stay on in one of Brera’s bars, a must-try cocktail is the Negroni. It originated in Florence when a client asked a barman to add gin to the usual classic aperitivo cocktail, the Americano. This new cocktail turned out mighty tasty, and quickly became a favourite among the clientele. Since Brera’s artistic atmosphere is slightly reminiscent of Florence, the Negroni tastes especially delicious there.

OUTLOOK / TRAVEL

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The most free-thinking aperitivo Tourists and local hipsters alike love the Navigli (naviglio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Italian for canal) neighbourhood next to the canal. A little wild and brutal, its antique stores, art bookshops, colourful ice-cream kiosks, vinyl and vintage clothing stands are enchanting. Although the canal is dry almost all year round, not offering very romantic vistas, the Navigli area is popular for aperitivos. Here, young people warming up before night-time parties make the streets echo with a bohemian joy of living. Although the bars of Navigli offer a wide range of aperitivo opportunities, in this area the cocktail ritual takes a primarily social role. This means that you should enjoy your aperitivo in the company of friends. Together, you can try everything from the more traditional cocktails to brand new aperitivo drinks. The spirit of youth and freedom rippling through the streets of Navigli makes every evening unpredictable, but one thing is clear: new friendships

(perhaps even romance) are guaranteed. Near the Sant Ambroggio metro stop, Le Biciclette is ideal for adventures â&#x20AC;&#x201C; try the Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Imbruttito cocktail, created here (imbruttirsi means â&#x20AC;&#x153;to become uglyâ&#x20AC;? in Italian). It came up as an ironic reference to the classic Milanese man, who stubbornly clings to old habits, always trying to be trendy and ahead of his time â&#x20AC;&#x201C; thus becoming confused in the search for his own identity. The cocktail includes Milanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s typical, traditional aperitivo beverages, as well as the lesser-known artichoke liquor, which combine to form a unique taste. Wherever in Milan you may be, when aperitivo hour draws near, it seems that the busy metropolis suddenly becomes a little more playful and cheerful. Among the many bars in Milan, it shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be difficult to find a favourite, where you can enjoy your drink of choice surrounded by a relaxed atmosphere of laughter and stories. The busy city has come to a halt for a moment, and everyone can enjoy a breath of fresh air. BO

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The legend of Campari

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F ind out about the history of the legendary drink and the aperitivo tradition in Italy at the Galleria Campari, located on the outskirts of Milan in Sesto San Giovanni and once the site of Campariâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first production plant. More information at: www.campari.com

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CARS

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Driven: the Maserati Ghibli The Maserati Ghibli is designed to add another option to the otherwise narrow choice of Audis, BMWs, Jaguars or Mercedes that are currently on offer to business execs

It is Maserati’s bid to elbow aside the usual top-end executive cars, and so features the Italian company’s first diesel engine, a 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 that generates 275 hp and 600 Nm of torque. The Ghibli will also be offered with a twinturbocharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine that comes in two states of tune, with either 330 or 410 hp. Petrol engines might be more in keeping with the traditional idea of what to expect from a Maserati, but it’s the diesel that the company really needs to sell if it wants to gain a foothold in the higher end of the executive car class.

Still, performance is pretty strong once everything is up and running. Shifting up through the eight-speed gearbox is smooth, although the occasional lumpy downshift does occur when in Sport mode. The most annoying aspect of the drivetrain is the noticeable ‘clunk’ from the rear of the car almost every time you ease off and then reapply the accelerator. The Ghibli is reasonably quiet on the motorway, when the engine fades into the distance, while wind and road noise are kept to acceptable levels. However, if that seems a bit too quiet and civilised for you, then a press of the Sport button by the

What’s it like to drive?

The Ghibli is the first Maserati with a diesel engine

Although cars such as the BMW 5 Series and Jaguar XF may not have quite the cachet of the name Maserati, they certainly can get you around quickly, comfortably and with the feeling that you’re driving a superior vehicle. The Ghibli has to drive well if it’s to appeal to these discerning user-choosers. The diesel engine fires to a quiet but distinctly diesel rumble. Put the eight-speed automatic gearbox in D, release the brake and as you accelerate the sound becomes a bit grumbly. The engine pulls strongly once the single turbo has woken up, but the problem is that it doesn’t generate decent boost until around 2000 rpm, and the car can feel a bit languid if you get caught below that.

gearlever sharpens the accelerator responses and activates two sound actuators by the exhausts. These give the car a deep-chested if not especially evocative rumble. That being said, one area in which the Ghibli falls well short of its adversaries is in ride and handling. In Normal mode the ride has a shuddery quality as the suspension patters over imperfections. At the same time, the body is allowed to shimmy and pitch too much, jostling those inside.

CARS However, things aren’t so good in the rear, where legroom and foot space feel in much shorter supply; quite a failing in a car that will be required to carry adults in the rear seats every so often. The boot is big enough to hold a decent amount of luggage (albeit not as much as a BMW 5 Series or a Mercedes-Benz CLS), but the opening is quite shallow.

Should I buy one?

There is a button to firm up the suspension, and certainly when this is pressed the Ghibli becomes a properly sporting executive car, changing direction quickly and keeping its body well under control. The ride is also firmed up accordingly, which means that you’ll only ever use this setting when the sun’s out, the road is twisty and there’s no one in front. The steering is light and accurate, but feedback about the road surface is not high on the agenda.

What’s it like inside?

As far as the driver is concerned, the Ghibli’s interior is a perfectly acceptable place. It looks pretty stylish, there’s stitched leather all around, and the dials and instruments are clear. On the downside, the indicator stalk is too much of a stretch and the buttons down by the gearlever are tricky to discern at a glance. All in all, the car feels well put together, if not quite up to the standards set by Audi and BMW. There’s decent head and legroom up front, too, so even a tall driver and front-seat passenger can get comfortable.

The executive car world is populated by German models and Jaguars because they’re great to live with and they add up as company cars. This is where the 2013 Maserati Ghibli faces its toughest battle, but add in an average economy of 9.6 litres/100km and things look pretty good. The Maserati is comparable to the Mercedes CLS350 CDI or the BMW 535d M Sport and Jaguar XF 3.0D V6 S – but then the Jag is better to drive. Keep in mind that Audis, BMWs and Mercs all have strong resale values. If the Maserati is predicted to shed its value more quickly than these, then it could prove expensive on a monthly lease. However, the lure of saying ‘I drive a Maserati’ is undeniably a strong one. BO

OUTLOOK / GADGETS

TEXT BY ROGER NORUM | PUBLICITY PHOTOS

The new blacks

We’ve cherry-picked from this autumn’s best selection of electronic goodies Sony Xperia Tablet Z Underwater computing This spectacular, transfixing 10-inch tablet is a surefire market winner. At 500 g and half the iPad 4’s thickness, there’s still plenty to whet your appetite for power: a 1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, 2GB RAM, 32 GB memory, 1,920 x 1,200 polycarbonate display, 8.1-megapixel Exmor R camera, NFC, LTE, S-Force virtual surround sound, and it runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. Convinced yet? The tablet is also water- and dust-resistant – yes, you can take it into the bath with you. 488 EUR | www.sony.com (230 EUR | www.vodafone.com)

Asus Taichi Two-in-one genius Banking on the notion that two screens are better than one, this Windows 8 convertible is the world’s first dual-screen notebook and tablet combination. The HD displays switch from one to the other when you open or close the lid, or you can use both simultaneously. Powered by third-generation Intel Core i7 processors, it weighs just over 1 kg and is fairly thin (1.75 cm). Comes in 11.6- and 13-inch versions. From 1,059 EUR | www.asus.com

OUTLOOK / GADGETS BlackBerry Q10 The new standby Forget the rumours that RIMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s days are numbered: with the Q10, its BlackBerry is still very much in the game. A step up from the Bold 9900, the Q10 offers an 8-megapixel back camera (and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera), unique 3.1-inch squareshaped Super AMOLED display and a crackerjack-full BlackBerry keyboard. The new 10.1 OS features a new circular cursor tool for easier text selection and editing, and now runs Skype â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in addition to some 70,000 other apps. 560 EUR | www.blackberry.com

Ruark MR1 Simple, graceful, wireless audio power The sonic craftsmen at Ruark have come out with these easy-to-pair apt-X Bluetooth speakers, whose mesh grilles and metal fittings give them a seriously modern look. The CD-quality sound is fuelled by a 20-mm tweeter and 75-mm woofer, with 20W total power output. The speakers are also very simple to use: press the volume button once to turn them on or off; a long press changes the audio input. Available with remote control and in several finishes, including white and black lacquer. 350 EUR | www.ruark.com

Parrot Zik Over-the-ear innovation Probably the sleekest, most graceful headphones to come out over the past year or two, the Philippe Starck-designed brushed metal, curvaceous Ziks are already a big hit with trend-setters and audio buffs. The wireless, Bluetooth earpieces come with noise suppression, integrated NFC and touch-sensitive controls on the cup. Excellent audio performance with nearly no distortion at high volumes. A linked app allows you to custom-tweak the EQ. 349 EUR | www.parrot.com/zik

OUTLOOK / PROMO

Steak and fish restaurant BLUE COW Meistaru iela 21, Līvu laukums, Riga (+371) 67223307

HIGH-QUALITY HOT DIP GALVANIZING

A fusion of contrasts New 2014 collection from BoConcept Discover the latest designs, shapes and colours for the new season with BoConcept’s 2014 furniture collection. Arriving at BoConcept stores around the world in September, it can also be seen in Latvia at the KATE salon

īcgales iela 18a, N Riga, Latvia www.kate.lv

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Of course, the new collection from international furniture retailer BoConcept offers plenty of new designs. New pieces of furniture, new materials, new textures, new colours and new shapes. But the real news lies in the never before seen combinations of the well-known. Colours and materials from the past are redefined and merged for completely new solutions. Time is not for inventing, but for reinventing. The fusion of contrasts mixes warm with cold, natural materials with metal, wood with neon, the raw with the polished, and North with South. The logical world of geometry and science is mixed with the more intuitive, artistic and surreal.

