Baltic Outlook February 2013 by Bookletia

FEBRUARY 2013

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Gorgeous Georgia:

Try Gudauri before it gets too crowded Enjoy the Latvian winter!

Interview: Danish celebrity chef

Claus Meyer

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Enjoy the Latvian winter! Editorial Staff Chief Editor: llze Pole / e: ilze@frankshouse.lv Editor: Ieva Nora Fīrere / e: ieva@frankshouse.lv Copy editor: Kārlis Roberts Freibergs Design: Marika Štrāle Layout: Inta Kraukle Cover: Corbis

Baltic Outlook is published by SIA Frank’s House Stabu 17, Riga, LV 1011, Latvia ph: +37167293970 w: frankshouse.lv / e: franks@frankshouse.lv Director: Eva Dandzberga e: eva@frankshouse.lv Advertising managers: Indra Indraše e: indra@frankshouse.lv / m: +37129496966 Ieva Birzniece e: ieva.birzniece@frankshouse.lv m: +37126416866 Inta Veinšteina e: inta.veinsteina@frankshouse.lv m: +37129263692

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

Page 46

Robert’s thought On English spelling

City icons London’s Black Stallion

Agenda February 2013

Review Eat, pry, live

Five must-sees in Prague

Style Into the blue

Design A new timeless elegance

En Route Ice-filled fun

Food Pearl-barley renaissance

Your next destination: Berlin

Interview Danish chef Claus Meyer

Travel The best ways to enjoy a Latvian winter

Travel Gorgeous Georgia

Gadgets Just in case

Cars The new Volkswagen Golf

Food & Drink Hotel dining finds in Riga

airBaltic News

CONTENTS / FEBRUARY

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Welcome aboard

Martin Alexander Gauss Chief Executive Officer

Dear Customer, Today, airlines and their partners make the best use of technology to ensure that your travel experience is as smooth and convenient as possible. It is likely that you found your preferred flight on airBaltic.com or another travel website, after receiving an invitation in your e-mail or Facebook page. You may have also locked your low price for a day or two to consult with your friends or family and synchronize your plans together, before finalising your booking. Weeks or months later, shortly before your departure, the latest technologies allowed you to preorder your favourite meal after a demanding day, to choose an extra bag for your return flight following an unexpectedly good shopping spree, to secure a transfer service to your hotel, or even to surprise someone special by ordering a gift or flowers to be delivered on board. Technology is also behind improved processes that save time and help you to avoid unnecessary hassles at airports. Increasingly more airlines are offering self-service check-in so that you can bypass airport queues. airBaltic was one of the first airlines to introduce online check-in six years ago. Now we have upgraded our online and mobile check-in service to

potentially save up to 90 million minutes of our customers’ time annually. This amounts to a truly staggering figure of more than 150 years, which demonstrates once again the tangible advantages of modern technologies. In addition to better functionality on airBaltic.com and airBaltic.mobi, self-service check-is now available for up to one hour before your flight departure, instead of the previous two hours. This will allow better flexibility when checking in from your mobile device while on your way to the airport or at the airport itself. If you prefer personal check-in service at the airport, it is now available for a fee. And… did you know that airBaltic and its partners have launched a new project to operate Europe’s first green flights for turboprop aircraft? When rolled out to its full scale, the green flying will reduce CO2 emissions by 5 000 000 kilograms per year. Thank you for flying airBaltic,