The inspiration for the 2014 collection is still from the past, but now from several decades past. BoConcept has taken the best from different time periods and given it a contemporary brush-up for a new avantgarde style that is elegant, yet very authentic. Experience the new version of the Carlton sofa – a contemporary classic, or a modern-day version of the iconic Hamilton chair. Or tables in new shapes and combinations. Or the cool Cupertino all-in-one-desk. Its classic look has incorporated modern functionality, with integrated Bluetooth speakers and easy cable management. There are more colours this season and new colour combinations, such as bold metallics with raw concrete, together with quilted rich

materials and neon prints. There are no rules! However, there is a more quiet alternative, as the tone-in-tone tendency also continues for a more monochromatic setting.

www.zila-govs.lv

We can galvanize items up to 13 m in length

Galvanizing bath size:

10.5 m (length)

2.7 m

(height)

1.4 m (width)

Zn metals Explore the 2014 collection in the BoConcept Design catalogue, which offers 164 pages of inspiration. BoConcept’s new collection and design catalogue has been available at the KATE salon since September 1. Welcome to KATE. BO

Aviācijas iela 18e Jelgava, LV-3002, Latvia Phone: +371 26433555 Fax: + 371 67072201 E-mail: info@znmetals.lv www.znmetals.lv

Latvian fish restaurant FISHERMAN’S SON Kaļķu iela 2, Riga (entrance from Kungu iela) (+371) 67227505

www.zvejniekadels.lv

OUTLOOK / PROMO

Autumn gold in Jūrmala

Here in Latvia we call autumn the golden season. As the leaves turn from green into countless hues of yellow, orange and red, the atmosphere in the resort city of Jūrmala becomes more subdued. The beachgoers of the summer have gone, yet the vast expanse of the seashore still beckons invitingly. The waves of the Riga Bay lap against the white sandy beach, occasionally washing up the odd piece of amber. Your mind clears as you breathe in the fresh, pinescented air; your body feels invigorated and your daily concerns fade into the background 94 / AIRBALTIC.COM

OUTLOOK / PROMO

Publicity photos

How to get there From the Riga International airport by taxi (approximately 15 min). From Riga’s Central Station: by train or minibus. If you want to explore the centre of Jūrmala, ask for a ticket to Majori Station.

www.tourism.jurmala.lv

While the cooler temperatures are a sure signal that autumn has arrived, Jūrmala remains a lively place, as people from all over are still visiting to recharge their batteries in various ways, which include nature walks and active sports, as well as the health and spa procedures for which Jūrmala is best known. After a renovation that lasted several years, the Great Ķemeri Heath nature trail (Lielā Ķemeru tīreļa taka) reopened to the public in August. This swampy landscape is a source of sulphurous mineral waters, which laid the foundations for the development of Jūrmala as a resort town more than two centuries ago. The trail’s wooden footbridges lead to an observation tower that offers a splendid view of the unspoiled heath and is a great vantage point for bird-watchers. The nature trail is part of the Ķemeri National Park, which can also be toured by bicycle or on foot along picturesque routes of various lengths, depending on your mood and fitness level. The Ragakāpa Nature Park (Ragakāpas dabas parks) is another secluded place for breathing in the fresh seaside air among the forest pines, some of which are more than 300 years old. Walking along the park’s nature trail, you will reach Jūrmala’s open-air museum, which houses original fishermen’s homesteads, boats and a still-functioning smokehouse, as well as the largest collection of fishing ropes in Latvia. If the mild autumn rain starts to fall, then head indoors to the Jūrmala City Museum, which is currently providing a fascinating insight into the fashion of clothing and accessories from the end of the 19th century to the 1990s in an exhibition titled Fashion in the resort town (Mode kūrortā). Those who enjoy an active lifestyle can cycle along special bicycle routes that will take them past some of the city’s famed pearls of wooden architecture, complete with their enticing pilasters, columns, verandas, towers, decorated windows and other details. The small romantic streets, wooden summer houses and stately pine trees provide a nostalgic sense of the city’s past glory even today. Along with Jūrmala’s mild and beneficial climate, local mineral water springs and medicinal mud are used at the city’s resort and spa centres to strengthen the immune system and nurse ailing visitors back to health. Among the more than 400 procedures on offer are procedures that use only natural ingredients for environmentally conscious clients, as well as a number of more exotic rituals. One can spoil oneself and feel the positive effects of a health and wellness session in as little as a day or a short weekend stay. During the autumn season, Jūrmala’s rehabilitation centres, resort hotels and spas are offering special programmes of various kinds, including juice cures, cleansing and vitamin-rich cures, as well as aromatic pearl baths with sea salt, bathing in mineral water and seawater pools, oxygen cocktails, along with various

Amber tea ritual at the Amber Spa Boutique Hotel

Great Ķemeri Heath Nature Trail, Ķemeri National Park

Cycling along the beach in Jūrmala

anti-stress and ecotherapy programmes for the mind and body. Furthermore, Jūrmala is possibly the only place where one can enjoy amber tea – a natural energybuilder that strengthens the immune system, regulates the metabolism, cleanses the body, alleviates chronic illnesses, replenishes the skin and improves organ function. BO

BALTIC OUTLOOK / SEPTEMBER 2013 / 95

OUTLOOK / PROMO

Publicity photos

Blueberry –

a clean slate and fresh air As one of the most anticipated real estate events in Latvia, the eco-friendly Blueberry housing complex is set to open its doors next July. The complex is currently being built in Bulduri, one of the more prominent districts of the resort city of Jūrmala. Bulduri is just about as close to Riga as you can get while breathing in the fresh air of the Riga Bay every morning

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www.blueberry.lv

The Blueberry complex will stand in a beautiful spot, ideally located between the white sandy beach and the Lielupe River, with a thick pine forest growing right beside the building. Being the most popular area in Jūrmala, Bulduri is frequented by hundreds of beachgoers every summer day. That means that to those living close by the sea, life in the summer might not be the quietest. However, the Blueberry complex offers something of a sanctuary – a calm and quiet spot away from the epicentre of the buzz, yet only a five-minute walk to the beach whenever some buzz is welcome. The complex is also situated far enough from Jūrmala’s main traffic route, making it a bit of a hidden haven; yet the local vegetable and fruit market is just around the corner, and the largest supermarket is likewise only a few minutes’ walk away. Blueberry will be home to 59 cosy apartments. Three of them are studio-style, while two are larger 3-bedroom flats with a lounge. Most, however, will be two- or one-bedroom flats set in a very popular layout, with the choice of three different design styles – Sea-breeze, Urban or Vintage. All apartments will have fully furnished kitchens and bathrooms, so you can pretty much bring your bed and move in straight away, as everything else is already there. Since all of the apartments will be ready-to-use, residents will be spared the loud noise of their neighbours conducting redecoration works. Another advantage of this prominent apartment building lies in its economical maintenance costs, making it far more affordable than other edifices of its kind. The facility will operate its own gas heater to keep heating costs at a minimum, and each of the apartments will have its own gas meter so that users can fully control their own consumption. At Blueberry, what you see is what you get: an affordable apartment situated in such a fine location that one couldn’t ask for more. Blueberry is the sixth project of LNK Properties, a set of enterprises within the LNK Group holding company, which was founded at the beginning of 2000 and since then has successfully developed residential houses in prominent areas of Riga and Jūrmala. LNK Properties combines the maintenance of the best traditions with innovation in real-estate development. The solid reputation of the company speaks for itself, and it is no surprise that Blueberry’s future inhabitants are already signing contracts to secure the keys of a sparkling new apartment in their pocket. BO

BALTIC OUTLOOK / SEPTEMBER 2013 / 97

OUTLOOK / PROMO

Photos courtesy of Galleria Riga

Jacket

MANGO LVL 65.99 EUR 93

Sunglasses Prada

Monton, 3rd floor

OPTIKA ITALIANA LVL 196 EUR 276

Necklace DIVA LVL 10.99 EUR 15

Jeans

MANGO LVL 35.99 EUR 51

Anita Altmane

Since opening in 2010, the Galleria Riga has found its place in the hearts of Riga’s residents and visitors as a convenient shopping centre, which also happens to provide opportunities for relaxation and entertainment

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Galleria Riga shopping centre Dzirnavu iela 67 Entrances from Dzirnavu iela 67 and Blaumaņa iela 10 (between Brīvības bulvāris and Tērbatas iela) Information centre Tel. (+371) 67307000 info@galleriariga.lv galleriariga.lv/en

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The Galleria Riga is located in a business area in the centre of Riga. A wide variety of shops line the seven storeys of the building, providing visitors with a broad selection of items. Here you’ll find necessities for both daily life and celebrations. At the Galleria Riga you can purchase items by such famous labels as iBLUES, MAX&Co, Tommy Hilfiger, Guess, Stefanel, women’secret, Cortefiel, Springfield, Karen Millen, Oasis, Parfois, Ecco, Mango, Marella, Gino Rossi, Suitsupply, Baltman, Diesel, Pierre Cardin and many more. To better serve its customers, the shopping centre has a built-in parking garage (free parking for two hours on Sundays) and special stands for bicycles. Guests have use of free Wi-Fi and can take full advantage of Global Blue tax-free benefits. Those who are short on time, or who would rather place their trust in a professional, can shop with an English-speaking personal stylist who will help you find the most appropriate outfits, taking into account your style and needs, as well as the trends of the season. Other useful services at the Galleria Riga include a post office, dry-cleaning, currency exchange and beauty salons. A favourite spot for guests to stop for a moment’s rest is the centre’s fountain, which offers a great view of the building’s elegant architecture. BO

Besides working with you to create a confident image and select a new wardrobe, personal stylist Anita Altmane will also save you lots of time and help you to find your way among the wide range of clothing and accessories in the shopping centre. At the Galleria Riga, you’ll find both low-priced mass-market products and world brands of the highest class. Anita will ensure that you buy smart and avoid getting confused during sales, helping you find stylish items that suit you personally and that are a great long-term investment. The art of looking resplendent is now available to everybody. Thanks to Anita, you no longer have to be rich or famous to look great! You can converse with the stylist in Latvian, English or Russian. The style consultations take place in a cosy atmosphere in Anita’s personal reception room on the 6th floor of the Galleria Riga. Make an appointment by telephone at (+371) 27543435.