Yours, Martin Alexander Gauss

BALTIC OUTLOOK / FEBRUARY 2013 / 9

DETAILS / ROBERT’S THOUGHT

TEXT BY ROBERT COTTRELL, OWNER OF ROBERT’S BOOKS | PHOTO BY REINIS HOFMANIS, F64

FEBRUARY

Spell check Writing in English, as I struggle to

do, and raising two small children, as I also struggle to do, I frequently find myself colliding with the plentiful peculiarities of English spelling. How do you explain to a four-year-old that “cough” is pronounced like “off”, but “tough” is pronounced like “huff” – whereas “though” is pronounced like “low”, “through” is pronounced like “you”, “plough” is pronounced like “cow”, “thought” is pronounced like “tort”, and “lough” is pronounced like no other word in the language? You can’t. Or, at any rate, I can’t. You have to ask them to take it on trust, just as I have been taking it on trust for the past few decades. Either you suppress your questions and doubts, or you begin to suspect that the English language is a gigantic joke perpetrated by a supreme linguistic being who is up there somewhere laughing at us trying to get it right. I have felt the craziness of English spelling and pronunciation all the more keenly since moving to Latvia five years ago and watching my children grow up speaking Latvian and English equally. Only one of those languages has any logic – and it isn’t English. With a very few exceptions, Latvian is spelled the way it is spoken. There are some words in which the vowel “e” sounds like an “a”, but once you’ve got those nailed, there’s not much more to fear. You even know

Either you suppress your questions, or you begin to suspect that the English language is a gigantic joke perpetrated by a supreme linguistic being who is up there somewhere laughing at us where to put the stress in a word. It goes on the first syllable. End of story. I don’t have any suggestions for making English easier. There must be a billion of

us out there wrestling with the beast, and we’re all finding it a losing struggle. But I can at least offer some explanation of our plight, thanks to a new book called Spell it Out: The Singular Story of English Spelling, by David Crystal. According to Crystal, when Latin-speaking missionaries arrived in Britain in the 6th century, they only had 23 letters in their alphabet, whereas the Germanic languages spoken locally had at least 37 distinct sounds. So, right from day one of the written language, the spelling was botched. French and Latin words poured into the language with the Norman invasion of 1066, but without any general agreement as to how they should be spelled – nor any real pressure for standardisation until the spread of printing 400 years later. By the time Samuel Johnson got round to compiling the first serious English dictionary in 1755, anarchy reigned. However, instead of trying to knock some order into the language, Johnson wrote it all down as he found it. And that, by and large, is the English we have today. There may be grounds for hope. Crystal thinks that, as English becomes more of a global language, spelling will get simpler and more logical. The need for ease of use will trump old rules and traditions. Is he right? I don’t know any more than you do. Or, to put it another way: I doughn’t nough any mough than yough dough. BO

DETAILS / CITY ICONS

TEXT BY ROGER NORUM | PHOTO BY Alamy

Black stallion One of the English capital’s oldest institutions, the black cab is the symbol of the last real trade for workingclass Londoners

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In the visual

mythology of world cities, there are two things almost always guaranteed to end up on a postcard of London: Big Ben and a black cab. The black taxicab evokes a greater sense of history, class, culture and city geography than anything else British. The first London taxis were a fleet of boats that plied the city’s canals and rivers, while the first road vehicles, horse-drawn carts that cantered down London streets, were introduced in 1621. These carts, known as Hackney Carriages after the French term hacquenée (lit. ‘ambling nag’), transported Londoners around for centuries. Electric-powered vehicles were introduced at the end of the 19th century, when wealthy car owners could recoup some of the expenses incurred in maintenance by hiring them out to less wellheeled members of the gentry.

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The first motorised London taxis while they save up to buy one. The were built by the Scottish company most important step in becoming Beardmore, but the iconic saloona London cab driver is mastering style black cabs in the capital what is known as The Knowledge, today are versions of the Austinan intimate facility with the city produced TX1 and its predecessor, streets, roadways and overall the FX4. The FX4 became one of geography of greater London. the longest running cars The average newbie in production history – cabbies – known in It takes nearly half a century. The about three the industry as “butter cars were made in Austin’s boys” because they years to factories at Birmingham take the bread and become and Coventry, although butter out of the a taxi today many of the mouths of established driver in vehicles you see now are drivers – spend several London made in China. London years perfecting The has over 20,000 licensed Knowledge. During this black taxis. time, they moped around some It takes about three years to 20,000 miles within a six-mile become a taxi driver in London. radius of central London, following That requires learning all the streets, detailed laminated maps of the major buildings of interest and city. Despite this age of global shortest routes between two points. positioning and mobile phone Owning a cab does not come cheap: mapping systems, The Knowledge it costs roughly 35,000 GBP to buy, is still a necessity: no computer license and insure a vehicle – and can compensate for the know-how many new drivers will rent a car of a London black cab driver. BO

EXPERIENCE MEETINGS MEETINGS DESIGNED WITH SPACE TO THINK, FAST FREE WIFI AND FOOD FOR THE MIND. ALL THE RIGHT INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS.

HOTELS DESIGNED TO SAY YES! radissonblu.com/meetings

RADISSON BLU HOTEL, FRANKFURT

EXPERIENCE SUCCESS

DETAILS / LOCAL AGENDA

PUBLICITY PHOTOS

FEBRUARY / 2013 Patrick Wolf acoustic concert, Palladium Riga / February 23 The upcoming performance in Riga by eccentric British pop chameleon Patrick Wolf is part of his Sundark and Riverlight acoustic tour. As one of the most charismatic and talented contemporary British pop artists, Wolf is best known for his compositions “The City”, “House” and “Tristan”, amongst others. His music can be described as a graceful combination of romantic folk, techno pop, alternative rock and electro. Wolf’s sixth studio production – the double album Sundark and Riverlight (2012) – contains re-recorded versions of previous songs and marks the 10th anniversary of his musical career. Having released five critically acclaimed albums, Wolf’s collaborators include “godmother of punk” Patti Smith, Arcade Fire, Chicks on Speed and many more. Tickets available at www.bilesuserviss.lv

Roberta Marquez

Etoile Ballet Gala, Latvian National Opera, Riga / February 4 For the third year in a row, the Etoile Ballet Gala is offering unforgettable moments for true ballet lovers in Riga. Some of the brightest stars from a number of famous ballet theatres will perform on one stage on the evening of February 4. The principal ballet dancers hail from such venues as the Grand Opera of Paris, Stuttgart Ballet, Vienna State Ballet, Berlin State Ballet and Prague National Ballet. Among the classical ballet pearls are pas de deux from Raymonda (choreographer Marius Petipa), Grand Pas Classique (choreographer Victor Gzovsky), Giselle (choreographers Marius Petipa, Jean Coralli and Jules

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Perrot) and Sleeping Beauty (choreographer M. Petipa), as well as the Latvian premiere of a pas de deux from Onegin, choreographed by the legendary John Cranko. The gala performance will also feature a few contemporary dance numbers, including Cappricio by famous choreographer Douglas Lee, who has worked at the New York City Ballet, the Norwegian National Ballet, the Flanders National Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet, to name a few. In addition, viewers will be treated to Carmina Burana by passionate choreographer Giuseppe Picone, as well as contemporary dance pieces by Ulvi Azizov and Steven McRae. Tickets available at www.ticketparadise.lv

Šimkus & Chichon, Great Guild Hall (Lielā ģilde), Riga / February 22 and 23, 19:00 Hailed as one of the most promising young conductors, Karel Mark Chichon (Gibraltar) is continuing his successful stage partnership with the no less promising pianist Vestards Šimkus (Latvia). If you have

missed the recent Chichon and Šimkus duo, then these concerts

Patrick Wolf

are a must. Not only because Chichon has been described by the New York Times as a “conductor of genius” and pianist Šimkus has been earning similar reviews around the world, but also because this might be one of the last chances to see Chichon directing the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, whose chief conductor and artistic director he’s been for the past three years. This long-awaited reunion of two bright stars will feature Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1, which presents a challenge for any pianist – and indeed for any orchestra – to achieve the right balance between poetry, passion and structure. The challenge goes even further with a retake of Peter Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, performed by the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. The concert should be a real treat to listeners, as Chichon is known to be an outstanding interpreter of Tchaikovsky’s works. Amatu iela 6, Riga | Tickets available at www.ticketparadise.lv

DETAILS / LOCAL AGENDA

Maija Nora Tabaka. Women. 1974

Exhibition The Stylish. The 1960s and 1970s. (Stilīgie. 20. gadsimta 60. un 70. gadi) Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga / February 9 – March 30 The 29 artworks on display were created during the 1960s and 1970s, when Latvia was cut off from the rest of the world by the Iron Curtain and when painting was subjected

to the dictates of Soviet ideology. Nevertheless, this exhibition of works by 19 Latvian painters demonstrates the extent to which some artists from that period dared to express their creative freedom and to adopt Western European art trends. The paintings come from the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art, the Artists’ Union and private lenders. Kr. Valdemāra iela 10a