Bag

LAIKS AVENUE LVL 129 EUR 182

MAX&CO LVL 269 EUR 379

Bag

KAREN MILLEN LVL 208 EUR 293

Belt

IBLUES LVL 65 EUR 92

Scarf Hilfiger Denim DENIM DREAM LVL 28 EUR 39

Skirt Sleeve for iPad

MOHITO LVL 24.99 EUR 35

Shoes

IBLUES LVL 149 EUR 210

ECCO LVL 59.99 EUR 84

Trench coat MANGO LVL 89.99 EUR 127

A new beginning

Get inspired from this autumn’s fashion trends and obtain everything that you need to look absolutely marvellous!

Baltman, 2nd floor

Marella, 3rd floor

A private stylist may sound like an unattainable dream, but now the Galleria Riga shopping centre is offering this service completely free of charge!

Wristwatch Seiko

Prices in EUR are listed solely for information purposes. All transactions at the Galleria Riga must take place in LVL. A currency exchange booth is available at the shopping centre

Free stylist’s services

Mascara Lancome Hypnose KRISTIANA LVL 17.50 EUR 25

Clutch Ring Ankle boots IBLUES LVL 205 EUR 289

PARFOIS LVL 7.99 EUR 11

SPRINGFIELD LVL 17 EUR 24

BALTIC OUTLOOK / SEPTEMBER 2013 / 99

OUTLOOK / PROMO / DINING

PHOTOS by REINIS HOFMANIS, F64

fish

The restaurant that will reel you in

Head chef Māris Astičs

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If the phrase “hotel restaurant” gets you thinking of mediocre establishments that serve meals to hotel guests who are too tired to go elsewhere, then think again. The Le Dome fish restaurant at the Dome Hotel in Riga’s Old Town offers more than just a fine dining experience. Those lucky enough to be staying at the hotel, along with visitors coming in for breakfast or lunch from nearby offices or anybody else looking for an unforgettable meal in Riga are in for a real treat at Le Dome. The restaurant has held the title of “Number 1 fish restaurant in the Baltics” for the last two years, due to its constant striving for the absolute best in products and presentation. It operates under the astute guidance of 26-year-old head chef Māris Astičs, whose professional integrity, confidence and obvious know-how have worked wonders. Trained by Latvian culinary legend Kaspars Jansons, Māris has faithfully followed his mentor’s advice from the early days of his career, which is to cook only for his own enjoyment. Besides his duties at Le Dome, Māris is a board member at the Latvian Chef’s Club and teaches novice chefs at the School of Dining Service, which he runs. Māris believes that young chefs need to be gently pushed in the right direction during training and taught to work for their own enjoyment, just as he was not so many years ago. Their primary mission should be to cook with love in order to make others happy. Māris practices what he preaches at his own cherished Le Dome, where he devotes himself to serving only the best. He uses the availability of local fish to his advantage,

Le Dome has become the most prominent fish restaurant in the capital and chooses species that others may ignore due to the complexity involved in their preparation. Māris takes on the challenge, from cooking intricate dishes like pike to using as much of the product as possible without unnecessary trimming. He does this to perfect his own culinary abilities and to promote more sensible product usage. Every morning, he visits the huge fish pavilion at Riga Central Market, snaring the freshest and largest fish on offer so that his clients get the best Latvian seafood, including catfish, sturgeon and zander. The Le Dome restaurant has been operating since 2009 in a 400-year-old UNESCO world heritage listed historical building, which initially stored wooden wagons driven by merchants to Riga with produce for the local market. At the time, the market was located in what is now the Dome Square, just a minute’s walk

away. The building’s current residents have taken great care of the premises, having preserved some of its historical features with the help of the best designers in Latvia. A pleasant outdoor terrace on the quiet pedestrian street, an intimate indoor area with a restricted number of seats, and a hidden fifth-floor terrace for the most special occasions all radiate a warm sense of welcome. Le Dome has become the most prominent fish restaurant in the Latvian capital, focusing on local and seasonal products. Latvia is rich in healthy and tasty produce of all kinds, which is why Le Dome also offers wild game – including venison, roe and elk dishes – as well as mushrooms and berries picked from the forest. Le Dome’s superior culinary offerings, combined with its warm and welcoming atmosphere are sure to keep you coming back again and again. BO Opening hours: Mon.-Fri. 7:00-23:00, Sat.-Sun. 8:00–23:00 Address: Miesnieku iela 4, Old Riga Phone: (+371) 67559884 www.domehotel.lv www.zivjurestorans.lv

BALTIC OUTLOOK / SEPTEMBER 2013 / 101

OUTLOOK / PROMO / DINING

Photo Courtesy of 1221

Jauniela 16, Riga Hours: Mon.–Sun. 12:00–23:00 (+371) 67 22 01 71 1221@apollo.lv www.1221.lv

The discovery of a new

A gourmet paradise

seeds, which goes together food provides more joy than with a fruit cocktail warmed in the discovery of a new star, butter and truffle sauce. The influential French lawyer and flavours in this dish surprised politician Jean Anthelme even a chef from Moscow who Brillat-Savarin once wrote. serves some of the world’s most Roberts Smilga, the head chef knowledgeable and demanding at the historical and cosy family gourmets. The Russian capital, restaurant 1221 in Old Riga, by the way, is one of Roberts’ wholly agrees with this gourmet main sources of inspiration. He philosophy. He says that some plans to return there soon and recipes even come to him in his pay more visits to some of the dreams and that city’s best restaurants, the autumn – in what he terms as yet when the market another “professional Thanks to is full of local fish, reconnaissance mission”. the culinary Naturally, 1221’s head vegetables and wild game – is masterpieces chef also gets ideas the perfect time for his latest culinary created by to make these its chef, 1221 delights at the local culinary dreams is a perfect market, where farmers come true. from all over Latvia venue for Roberts is bring domestically a beautiful grown fruits and one of the most romantic skilled chefs in vegetables, as well as dinner Riga, regularly fish and wild game. planning and Roberts stresses that the preparing lunch wide variety of healthy, and dinner superior, aromatic menus for the guests of Latvia’s and fresh produce available highest-ranking politicians. spurs him to make all kinds of What would Roberts present experiments in the kitchen. The to a foreign prime minister if invariable result is a new series he was in the Latvian capital of dishes with unforgettable today? The most popular nuances of flavour. dish among 1221’s patrons is Thanks to the culinary roasted lamb leg with pearl masterpieces created by its barley in sour cream sauce and chef, 1221 is a great choice for Balsamico cherries. Once this a late and lazy breakfast. The dish has been tried, it destroys restaurant can also serve as a all preconceptions about the reserved and elegant meeting combination of such seemingly place for serious business incompatible ingredients. lunches, as well as a perfect The chef is also quite proud venue for a beautiful romantic of his pheasant roasted in fennel dinner. BO

Queens is a British pub and restaurant with a gorgeous Victorian atmosphere and delicious food. More than 18 draught beers to choose from, including local and imported brands, a wide range of steaks, burgers and other meat dishes.

Kaļķu iela 2, Riga (+371) 67800001 Antonijas iela 9, Riga (+371) 67331130

www.queens.lv

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A first-rate Latvian restaurant with fine European cuisine. Banquet hall with a perfect view of Līvu Square on the 2nd floor. After your meal, enjoy a hookah in a relaxing atmosphere in one of the basement rooms.

Meistaru iela 23, (Līvu laukums), Riga (+371) 67225686

www.4rooms.lv

(Earn 500 Baltic Miles with every car rental. Sixt welcomes you in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and all around the world)

Rent at www.sixt.lv or call +371 67207121

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20.06.2013 11:16:41

FOOD&DRINK

TEXT BY AGRA LIEGE PHOTOS by Dmitrijs SuLZics and RUta Kalmuka, F64

Restaurants, bars and cafés

Aqua Luna, Riga Slowly but surely, Andrejsala – a former section of Riga’s industrial port – is becoming a hotspot for high-quality leisure, offering a number of locations where great food and atmospheric music can be enjoyed in a room-witha-view setup. Although Aqua Luna is a youngster among the establishments here, it has acquired a good following in the two short months since its opening. Aside from reliably fine dining, the secret of Aqua Luna’s success lies in the niche that it occupies. Aqua Luna is best-suited for mature patrons who might not necessarily be the target audience of dark and noisy nightclubs, but who still enjoy going out for a drink, listening to music and dancing. The place offers all this in a cosy and

comfortable ambience, hosting party evenings on Fridays and Saturdays, and featuring live jazz concerts on Thursdays. That being said, none of the festivities get in the way of those who have come to enjoy a slow and lazy evening with friends or family. The restaurant premises are divided into different areas: a lounge space with low tables and comfortable sofas, a restaurant section with tables laid out for proper meals, a DJ area with inhouse bar seats, and a beautiful terrace housing a large bar and tables, with a view of the passing ferries in the port waters. The result is a superb layout in a place that is not vast, yet offers various ways to spend the evening. The open kitchen serves European cuisine where the

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€39

ONE WAY

main dishes are concerned, along with an Asian section created by head chef Gints Aizupietis, in collaboration with Kenny Bernaerts, a Belgian-based star of the world dining scene. The Asian plates include sushi and a beautiful variety of flavoursome seafood, as well as various types of wok dishes. The main menu features exquisite seafood dishes such as Chilean sea bass in calamari sauce or Atlantic lobster tail medallions, while meat-eaters can dive into a classic beef steak, lamb ribs or a pork and ox-cheek terrine. Although Aqua Luna is certainly a fine place to eat, its additional added value lies in the entertainment that it can offer through its musical and other events. Mon.-Sun. 12:00 – the last client Andrejostas iela 4 Tel. (+371) 67650922 www.aqualuna.lv

Portofino

Ausekļa iela 7, Riga, Phone (+371) 67133701 www.porto-fino.lv

Portofino – the subtle frame for your perfect experience Portofino – it’s gentry, stylish, luxurious. It’s hospitality at its’ finest, and Portofino’s team, who are all ardent and non-compromising enthusiasts for service and food excellence, know the value of a loyal guest. Warm and welcoming, it is a place to return to, tomorrow or in a couple of years. It offers classical Italian cuisine, though thoughtfully adjusted to local dining customs, and is appreciated by those who know themselves to be true gourmets. Perfection is known to be in details, in the little things which come together to create the atmosphere, which at Portofino is so elusive that you are left to purely enjoy. This place is the subtle frame for your perfect experience.

Portofino – изысканное место яркого гастрономического приключения! Portofino – красочный, изысканный ресторан – пример настоящего гостеприимства. Команда Portofino – мастера поварского искусства и обслуживания, знающие, насколько значимо доверие гостей. Это тот ресторан, в который возвращаются и на следующий день, и через продолжительное время. Portofino предлагает классическую итальянскую кухню, которая продуманно приспособлена к местным гастрономическим традициям, ее способны оценить настоящие гурманы. Истинное удовольствие кроется в деталях особой атмосферы, которая дарит возможность по-настоящему насладиться моментом.

FOOD&DRINK

371, Riga The Riga Central Market does not lack in surprises, being a major attraction when it comes to observing a colourful, vibrant and multi-cultural setting. However, the market has not been a popular destination for lunch in the middle of a busy day, or for a nice dinner in the early evening. Up until recently, you would go there mainly to buy fruit, vegetables and other fresh products, perhaps stopping to have a quick chat with a farmer selling his produce. From now on, this no longer has to be your only business at the market, which has entered its next phase of evolution, so to speak, and with the restaurant 371 being a pioneer. 371 is likewise an initiator of a new dining concept in Latvia, which could be called “middle-class dining” or a more casual type of fine dining. This means that the food is as good as ever, but that less fuss is put into its presentation. Head chef Kārlis Roberts Celms says that in his restaurant, the relatively simple dishes should be allowed to speak for themselves. The no fuss attitude in Celms’ menu of high-quality and fresh ingredients goes against the tradition of investing great amounts of manpower in the preparation of a single dish. Celms adds a creative touch to classic dishes from various countries without being flamboyant. With the variety that the chef offers, the largest food market in the Baltic States is probably the best possible location for a place like 371. Celms creates dishes according to his own taste, mixed with the best Latvian culinary traditions. He even adopts peasant cooking recipes and techniques from the older times, which still suit people’s tastes to this day. Smoking, drying, curing and pickling are the cornerstones of Latvian cuisine, and at 371 one will find deluxe versions of sandwiches, snacks and main courses à la lettonne. That, plus a relaxed atmosphere, should definitely make you linger in the market restaurant for a while longer. Mon.-Sun. 09.00-17.00 Riga Central Market, Nēģu iela 7 www.rct.lv

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airBaltic / NEWS

Barcelona

arm and sunny W destinations for your autumn break Stretch the summer out for as long as possible by booking your autumn break to one of our warm and sunny southern destinations. Choose from any of five cities in Italy. airBaltic flights to Rome and Milan operate throughout the year, with flights to Venice (until the end of September), Bari (until October 19) and Olbia in Sardinia (until October 26) extending into the fall. Alternatively, you might consider the ever-popular Athens (until October 1), Barcelona, Istanbul or Tel Aviv, all of which are available year-round. Plenty of resorts with the best autumn beaches are still open well into the second half of the year. airBaltic will continue flights to Nice (until October 26), Malta (until October 20), Larnaca in Cyprus (until October 19) and Rijeka in Croatia (until end of September). Those looking for something exotic can visit the Ukrainian Black Sea resorts of Odessa (until October 8) and Simferopol (until October 11). One-way ticket prices to these cities during the autumn start from 85 EUR. Book your tickets at www.airbaltic.com.

New design at airBaltic.com

airBaltic has introduced a brand new website design that not only looks better, but also has improved functionality to make your booking process easier and quicker. The refurbished website offers several key benefits that were identified by our customers as important features when booking flights online. Better booking The online booking process is now smoother, faster and more organised. We have made sure that booking a flight and adding extra services takes as few clicks as possible. Easier navigation The new website is easier to navigate, with simple icons and a new layout, providing customers with quick and easy access to their most important travel information. Items that are most searched for and used are now accessible directly from our front page.

Low prices and special offers The new website highlights our best price offers, making it easy for customers to find flights that match their budgets. For those who like to be up-to-date on special offers, we have created a new Hot deals page. Customers can be sure that the prices on our website are the lowest available on the web.

BALTIC OUTLOOK / JULY 2013 / 111

airBaltic / BEHIND THE SCENES

What characteristics does one need to become a skilled cabin crew member? You definitely must like people and like being with them. As a trainer for new cabin crew members, I have also come to believe that everyone can further develop their people skills. We have trained shy and timid cabin crew members at the beginning of their career, the kind of people who feel comfortable in group of five at the most. But after a couple of months, they change completely and feel like fish in the water in a plane full of people. You must also be patient, as patience is an indispensable characteristic in any position to do with customer service. You need to be capable of placing yourself in the other person’s shoes and must find a way to solve any situations that arise. I teach new cabin crew members to ask questions whenever they are not sure about something, and people appreciate that. At the end of the day, a cabin crew member is something of a multipurpose agent: a nurse, a vet, a firefighter and a pharmacist, not to mention a psychologist.

Seeking a challenge Sandis Graudiņš, senior cabin crew member Text by Agra LieGe photo by Gatis Gierts, f64

Newly promoted senior cabin crew member Sandis Graudiņš is known for his highly likeable personality and deep sense of professionalism. He is currently undergoing further training to become a fully qualified service and sales trainer for new cabin crew members. During his interview with Baltic Outlook, Sandis radiates positive energy and enthusiasm for his job

You have received lots of positive feedback and appreciation from customers. What, in your opinion, has brought on such high opinions of your performance?

You have recently been promoted and are now fulfilling the duties of a senior cabin crew member. What does this new position entail?

What are the more challenging aspects of the job and conversely, what do you enjoy most about being a cabin crew member?

I organize the work of the other cabin crew members for each flight. I assign duties to them before the flight and keep guiding them through their activities during the flight as well. As a regular cabin crew member, you work pretty much on your own; you have your assigned responsibilities and you fulfil them. But once you become a senior cabin crew member, it is no longer only about you. You are responsible for everyone’s work. You have to take the responsibility for how well your colleagues perform and you have to make sure that the overall atmosphere is good.

I don’t find my job to be overly difficult because my attitude towards it is very positive. Situations become puzzles to be solved, and I always keep in mind that one’s attitude is what will ultimately determine whether a flight is a success. There are passengers who need more attention or are more demanding than others, but I perceive that as a good thing. I challenge myself to meet their expectations and to have them leave the plane contented. A passenger who’s had a situation that I have managed to solve during the flight will value the service higher than someone who’s had it all go smoothly.

It might be my positive attitude towards my job, along with my wish to ensure that everyone is satisfied. People often don’t speak up about things that they are not fully happy with, but skilled cabin crew members will notice them and do whatever they can to make everyone feel comfortable. One should solve situations not only when they are being voiced, but also and especially when they are not. Plus, I am a big believer in humour, which makes me stand out a bit. I joke around a lot and people like that. This makes it very obvious that I love what I do.

Is there any truth to the widely held belief that cabin crew members are great world travellers and have seen every corner of the globe? Do you enjoy travelling? At airBaltic, we fly what are called “point to point” flights, meaning that we stay at our destination for no more than one night at a time. We don’t have the time to explore the cities we’re in while we’re working. Sometimes I even work on three flights in one day! But I do love travelling outside of work. I absolutely love Portugal, where I go for summer holidays. It is a very peaceful place, where one can relax and lie down on the beach. Then again, deep down inside I am actually a winter person at heart, which is why I love going to Georgia for skiing holidays. BO

85 Price for one-way ticket; all taxes included; special conditions apply. Payment fee – EUR 5.90 per booking except for payments with airBaltic Payment Card.

112 / AIRBALTIC.COM

airBaltic / BalticMiles

Ask the flight attendant for your BalticMiles card and start collecting straight away!

Fly to London for 6 300 Points from Riga

Register your card online after the flight at register.balticmiles.com and get 50 bonus Points. Keep collecting Points for everyday things like shopping, eating out, travelling, and having fun and spend them on flights and other great rewards – that easy! BalticMiles is the airBaltic frequent flyer program and the leading multipartner loyalty program in Northern and Eastern Europe.