Ojārs Ābols. Composition. Chain. 1965

DETAILS / EUROPEAN EVENTS

In association with www.anothertravelguide.com | Publicity photos

Hamburg

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Giacometti. The Playing Fields Hamburger Kunsthalle / Until May 19 The tall, markedly thin sculptures by Alberto Giacometti (1901 – 1966) cannot be confused with those of any other. They have often been interpreted as the embodiment of the strength of the human spirit – even though the figures’ feet are heavy and well-grounded, the bodies reach upward in spite of everything that awaits them on their path. This exhibition of 120 works, including paintings, sketches and photographs by the legendary 20th century Swiss sculptor, is one of the most comprehensive retrospectives of the artist in recent years. Giacometti was born into an artist’s family and studied in Geneva and Paris. Among other things, he was captivated away by African and Egyptian primitive art. During the 1930s, he joined the Surrealist movement. After the Second World War, inspired by his friendship with Pablo Picasso and Jean-Paul Sartre, Giacometti researched the relationship between figures and space. Some of his lesser-known drawings can also be seen at the exhibition, in which he’s depicted his little human figures in “playgrounds”, in this way portraying their demonstration in public spaces, where the viewer has to be physically connected with the work of art. At the same time, another exhibition dedicated to the artist – Giacometti and his Circle – is taking place at the Bucerius Kunst Forum, with its focus being on Giacometti’s portrait art (January 26-May 20).

Glockengießerwall www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de

Charlie Le Mindu + ATOPOS cvc, Atopic Bodies [ONE]: ‘Mr & Mrs Myth’, 2010

ARRRGH! Monsters in Fashion, La Gaîté Lyrique / February 13 - April 7 The ARRRGH! Monsters in Fashion exhibition, which could also be viewed in Athens in 2011, includes the works of Latvian fashion duo mareunrols alongside such design greats as the Maison Martin Margiela, Walter Van Beirendonck, Issey Miyake and others. This month the exhibition will open its doors in Paris at the new digital art and culture centre, La Gaîté Lyrique, which was unveiled in 2011. To the Ancient Greeks, the word

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“monster” described the strange and the unexplainable. In a sense, this exhibition is a story about the relationship between people’s bodies and their clothing, about the beautiful and the ugly, the extension of boundaries, the challenging of widely accepted aesthetic norms and the evolution of visual language. Its main heroes are striking, strange characters, which in grotesque, humour-filled, enigmatic and often horrifying images, tell a story about the world around us. 3 bis, rue Papin www.gaite-lyrique.net

Price available for bookings at least 5 months in advance

Paris

Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), Walking man II, 1960

DETAILS / EUROPEAN EVENTS

Zurich

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It Truly Pays: the Crime Film, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / Until June 6

Lana Turner und John Garfield in The Postman Always Rings Twice, Directed by Tay Garnett, Film Still, 1946

The detective film is one of the most popular genres in cinema and television. In analyzing the phenomenon, Zurich’s Museum of Design is hosting It Truly Pays: the Crime Film”, complete with television detective film serials, as well as full-length films or parts of them, providing a special interactive experience for detective film fans. The exhibition has a number of thematic parts. For example,

Berlin

London

The Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin is providing the first exhibition in the world dedicated to famous American film director Martin Scorsese. It has come about in collaboration with the director himself, who after some consideration, was prepared to open his archive to researchers. The exhibition is made up of more than 600 items, among them scenes drawn by Scorsese from films as they developed, unknown photographs and actor’s costumes from films that have already become a part of cinema history. Martin Scorsese, an American film director of Italian background, is a unique artist who has been able

from

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Varieties of Crime Film investigates a number of detective film subgenres and their features, including the 1940s and 1950s Film Noir. In turn, Film Design and Dramaturgy examines the evolution of detective films, focussing on the entry of leading female characters and on the fact that their number has only increased with time. The exhibition also provides an insight into the creation of special effects and other “behind the scenes secrets”. Ausstellungsstraße 60 www.museum-gestaltung.ch

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to make movies not alongside the American film industry, but within its framework for almost half a century. His films, which include Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Casino, After Hours and The Colour of Money, have become cinema classics, and Scorsese hasn’t had to prove anything to anybody for a long time now. The “eyes” in Scorsese’s work, a particular world view that can’t be confused with any other, often came from outstanding German cameraman Michael Ballhaus. Italian costume designer Dante Feretti, who had already been an irreplaceable assistant to Federico Fellini in his grandiose film fantasies that breached all boundaries.

Martin Scorsese Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen / Until May 12

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Potsdamer Straße 2 www.deutsche-kinemathek.de

Photo BY Martin Scorsese Collection, New York

ROY LICHTENSTEIN 1923-1997 / Blue Nude 1995, Private Collection

Roy Lichtenstein Tate Modern / February 21 - May 27

Sharon Stone and Martin Scorsese, CASINO, USA, 1995

Ambitious projects are a defining feature of the Tate Modern and the museum is starting off 2013 with a large retrospective of Pop Art classic Roy Lichtenstein, with the aim of showing that there’s more to the artist than his immediately recognizable comic style. About 125 of the artist’s paintings and sculptures will be on view at

the exhibition, as well as rarely exhibited drawings, covering 50 years of Lichtenstein’s career. As the exhibition’s curator has declared in The Guardian newspaper, viewers may be surprised by Lichtenstein’s early, almost Twombly-like Abstract Expressionist style paintings, as well as his gigantic formats, such as the four-metre-wide and three-metrehigh painting from 1991, Interior with Waterlilies. Bankside |

www.tate.org.uk

BALTIC OUTLOOK / FEBRUARY 2013 / 17

DETAILS / REVIEW

Eat, pry, live

These three great new titles will offset the winter blues with some real inspiration

TEXT BY ROGER NORUM | PUBLICITY PHOTOS

Every Love Story is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace by D.T. Max This insightful biography of American literary wunderkind David Foster Wallace is a gripping account of a brilliant mind. In 2008, the author of the elephantine novel Infinite Jest took his own life at age 46, having suffered from depression for decades. His biographer’s language evokes deep emotion, striking a personal chord with anyone who has ever experienced even a moment of self-doubt. A must-read for insight into the complicated mind of modern genius. Granta, www.granta.com 21 EUR

Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals by Jamie Oliver

Based on features from the New York Times travel section, this brilliant tome is just as suitable for the coffee table as it is for the armchair and the airplane seat. With 125 different itineraries for visits to cities all over Europe – including reviews of some 500 restaurants and 400 hotels, as well as detailed city and itinerary maps – the book is guaranteed to furnish you with ideas for decades of airBaltic journeys.

On the heels of his last crackerjack bestseller, Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals, this new cookbook by Britain’s chef-to-the-masses looks to repeat the feat in half the time. Tasty, nutritious and ultra quick recipes to whip together (at least in theory) are accompanied by stunning, atmospheric photographs. The fish dishes – such as a succulent grilled Cajun prawn and Moroccan bream with couscous – make a particularly strong appearance.

Taschen, www.taschen.com 29.99 EUR

Michael Joseph, www.penguin.com 23.95 EUR

The New York Times: 36 Hours. 125 Weekends in Europe by Barbara Ireland

Text by Adam Jacot de Boinod, author of The Meaning of Tingo and Other Extraordinary Words from Around the World, published by Penguin Books | Illustration by Inga Briede

Agusto (Latin American Spanish) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the cosiness felt when snuggling with a relative

The Meaning of Tingo is a compilation of extraordinary words and expressions from around the world that have no equivalent in English. Adam Jacot de Boinodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s passion is scouring the planet for language oddities and every month, Baltic Outlook features one of the many amusing terms that he has come across in his travels.