Fly airBaltic and collect Points 10 Points for each EUR spent on a Business Class ticket 5 Points for each EUR spent on an Economy Class ticket 1 Point for each EUR spent on a Basic Class ticket Claim Points later If you have forgotten to show your card, or maybe didn’t know that you’ve shopped at a BalticMiles partner, BalticMiles offers you the option to retroactively claim your Points – even get Points for flights you’ve flown up to 30 days before becoming a member! Just contact a BalticMiles Member Service and we’ll sort everything out.

114 / AIRBALTIC.COM

Membership levels Basic Executive VIP The more you fly, the greater the privileges, which include a free luggage allowance, no queues, reserved seats and much more to make travelling easier. Collect Status Points and enjoy a whole new world of comfort and convenience!

Spend Points on airBaltic flights Exchange your Points for flights from just 4200 Points Upgrade your ticket to Business Class from just 8000 Points BalticMiles Member Service In Latvia: (+371) 6728 0280 In Estonia: (+372) 630 6660 In Lithuania: (+370) 7005 5665 info@balticmiles.com www.balticmiles.com

Applying and participating in the BalticMiles program is completely free of charge, and anyone from 2 years of age is welcome to become a BalticMiles member. A separate BalticMiles account and specially designed Young Pilot card will be created for children.

BALTIC OUTLOOK / SEPTEMBER 2013 / 115

airBaltic / BalticMiles

Easy to collect

Gian Perroni

Photo Courtesy of GIAN PERRONI

Collect Points for playing games!

What is GameMiles and PointsPlay.com? What is unique about the PointsPlay.com/balticmiles platform? GameMiles Network was created to provide a connection between gaming and loyalty programs. With an increasing worldwide interest in playing games online, GameMiles established PointsPlay.com, which is now linked in a partnership with the BalticMiles program. BalticMiles members are invited to join PointsPlay.com for free, and are provided with a starting balance of GamePoints, the unique currency that is used throughout the site. There one can play arcade games, puzzle games, sports action games, games of skill and games of chance like bingo and 3D slots. Members can then exchange their winning GamePoints for BalticMiles Points.

Gian Perroni, VP Gaming Miles & Points Entertainment, A Division of GameMiles, tells Baltic Outlook about the PointsPlay.com platform a fun and unique way to collect BalticMiles Points! Why do adults play games? Playing games is not just for children. People of all ages love to play games, and the ease of access to games continues to improve all the time. For many players, games furnish an added sense of belonging, providing social contact through community games, as well as through the posting of game scores on social media. Winning games makes players happy, and winning game events like tournaments can provide the players with additional status. While most people live very busy lives, there is always time available for a quick game. How does the gaming platform work? And how will BalticMiles members benefit from playing on the site? PointsPlay.com is free to join and free to play. Members are provided with a balance of GamePoints for beginning their play. These GamePoints are used to purchase entry into the games, similar to putting a coin into a game at an arcade. Some games allow players to win more GamePoints directly, while others are played

within weekly and monthly Tournament Leaderboards, with the top finishers collecting additional GamePoints. At any time, members can choose to exchange GamePoints for BalticMiles Points.

What kinds of prizes can members win? PointsPlay.com has jackpots starting at 20,000 GamePoints in Bingo, and 50,000 GamePoints in several other games. There are also numerous Leaderboard Tournaments running every day, with prizes of thousands of GamePoints. In addition, PointsPlay.com will be giving away weekly and monthly allotments of BalticMiles Points, including 100,000 total BalticMiles Points in a special contest open to all members registered during August and September. Are you a BalticMiles member? If so, then how do you usually collect and spend Points? I am a BalticMiles member, but a fairly new one. Because I live and work on the other side of the world in Vancouver,

Canada, I have not yet had the chance to enjoy the program. However, I am very impressed by all of the opportunities that BalticMiles members have to collect and spend their Points, and I look forward to trying many of the products and services offered in the program.

Where did you hear about BalticMiles and why did you decide to join the program as a partner? I was fortunate enough to meet BalticMiles at the Loyalty 2013 conference in Dubai earlier this year. I was struck by their dedication to their program, and after learning more about it, our company was eager to become a partner. The result is an innovative, unique and fun way to collect BalticMiles Points. BalticMiles members can play and win without the need to spend any of their current BalticMiles Points. PointsPlay.com looks forward to being a valued member of the program, and to providing the best possible online entertainment for every BalticMiles member.

L’Estetique beauty lounge

L’Estetique beauty lounge – professional partner for your beauty, health and style. Cutting edge technology, highly qualified specialists and professional cosmetics, as well as style and makeup masterclasses – everything to make you look and feel good.

for each flight simulator gift card

Ambiente restaurant

Ambiente restaurant in Convent Yard in Old Riga offers a unique experience – it’s thoroughly Art Nouveau; not only in the interior, atmosphere and the architecture of building itself, but also in the menu and the exquisite way of serving your meal. Enjoy the rich gourmet traditions of Art Nouveau!

for each LVL spent

Key to Riga restaurant

A restaurant inspired by Latvian tradition, Key to Riga offers majestic meals and sincere hospitality within an atmosphere of ancient adventure. Enjoy traditionally inspired and sensually tempting meals in the very heart of Old Riga, the Dome Square.

Old Port Hotel

LT Rest or work in beautiful Klaipeda, at Old Port Hotel! Situated on the bank of River Dane, this hotel has everything you need for a relaxing getaway or fully functional work environment. There is also a gourmet restaurant and spacious conference halls.

for each LTL spent

Up to 750 Points for each stay • 5 Points for each EUR spent at the restaurant

for each LVL spent

Hotel St. Barbara, Tallinn

Hotel St. Barbara is a comfortable mid-market hotel in Tallinn. Located within walking distance of the Old Town and top sightseeing spots; the hotel features 53 spacious rooms with high ceilings and large windows, including special rooms for families and people who travel with pets.

10 Points

for each LVL spent

Alexis restaurant

Located in the very heart of Cēsis town with a gorgeous view of Maija park, the restaurant Alexis invites you to sample distinguished cuisine and have a lovely time with your loved ones, whether you’re looking for a romantic dinner getaway or a grand celebration.

10 Points

300 Points

for each LVL spent

Postcard.lv shop

Time for some adrenalin! Become a pilot for a day at the flight simulator, provided by postcard.lv. And the best thing – BalticMiles members get a 33% discount from the standard 30 LVL price!

10 Points

1 Point

116 / AIRBALTIC.COM

You can collect Points at over 250 BalticMiles partners at 28 850 places throughout the world. New partners in September:

Navalis Hotel

LT Ideally located in the heart of Klaipeda, 4 star hotel Navalis is a wonderful mix of craftily renovated historical heritage and contemporary decoration. Expert staff and superb service will make your stay unforgettable.

1 Point

for each LTL spent

BALTIC OUTLOOK / SEPTEMBER 2013 / 117

airBaltic / BalticMiles

airBaltic / Meals

Easy to collect ew

You can collect Points at over 250 BalticMiles partners at 28 850 places throughout the world. New partners in September:

National Hotel

LT Located in a thoroughly reconstructed 19th century building right in the heart of Klaipeda, National Hotel is a great choice for both business travelers and those enjoying holidays on the spectacular Baltic coast.

2 Points

for each LTL spent on stays

LT Located in the very center of Ausros Vartu Street in Vilnius, in the spot where a gastronomy store called Felicie was operating 120 years ago, Felicie restaurant recreates the secrets of old Vilnius cuisine. Experience the rich gourmet traditions of the 19th century!

1 Point

Felicie restaurant

for each LTL spent

European Center Golf Club

83 hectares of professional 18-hole golf course in the geographical center of Europe – European Center Golf Club just outside Vilnius is friendly for beginners as well as provides a challenge skilled professionals who want to make use of all clubs in the bag.

1 Point

Tanagra car service

Spare parts for your car, technical maintenance service and repairs – find it all at Tanagra centers throughout Lithuania. All centers are equipped with advanced technology, and the quality control system is certified to comply with international standards.

1 Point

Business Class We aspire to provide individual service and an excellent dining experience on all airBaltic flights. Our Business Class menu features traditional and seasonal dishes, blending Latvian and international cuisine. Business Class customers enjoy a complimentary full meal tailored for the time of day when they are flying, together with carefully selected beverages. Passengers with particular religious, health or dietary preferences may order special meals up to 24 hours before departure.

There are more than 3000 rewards to choose from the shop.balticmiles.com and more than 400 000 digital records in BalticMiles Music shop. In September we recommend:

Surrey: 3-Course Meal at Mulberry for 2, United Kingdom

Economy Class Economy Class passengers can choose from our airBaltic café menu, which offers hot meals, sandwiches, paninis, croissants and sweet snacks, as well as a broad selection of hot and cold drinks.

Dikli Manor Perfect Autumn Night, Latvia

5-Star North-East England Golf & Spa Break, United Kingdom

Order your meal before the flight If you wish to enjoy a gourmet meal or have special dietary requirements, then take a look at our special pre-order menu. By ordering meal before your flight, you will save money and will be served first on board.

Breakfast serving

EUR 9

18 470 Points

15 997 Points

82 905 Points

Riga City Canal Boat Ride for 2, Latvia

Taka Spa Aromatherapy Ritual, Latvia

Wine Tasting for 2, Lithuania

2 715 Points

On airBaltic flights to and from Barcelona, Istanbul, Helsinki, Lappeenranta, Palanga, Turku, Tallinn, Vilnius, Kaunas, Tampere, Bergen, Billund, Aalesund, Stavanger and Chisinau, customers are offered food and drinks from a special menu.

for each 2 LTL spent at service and store

for each LTL spent

Great to spend

Onboard menu

16 843 Points

6 685 Points

• Pancakes • Croissant and jam • Fruits • Coffee and orange juice

You can pre-order your meal while you book your flight ticket or anytime later, up to 24 hours before departure, under the Manage my booking section at www.airbaltic.com.