DETAILS / FIVE PLACES

TEXT BY NADINA ELEKSE | PUBLICITY PHOTOS

Fork & Cork

Little Black Book

While exploring Mala Strana and the Prague Castle, make sure to stop by this small deli and wine shop for breakfast or

a takeaway lunch. There is also a wide selection of wines and refined products to take home. The assortment includes spirits, oils, vinegars, foie gras, fresh

products, pasta, chocolate and hampers made especially for you with products that compliment each other. www.fork-cork.com

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Lokal restaurant Lokal offers a great way to enjoy Czech cuisine without eating heavy and overly large portions. It is perfect for gourmets who are eager to explore different cuisines in an upscale style, with special offers provided daily. Of course, since Czech cuisine goes hand-in-hand with beer, you can also try traditional Czech beers with your meal. You can even learn about beer-making in a special five to six-hour-long course, which outlines the production and history of beer, the pairing of beer and food, and offers you the opportunity to make your own beer drinks. lokal-dlouha.ambi.cz

Puppetry The Czech Republic is famous for its established traditions in puppetry, as you can note at many

places in Prague. You can buy a marionette to take home at almost every corner of the old town, or see them in action at one of the many puppet theatres across the city. Just be sure to check the language of the play and establish whether the content is more suited for adults or children. For those interested in the delicate and complicated process of making the marionettes, up to two-week-long workshops are organized on a regular basis. There, one can learn how to carve, manipulate and create animation films featuring one’s own puppets. www.mozart.cz www.puppetsinprague.eu

MeetFactory The MeetFactory connects art, theatre, film, music and education with different music and theatre programs every month, hosting art exhibitions in three separate galleries. The main MeetFactory Gallery is a place for national and international art shows, while the Cube Gallery hosts short-term exhibitions of little-known artists. The Wall Gallery is for modern and experimental exhibitions of drawing, paintings and classical graffiti. The MeetFactory also has a café and garden barbeque in the summer. www.meetfactory.cz

Art Hole hostel This chic resting spot is perfect for a youthful adventure trip. The small, cosy hostel is located in a quiet corner of the old town, so guests have all of the pros of living in the city centre without the noise, and at rates that are certainly not overpriced, unlike the case at other centrally

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located hotels. A small breakfast and an artsy atmosphere are included in the price. Private double rooms are also available; just be sure to make your reservation in advance, as Art Hole is a small but desirable place to stay in Prague for art and travel lovers from all over the world. www.arthole.cz

DETAILS / STYLE

the blue

Blue is about ascetic and intellectual elegance. The springtime, however, brings in new shades of that colour, which dominates nearly every spring season. Step out of the safe zone and combine traditional blue shades with bold accessories – the brighter, the better. They will add a sparkle of humour that suits spring so well

Leather bag by Vivienne Westwood at Dekadence, 480 LVL

Shirt by Zara, 29.95 LVL

Eyewear by Smith Optics at Pasaules Optika, 70 LVL

Sunglasses by Pierre Cardin at Pasaules Optika, 56 LVL

Braces by H&M, 6.95 LVL

Tie by Zara, 18.95 LVL

Bowtie by H&M, 6.95 LVL

Leather bracelet by Buduart at Taste Latvia, 17 LVL

Fateful jeans by One Wolf at Paviljons, 105 LVL 22 / AIRBALTIC.COM

Linen scarf by Ars Tela at Taste Latvia, 77 LVL

Dotted shoes by H&M, 29.95 LVL

Leather shoes by H&M, 44.95 LVL

Addresses in Riga: Taste Latvia and H&M at the Galerija Centrs, Audēju iela 16 | Zara, Tērbatas iela 30 | Dekadence, Kr. Barona iela 16 | Pasaules Optika, Kr. Barona iela 31a | Paviljons at Domina Shopping, Ieriķu iela 3

Into

Styling by AGNESE NARNICKA, ONE WOLF | Photos by GATIS GIERTS, f64

DETAILS / DESIGN

Publicity photos

Many of the brothers’ works have been described as microarchitecture, meaning that they are smaller than buildings, yet larger than furniture. Objects like Algues redefine our perception of how plastic can be moulded and used, as well as how to create an individually crafted screen for your home or office. The Bouroullec brothers have been working with some of the biggest names in design. Their original, yet functional and clean designs for Vitra, Kartell, Magis, Kvadrat, Flos and Nanimarquina have all been noteworthy. The designers have won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix du Design in Paris in 1998, the ‘Best of the Best’ Red Dot Design Award in 2005 and 2008, as well as awards for their Vegetal and Steelwood chairs in 2009 and 2011.

Ronan (left) and Erwan Bouroullec

Timeless elegance

Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec They changed the face of contemporary design. Their designs are never overly trendy or exaggerated, but remain timeless all the same. Somehow, the French brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have a knack for designing beautiful and elegant objects, for developing pioneering hybrid forms and shapes that become future classics 24 / AIRBALTIC.COM

Ronan and Erwan have been a creative designer team for a decade. The eldest brother Ronan was the first to start working in the field of design and after a while his younger brother Erwan became his assistant. Their creative collaboration blossomed and after 1998, everything designed by Ronan and Erwan went under both names. However, there are a couple of projects that the designers still sign individually. The brothers’ big break came in 1997, when the Salon du Meuble in Paris exhibited their Disintegrated Kitchen, which was then noticed by Giulio Cappellini, an Italian architect and designer, as well as the founder of the influential Cappellini design company. He oversaw the brothers’ first industrial design projects. Then, in 2002, the brothers met with Vitra chairman Rolf Fehlbaum and kicked off a long collaboration that resulted in such iconic design objects as the Vegetal chair, L’Oiseau and Algues. L’Oiseau is the iconic Bouroullec bird figure from natural maple that gives any interior a touch of Nordic folk art. Algues are original interior design components for creating your own room dividers, thick screens or light plastic curtains.

One can visit the Bouroullec studio in Paris, which gives a thorough impression of the brothers’ creative minds. Not only is it a working place and office, it also serves as a prototype shop and photo studio. For the Bouroullec brothers, 2013 has begun with a bang. Phaidon Press released a third monographic book entitled Works about the designers in 2012 (a must-have for any design-lover’s library), while the new Ovale Cutlery Collection is now available for a sublime dining experience. The brothers also recently designed an iPad application called Cercles that showcases formal studies, freehand drawings and sketches, deriving inspiration from the human intuition. Is there anything that these brothers can’t do? Apparently not. They have been asked to create a chandelier for the entrance of the Palace of Versailles and are also working on a new jewellery project. 2013 is definitely the year to see what Ronan and Erwan will do next! BO

DETAILS / EN ROUTE

TEXT BY DZINA KARKLINA | PHOTOS BY DMITRIJS SULZICS, F64

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Snow Park (Sniega parks) at Mežaparks

Ice-filled fun

Mežaparks is Riga’s Central Park, except that it’s not very central. However, considering the compact size of the city, it’s not too far from the centre. Tramway No. 11 should bring you to the spectacular wooded area in half an hour. Constructed as one of Europe’s first garden neighbourhoods, Mežaparks has always been a mix of outdoor pleasures, hosting the Riga Zoo; endless trails for walking, running and in-line skating; the openair Song Festival stage; Lake Ķīšezers and since

this winter – the Sniega parks amusement park. Set within a true forest wonderland, Sniega parks boasts all the necessary options for a perfect family winter outing, including cross-country ski trails, a 120-meter-long downhill ride, inner tube riding, ice-skating and hot drinks to your liking. The skating rink (80 x 15 m) has free admission and offers about a hundred pairs of figure and hockey skates (sized 27–47). Weekdays 15:00-21:00 Saturdays 10:00-22:00 Sundays 10:00-21:00 www.sniegaparks.lv

Riga lies far enough north to make the most out of a cold winter, with various skating rinks scattered across the city. Baltic Outlook surveyed three spots for figure-eights galore

Winter sports and recreation at Victory Park (Uzvaras parks) Uzvaras parks might seem a bit off the beaten path for a Riga visitor, even though it’s a mere 15-minute walk from the old town. During the Soviet period these 36 hectares gained a political connotation, with the construction of a gigantic monument devoted to the Red Army’s World War II combatants. However, at least for the winter season, the park serves more as an athletic mega complex, offering cross-country skiing, a skating rink and a snowboard park. Those into hockey might be able to jump into a game already taking place. There is room also for figure skating on the 20 x 40-metre rink. Skiing and skating is for free with your own equipment. Uzvaras parks, Uzvaras bulvāris 15 Weekdays 11:00-22:00 | Holidays 10:00-23:00 www.uzvarasparks.lv