Cold meal

EUR 10

• Salmon in mustard with pickled vegetables salad • Dessert • Orange juice

Latvian Cuisine

EUR 15

• Potato pancake with smoked salmon • Latvian free range chicken breast with fried potatoes and seasonal mushrooms • Crumble cake • Orange juice

All the prices displayed include shipping costs to Latvia. Prices and availability of rewards are subject to change and may vary by delivery country. 118 / AIRBALTIC.COM

BALTIC OUTLOOK / SEPTEMBER 2013 / 119

airBaltic / Flight NEWSschedule in SEPTEMBER

Flight No

From

VILNIUS BT 341 RIX VNO BT 343 RIX VNO BT 345 RIX VNO BT 347 RIX VNO BT 349 RIX VNO TALLINN BT 311 RIX TLL BT 313 RIX TLL BT 315 RIX TLL BT 317 RIX TLL BT 361 RIX TLL STOCKHOLM Arlanda BT 101 RIX ARN BT 105 RIX ARN BT 109 RIX ARN BT 103 RIX ARN COPENHAGEN BT 133 RIX CPH BT 131 RIX CPH BT 139 RIX CPH BT 141 RIX CPH BILLUND BT 145 RIX BLL OSLO BT 151 RIX OSL BT 153 RIX OSL BT 157 RIX OSL BERGEN BT 173 RIX BGO STAVANGER BT 179 RIX SVG ALESUND BT 175 RIX AES HELSINKI BT 301 RIX HEL BT 303 RIX HEL BT 305 RIX HEL BT 307 RIX HEL BT 325 RIX HEL TURKU BT 355 RIX TKU TAMPERE BT 357 RIX TMP LAPPEENRANTA BT 387 RIX LPP BERLIN Tegel BT 211 RIX TXL BT 217 RIX TXL BT 213 RIX TXL HAMBURG BT 251 RIX HAM BT 253 RIX HAM MUNICH BT 221 RIX MUC BT 223 RIX MUC BT 223 RIX MUC

Flights to Riga Days

1234567 1234567 1234567 1234567 1234567 1234567 1234567 1234567 1234567 1234567

Departure Arrival

09:45 13:05 16:25 19:30 23:05 09:45 13:05 16:25 19:30 23:05

10:40 14:00 17:20 20:25 23:59 10:40 14:00 17:20 20:25 23:59

1234567 09:10 09:25 1234567 14:30 14:45 1234567 19:15 19:30 1234567 23:05 23:20 12345-1234567 1234567 -----6-

06:25 09:40 18:20 22:45

07:25 10:25 19:05 23:30

1-34567 22:40 23:40 123456- 09:10 10:05 1234567 17:55 18:50 1234567 23:00 23:50 1-345-7

22:45 00:05+1

--345-7

22:45 00:05+1

1---5-7

12:45 14:10

1234567 1234567 1234567 1234567 1234567

09:40 12:40 16:20 19:40 22:55

10:45 13:50 17:30 20:40 23:59

-234567 22:55 00:05+1 1--4--7

22:55 00:15+1

12345-7 22:45 23:59 12345-7 09:20 10:15 123456- 13:05 14:00 1234567 17:55 18:50 1-3-56- 09:10 10:15 12345-7 17:30 18:45 1-345-- 09:25 11:00 -23456- 16:05 17:40 ------7 17:05 18:20

FRANKFURT BT 243 RIX FRA 1-3---7 BT 243/245RIX FRA -2-456DUSSELDORF BT 231 RIX DUS -2-4-6BT 233 RIX DUS 1-3---7 BT 233 RIX DUS ----5-VIENNA BT 431 RIX VIE 123456BT 433 RIX VIE 1-3-567 BT 433 RIX VIE ----5-ZURICH BT 641 RIX ZRH 1--4--7 BT 641 RIX ZRH -23-56MOSCOW Domodedovo BT 416 RIX DME 1-34567 BT 418 RIX DME 12345-MOSCOW Sheremetyevo BT 424 RIX SVO 12345-BT 424 RIX SVO -----67 BT 422 RIX SVO 1234567 ST-PETERSBURG BT 442 RIX LED 123456BT 444 RIX LED 12345-7

120 / AIRBALTIC.COM

09:10 10:25 16:15 17:55 09:50 11:25 16:00 17:45 16:30 17:45 09:35 11:10 16:35 18:10 17:10 18:10

Flight No

From

Flights from Riga To

Days

VILNIUS BT 350 VNO RIX 1234567 BT 342 VNO RIX 1234567 BT 344 VNO RIX 1234567 BT 346 VNO RIX 1234567 BT 348 VNO RIX 1234567 TALLINN BT 362 TLL RIX 1234567 BT 312 TLL RIX 1234567 BT 314 TLL RIX 1234567 BT 316 TLL RIX 1234567 BT 318 TLL RIX 1234567 STOCKHOLM Arlanda BT 104 ARN RIX 1234567 BT 102 ARN RIX 1234567 BT 106 ARN RIX BT 110 ARN RIX COPENHAGEN BT 142 CPH RIX BT 134 CPH RIX BT 132 CPH RIX BT 140 CPH RIX BILLUND BT 146 BLL RIX OSLO BT 158 OSL RIX BT 152 OSL RIX BT 154 OSL RIX BERGEN BT 172 BGO RIX STAVANGER BT 178 SVG RIX ALESUND BT 176 AES RIX HELSINKI BT 326 HEL RIX BT 302 HEL RIX BT 304 HEL RIX BT 306 HEL RIX BT 308 HEL RIX TURKU BT 356 TKU RIX TAMPERE BT 358 TMP RIX LAPPEENRANTA BT 388 LPP RIX BERLIN Tegel BT 212 TXL RIX BT 218 TXL RIX BT 214 TXL RIX HAMBURG BT 252 HAM RIX BT 254 HAM RIX MUNICH BT 222 MUC RIX BT 224 MUC RIX BT 224 MUC RIX FRANKFURT BT 244 FRA BT 244/246FRA DUSSELDORF BT 232 DUS BT 234 DUS BT 234 DUS VIENNA BT 432 VIE BT 434 VIE

Departure

06:55 11:20 14:25 17:45 21:05 06:55 11:20 14:25 17:45 21:05

07:50 12:15 15:20 18:40 22:00 07:50 12:15 15:20 18:40 22:00

06:25 08:40 09:55 12:10

1234567 15:10 17:25 1234567 19:55 22:10 ------7 12345-1234567 1234567

06:15 08:05 10:50 19:30

08:55 11:05 13:30 22:10

12-4567 06:00 08:55 1234567 06:00 08:45 123456- 10:40 13:30 1234567 19:15 22:05 12-456- 05:35 08:55 1--4561---5-7

05:40 08:55 14:35 17:50

1234567 07:45 1234567 11:15 1234567 14:15 1234567 17:55 1234567 21:15

08:40 12:15 15:20 19:00 22:10

1-34567 07:25 08:30 12--5--

07:15 08:30

123456- 07:10 08:30 12345-7 10:40 13:35 123456- 14:30 17:25 1234567 19:15 22:10 1-3-56- 10:40 13:35 12345-7 19:10 22:10 1-345-- 12:00 15:15 -23456- 18:45 22:10 ------7 19:00 22:10

RIX 1-3---7 11:15 14:20 RIX -2-456- 18:30 22:00 RIX -2-4-6RIX 1-3---7 RIX ----5--

12:00 15:40 18:20 22:00 18:50 21:55

RIX 123456- 11:45 15:15 RIX 1-3-567 18:45 22:15

ZURICH BT 642 ZRH RIX 1--4--7 13:30 BT 642 ZRH RIX -23-56- 18:20 MOSCOW Domodedovo 22:45 01:55+1 BT 417 DME RIX 12-4567 07:25 09:35 12:15 BT 419 DME RIX 12345-- 13:00 MOSCOW Sheremetyevo 06:00 08:30 BT 425 SVO RIX 12345-- 09:20 09:25 12:00 BT 425 SVO RIX -----67 12:45 17:55 20:30 BT 423 SVO RIX 1234567 21:15 ST-PETERSBURG 09:30 11:50 BT 443 LED RIX 123456- 12:20 18:50 21:10 BT 445 LED RIX 12345-7 21:40 11:10 12:40 16:10 17:40

Arrival

17:10 22:00 08:35 13:45 10:05 13:30 22:00 12:40 22:00

Flight No

From

KALININGRAD BT 428 RIX KGD MINSK BT 412 RIX MSQ KIEV Borispol BT 400 RIX KBP BT 404 RIX KBP ODESSA BT 410 RIX ODS SIMFEROPOL BT 452 RIX SIP CHISINAU BT 420 RIX KIV WARSAW BT 461 RIX WAW BT 463 RIX WAW PRAGUE BT 481 RIX PRG BT 481 RIX PRG BT 481 RIX PRG BT 481 RIX PRG BUDAPEST BT 491 RIX BUD HEVIZ-BALATON BT 493 RIX SOB RIJEKA BT 495 RIX RJK BT 495 RIX RJK BRUSSELS BT 601 RIX BRU BT 601 RIX BRU BT 605 RIX BRU BT 603 RIX BRU BT 603 RIX BRU AMSTERDAM BT 617 RIX AMS BT 619 RIX AMS LONDON Gatwick BT 651 RIX LGW BT 653 RIX LGW

Flights to Riga Days

Departure Arrival

1234567 22:50 23:50 1-34--7

14:10 15:20

1234567 09:20 11:15 1234567 18:00 19:55 -2-4-6-

22:55 01:30+1

1-3-5--

23:10 01:35+1

-2-4-6-

12:55 15:25

-2345---3-5-7

14:00 14:35 22:45 23:20

1--4--------7 ----5---3----

09:20 13:05 14:10 16:40

10:25 14:15 15:20 17:50

1-345-7

13:05 14:35

-----6-

15:50 17:30

------7 ---4---

10:00 11:25 16:25 17:50

12345------61--4--------7 12345--

06:05 09:20 12:40 15:50 17:05

08:00 11:15 14:35 17:45 19:00

123456- 09:10 10:35 12345-7 16:40 18:05 123456- 09:20 10:10 ----5-7 16:00 16:50

PARIS Charles de Gaulles BT 691 RIX CDG -23-567 09:05 BT 691 RIX CDG ---4--10:00 BT 693 RIX CDG 123-567 16:00 NICE BT 695 RIX NCE --3---10:40 BT 695 RIX NCE ---4-615:10 ROME Leonardo da Vinci Fiumicino BT 631 RIX FCO -23-567 09:20 BT 633 RIX FCO 12-4-6- 15:05 MILAN Malpensa BT 629 RIX MXP -2-4-6- 09:35 BT 629 RIX MXP 1-3-5-7 15:50 VENICE BT 627 RIX VCE -2---616:15 BARI BT 623 RIX BRI -----615:55 OLBIA BT 655 RIX OLB -----609:30 ATHENS BT 611 RIX ATH -2---614:35 ISTANBUL Sabiha Gokcen BT 711 RIX SAW 1-3-5-7 09:20 BT 711 RIX SAW -2-4-6- 15:45 LARNACA BT 657 RIX LCA -----622:40 BARCELONA BT 681 RIX BCN -2--56- 09:25 BT 683 RIX BCN 1-34--7 14:00 MALTA BT 739 RIX MLA ------7 09:20 TBILISI BT 722/724RIX TBS -23-5-7 22:55 BAKU Till September 15 BT 732 RIX GYD --3---7 22:55 TASHKENT BT 742 RIX TAS 1-----19:10 BT 742 RIX TAS ----5-23:05 TEL AVIV BT 771 RIX TLV 123-56- 09:30

10:55 11:35 17:50 12:50 17:20 11:25 17:10 11:20 17:35 17:55 17:50 11:40 18:00 12:25 18:40 02:30+1 12:10 16:45 12:00 03:25+1 04:50+1 02:10+1 06:05+1 13:45

Flight No

From

Days

Departure

KALININGRAD BT 429 KGD RIX 1234567 08:00 MINSK BT 413 MSQ RIX 1-34--7 15:55 KIEV Borispol BT 401 KBP RIX 1234567 11:45 BT 405 KBP RIX 1234567 20:20 ODESSA BT 411 OSD RIX --3-5-7 06:00 SIMFEROPOL BT 453 SIP RIX -2-4-6- 06:00 CHISINAU BT 421 KIV RIX -2-4-6- 15:55 WARSAW BT 464 WAW RIX 1--4-6- 06:30 BT 462 WAW RIX -2345-- 15:00 PRAGUE BT 482 PRG RIX 1--4--- 10:55 BT 482 PRG RIX ------7 14:45 BT 482 PRG RIX ----5-15:50 BT 482 PRG RIX --3---18:25 BUDAPEST BT 492 BUD RIX 1-345-7 15:00 HEVIZ-BALATON BT 494 SOB RIX -----617:55 RIJEKA BT 496 RJK RIX ------7 12:00 BT 496 RJK RIX ---4--18:25 BRUSSELS BT 602 BRU RIX 12345-- 08:30 BT 602 BRU RIX -----611:55 BT 606 BRU RIX 1--4--- 15:05 BT 604 BRU RIX ------7 18:15 BT 604 BRU RIX 12345-- 19:30 AMSTERDAM BT 618 AMS RIX 123456- 11:20 BT 620 AMS RIX 12345-7 18:50 LONDON Gatwick BT 652 LGW RIX 12-456- 10:50 BT 654 LGW RIX --3---7 17:00 BT 654 LGW RIX ----5-18:10 PARIS Charles de Gaulles BT 692 CDG RIX -23-567 11:55 BT 692 CDG RIX ---4--17:35 BT 694 CDG RIX 123-567 18:35 NICE BT 696 NCE RIX --3---13:25 BT 696 NCE RIX ---4-6- 17:55 ROME Leonardo da Vinci Fiumicino BT 632 FCO RIX -23-567 12:10 BT 634 FCO RIX 12-4-6- 17:55 MILAN Malpensa BT 630 MXP RIX -2-4-6- 12:00 BT 630 MXP RIX 1-3-5-7 18:20 VENICE BT 628 VCE RIX -2---6- 18:30 BARI BT 624 BRI RIX -----618:25 OLBIA BT 656 OLB RIX -----612:15 ATHENS BT 612 ATH RIX -2---6- 18:35 ISTANBUL Sabiha Gokcen BT 712 SAW RIX 1-3-5-7 13:00 BT 712 SAW RIX -2-4-6- 19:15 LARNACA BT 658 LCA RIX ------7 04:35 BARCELONA BT 682 BCN RIX -2--56- 12:50 BT 684 BCN RIX 1-34--7 17:40 MALTA BT 740 MLA RIX ------7 12:45 TBILISI BT 723/725 TBS RIX 1-34-6- 06:00 BAKU Till September 16 BT 733 GYD RIX 1--4--- 06:00 TASHKENT BT 743 TAS RIX -2----05:20 BT 743 TAS RIX -----609:10 TEL AVIV BT 772 TLV RIX 123-56- 14:35

Arrival

08:55

Boeing 737-300

17:05 13:40 22:15

Number of seats

142/144/146

Max take-off weight

63 metric tons

08:45

Max payload

14.2 metric tons

Length

32.18 m

Wing span

31.22 m

Cruising speed

800 km/h

Commercial range

3500 km

Fuel consumption

3000 l/h

Engine

CFM56-3C-1

08:30 18:35 08:55 17:30 14:00 17:50 18:55 21:30

Boeing 737-500

18:20 21:30

Number of seats

120

Max take-off weight

58 metric tons

Max payload

13.5 metric tons

12:15 15:40 18:50 22:00 23:15

Length

29.79 m

Wing span

28.9 m

Cruising speed

800 km/h

Commercial range

3500 km

14:35 22:05

Fuel consumption

3000 l/h

Engine

CFM56-3

15:25 21:50

15:30 21:40 22:50

Q400 NextGen

15:35 21:15 22:15

17:30 22:00

29.6 metric tons 8.6 metric tons

16:20 22:05 15:40 22:00 22:10 22:20 16:30 22:00 15:55 22:10 08:40 17:30 22:20 17:25 08:35 08:10 08:40 12:30 19:05

The given information is a subject to amandements and cancellations taken unilaterally by airBaltic.

Flights from Riga

airBaltic / FLEET

32.83 m 28.42 m 667 km/h 2084 km 1074 l/h P&W 150A

airBaltic codeshare partners

123 / AIRBALTIC.COM

Kittila

Rovaniemi

Lulea

Kuusamo Oulu

Skelleftea

Arkhangelsk

Umea * Seasonal flights. ** Operated in cooperation with tour operator Tez Tour.

Kristiansund

Kuopio

Vaasa

Tampere*

Sundsvall

Chicago

Borlange

Bergen Karlstad

Tartu

Gothenburg Halmstad

Jonkoping Vaxjo

Visby Oskarshamn

Kristianstad

Westerland Gdansk Dublin

Hanover

Dresden Prague

Cologne/Bonn

Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;viv

Saarbrucken Karlsruhe/ Baden Baden

Ivano Frankivsk

Budapest Geneva

Dnipropetrovsk Donetsk

Chisinau*

Heviz-Balaton*

Odessa*

Trieste Rijeka* Venice*

Simferopol*

Belgrade La Coruna

Oviedo

Santander

Bilbao

Bucharest

Nice*

Almaty

Vigo

Olbia*

Madrid

Pescara Naples

Menorca Valencia

Ibiza

Burgas**

Tashkent*

Bari* Brindisi

Yerevan

Palma de Mallorca

Alicante Seville

Dushanbe

Granada

Athens*

Malaga

Antalya**

Malta*

Santa Cruz de Tenerife Las Palmas

Baku*

Heraklion**

Larnaca* Beirut

Casablanca

Amman

Doha Sharm el-Sheikh Hurghada

airBaltic / CONTACTS

Country/City Ticket offices

Airport Ticket Offices

AUSTRIA Vienna airBaltic Germany Hauptstrasse 117, D-10827 Berlin ☎ 0820600830 local calls (EUR 0.17/min) service@airbaltic.de

Airport Schwechat Terminal 2 Airport Ticket Office Celebi Ground Handling ☎ +431 700736394

Country/City Ticket offices

Airport Ticket Offices

Country/City Ticket offices

Hamburg

Airport Fuhlsbuttel Terminal 1, Departure Hall Airport Ticket Office AHS ☎ +49 (0) 4050753672

RUSSIA

Munich

Airport Munich Terminal 1 Airport Ticket Office AHS ☎ +49/89 975 92553

Moscow

Greece Heydar Aliyev International Airport Airport Ticket Office Silk Way Airlines South Terminal ☎ +994 124972600

BELARUS Minsk

Airport Minsk 2 2rd floor Airport Ticket Office airBaltic ☎ +375 172792568,

BELGIUM Brussels Air Agencies Belgium 153 A Vilvoordelaan 1930 Zaventem ☎ +32 (0) 27126427 airbaltic@airagencies.be

Larnaca

Rijeka Airport Airport Ticket Office Zračna Luka Rijeka ☎ +385 51 841 222

ITALY

Larnaca International Airport Airport Ticket Office airBaltic / LGS Handling

Czech Republic Prague

Budapest Tensi Aviation Kft. Komjadi Bela utca 1. ☎ +36 1 3451526 F: +36 1 9991466 aviation@tensi.hu ISRAEL

CYPRUS

Vaclav Havel Prague Airport Terminal T2 Airport Ticket Office CEAS ☎ +420 220117540

Tel Aviv Caspi Aviation ltd 1 Ben Yehuda st. Tel-Aviv 63801 ☎ +972 3 5100213 /4 F: +972 (3) 5108365 bt@caspi-aviation.co.il

Billund

Billund Airport Departure Hall Airport Ticket Office ☎ +45 76505205

Helsinki

Helsinki-Vantaa Airport Terminal 1 Airport Ticket Office Servisair

Lappeenranta

Lappeenranta Airport

Tampere

Airport Tampere-Pirkkala Airport Ticket Office Airpro OY

Turku

Airport Turku Airport Ticket Office Airpro OY

Airport Khrabrovo Airport Ticket Office airBaltic / Aviapartner

National cuisine – cold and hot buffets Folk costumes, local music, magniﬁcent interiors

Barcelona

Airport El Prat de Llobregat Terminal 1 Airport Ticket Office Lufthansa Ticket Desk

Delicious national brewery and patisserie

SWEDEN Stockholm Ben-Gurion International Airport Airport Ticket Office Laufer Aviation GHI Level 3, Terminal 3 ☎ +972 39754076

Leonardo de Vinci – Fiumicino Airport Terminal 3, Departure Hall A.R.E. Airline Representative Europe

Bari

Bari Airport Airport Ticket Office Bari Palese

Milan

Milan Malpensa Airport Terminal 1, Departure Level Airport Ticket Office A.R.E. Airline Representative Europe

Venice

Airport Venice Marco Polo Airport Ticket Office A.R.E. Airline Representative Europe

The largest LIDO leisure center also features entertainment for the whole family on weekends, including an amusement park, live music every evening in the restaurant and pub from 7 PM, a delicatessen shop, and take-away food.

Stockholm Arlanda Airport Airport Ticket Ofiice airBaltic / Nordic Aero International Terminal 5

SWITZERLAND Zurich airBaltic Germany Hauptstrasse 117, D-10827 Berlin ☎ 0840600830 local calls service@airbaltic.de

Airport Zurich (Kloten) Departure Hall Airport Ticket Office CGS Terminal 2 ☎ +41 438166739

TURKEY Istanbul Aviareps Havacılıl ve Turizm Miralay Şefikbey Sok. No:9 D:5 Gümüşsuyu, 34437 Beyoğlu ☎ +90 212 297 48 51/2 F: +90 212 297 4854 bt.turkey@aviareps.com

Sabiha Gökçen International Airport Airport Ticket Office Merkur ☎ +902165888800 F: +902165888801

Kiev

Airport Borispol Terminal D Airport Ticket Office Interavia ☎ +380 442 817 461

Odessa

Odessa International Airport Airport Ticket Office airBaltic Airport Handling ☎ + 38 048 239 3025

Simpferopol

Simferopol Aiport Airport Ticket Office Airport Handling ☎ + 38 065 259 5693

LATVIA Riga ☎ 90001100 (0.37 LVL/min, local calls only)

Riga International Airport Main Terminal Airport Ticket Office airBaltic

Vilnius ☎ 890015004 (2.12 LTL/min, local calls only) vnoreservations@airbaltic.com

Vilnius International Airport Airport Ticket Office Litcargus ticketing@litcargus.lt

Palanga

Palanga Airport Airport Ticket Office Orlaiviu Aptarnavimo Agentura ☎ +370 46052300 F: +370 46056401

Kaunas

Paris APG France 66 avenue des Champs Elysées Building E, 2nd floor 75008, Paris ☎ +33 153892100 airbaltic@apg.fr

Airport Charles de Gaulles Terminal 2D Airport Ticket Office Swissport Services CDG

Nice

Airport Nice Cote D’azur Terminal 1 Airport Ticket Office Lufthansa Ticket Desk

Kaunas Airport Airport Ticket Office Litcargus

MALTA Malta

FRANCE

Malta Airport Airport Ticket Office Air Malta ☎ +356 22999620 mia.airmalta@airmalta.com

MOLDOVA Chisinau Moldavian SRL - AirService Bd. Stefan cel Mare 3, MD-2001 Chisinau ☎ +373 22 549339 ☎ +549340, 549342 F: +373 22549341 agency@airservice.md

Chisinau Airport Airport Tickets Office Air Service ☎ + 373 22 525 506

Airport Tbilisi Airport Ticket Office Discovery Ltd ☎ +995 32 2 900900

Amsterdam

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport Air Agencies Holland Ticketdesk Departure Hall 3, opposite checkin 22 ☎ +31 20 3161945 / 46 Fax: +31 20 316 1998

NORWAY

GERMANY Berlin airBaltic Germany Hauptstrasse 117, D-10827 Berlin ☎ 0900 124 7225 (EUR 0.69/min German landline – mobile calls may be different) service@airbaltic.de

Airport Berlin-Tegel Main Terminal Airport Ticket Office GlobeGround Berlin Opposite Gate 4/5

Dusseldorf

Airport Dusseldorf Terminal B Airport Ticket Office AHS ☎ +49 (0) 2114216275 Airport Frankfurt Airport Ticket Office AHS Terminal 2, Hall E, Desk 939 ☎ + 49 69 690 61464

Oslo

Oslo Airport Departure Hall Airport Ticket Office SAS

Aalesund

Aalesund Airport Airport Ticket Office Roros Flyservice 6040 Vigra ☎ +47 70 30 25 60

Bergen/Stavanger

Bergen Airport – Flesland Stavanger Airport Airport Ticket Office Aviator

POLAND Warsaw

UNITED KINGDOM London Aviacircle Building D, 2nd floor 28-29 The Quadrant Business Centre 135 Salusbury Road, London NW6 6RJ ☎ +44 870 774 2253 Res.AirBaltic@aviacircle.com

Airport Gatwick Airport Ticket Office Skybreak Terminal S

USA New York airBaltic USA 1 Penn Plaza, Suite 1416 NY 10119 ☎ +1 - 877 359 2258 ☎ +1 - 646 300 7727 nyc@aviaworldna.com Chicago 101 N.Wacker Dr Suite 350 Chicago, Il 60606 ☎ +1 - 877 359 2258 ☎ +1 - 312 269 9333 F: +1 - 312 269 0222 chi@aviaworldna.com

NETHERLANDS

GEORGIA

Frankfurt

Kaliningrad

LITHUANIA Airport Tallinn Main Terminal, Departure Hall Airport Ticket Office airBaltic /Tallinn Airport GH

FINLAND

Tbilisi Discovery Travel Ltd/airBaltic GSA 72 Paliashvili st. Tbilisi ☎ +995 32 2 900900 airbalticgsa@discovery.ge

Airport Pulkovo Terminal 2 Airport Ticket Office LTD North-West Transport Agency

UKRAINE Airport Copenhagen International Terminal 3 Departure Hall Airport Ticket Office SAS

ESTONIA Tallinn ☎ 17107 (0.51 EUR/min, local calls only) tallinn@airbaltic.com

St. Petersburg

SPAIN Budapest Airport Airport Ticket Office Celebi Ground Handling Hungary

Rome Tal Aviation Italy Via Adolfo Rava, 106, 00142, Rome ☎ +39 0654242544 F: +390654242534 airbaltic@talaviation.it

DENMARK Copenhagen

Athens International Airport Airport Ticket Office Goldair Handling

Hungary

Airport Zaventem Departure Hall ☎ +32 (0) 27230667 Airport Ticket Office Aviapartner

Croatia Rijeka

Athens Tal Aviation 44 Ihous str. 17564 - P.Faliro ☎ +30 210 9341500 F: +30 210 9341620 airbaltic@tal-aviation.gr

International Airport Sheremetjevo Terminal E Airport Ticket Office DAVS ☎ +7 (495) 9564661 International Airport Domodedovo Airport Ticket Office DAVS Ticketing counters no: 177, 185

AZERBAIJAN Baku Improtex Travel 16. S. Vurgun Str. Baku AZ1000, Azarbaijan ☎ +994 124989239 info@improtex-travel.com booking@improtex-travel.com

Airport Ticket Offices

Enjoy unique Latvian catering at any of 8 LIDO centres in Riga:

Warsaw Airport Airport Ticket Office BGS

Los Angeles 16250, Ventura Blvd Suite 115 Encino, CA 91436 ☎ +1 - 818 990 9215 ☎ +1 - 855 284 2967 F: +1 - 818 501 2098 lax@aviaworldna.com Houston 3050 Post Oak Boulevard Suite 1320 Houston, TX 77056, USA ☎ +1 - 713 626 0134 ☎ +1 - 855 284 2967 F: +1 - 713 626 1905 hou@aviaworldna.com UZBEKISTAN Tashkent APG CENTRAL ASIA Kichik Beshagach str.,104 A Tashkent 100015 ☎ + 998 71 1209012

Ask at tourist information centres or hotels for directions to the nearest LIDO catering center. Thelargest ones are: LIDO leisure centre – Krasta iela 76, reservations: +371 67 700 000 LIDO Spice – trade centre Spice, Lielirbes iela 29 LIDO Airport – Riga International Airport, departures area, 2nd ﬂoor

If there is no local ticket office phone number indicated and you would like to contact airBaltic reservations, please call ☎ +371 67006006. 124 / AIRBALTIC.COM