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LIDO skating rink Just as LIDO is a veteran in Latvian-style catering, so the skating rink at its amusement park on Krasta iela is a veteran in offering ice-filled fun. Being a short drive away from the city centre (less than 10 minutes by car), the huge rink can host up to 500 skaters at once. Despite its huge area, it gets crowded on weekends and public holidays, mostly because of Krasta LIDO’s added value – a grand food bastion where one can recharge after skating. Admission to the rink is 1.50 or 2 LVL per hour, depending on whether it’s a working day or the weekend. Skates can be rented for a symbolic 1 LVL per day and a 20% discount applies for ISIC card holders. Krasta iela 76 Weekdays 11:00-22:00 Holidays 10:00-23:00 www.lido.lv

DETAILS / FOOD

TEXT BY Signe ŠEnfelde, food and wine connoisseur

Those who have

Pearl-barley renaissance 28 / AIRBALTIC.COM

because a handful of pearllived through the Soviet barley contains almost the era certainly recall the entire recommended daily days when schoolchildren, dose of iron. patients and soldiers “Once the autumn were fed pearl-barley a dampness sets in, I add little too often. That’s why pearl-barley to soups, prestigious Latvian chefs making them even richer have undertaken great and more filling. Pearl-barley efforts to rehabilitate the also goes well together with reputation of pearl-barley meat. Imagine pearl-barley in the country. Some offer together with venison their guests pearl-barley and cranberry sauce, or orsotto, stewed in white pearl-barley with lamb, or wine and enriched with sun pearl-barley and fish, such dried tomatoes. Orsotto is a as orsotto with plaice fillet!” phonetic play on the word says Heinrihs. His menu risotto and has successfully currently offers slow-roasted dulled the senses of many a venison with orsotto – pearl-barley-hater. namely, pearl Pearl-barley barley that has Boil it in porridge is a been braised in bouillon real winter meal, butter with shallot and add substantial and onions, then it to a filling, especially stewed in bouillon crunchy if it’s competently and white wine stewed in the heat salad – it’ll and then sprinkled of a wood oven almost be with parmesan. and generously like nuts! Orsotto can be enriched with enriched with sunstreaky bacon and dried tomatoes, onions. Pearl-barley, made mushrooms, ham or even of peeled, whole or split seafood (just recall the barley grains, is one of the French classic – seafood oldest and most frequently with beans!). used products on Latvian “In addition, pearl-barley menus. To a certain degree, goes well in salads. Boil it’s even a ritual food, as over it in bouillon and add it the centuries, Latvians have to a crunchy salad – it’ll traditionally placed specially almost be like nuts! You prepared whole grains on can also prepare it this the table for the winter way with smoked chicken solstice feast. The “living and mandarins or grapes. cereal” of soaked or stewed Those who like fish can use pearl-barley, with honey smoked salmon fillet in the added, was a confirmation of place of chicken. Among nature’s eternal passage and other things, pearl-barley the eternal desire to give life is a great filling for roasts, to the next generations. together with chestnuts, Chef Heinrihs Erhards of walnuts, caramelized onions, Vīna Studija’s HE’s restaurant thyme and rosemary,” adds believes that pearl-barley Heinrihs, noting that every should be on the winter day, pearl-barley gets served menu of every Latvian in this or other ways at his restaurant, and not just restaurant. BO

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Text by Una Meistere, www.anothertravelguide.com | Photos by Ainars Erglis

Ever-changing

Berlin

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YOUR NEXT DESTINATION

Bad luck, somebody has already taken the Anothertravelguide brochure about Berlin, but donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t worry, all the information is also available at ANOTHERTRAVELGUIDE.COM in cooperation with airBaltic.

BALTIC OUTLOOK / FEBRUARY 2013 / 31

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Neues Museum

1,350,000 bricks were sought and collected from practically every corner of Europe in order to create the museum’s exposed brick walls

At the end of December, Berlin’s Neues Museum was

swarming with visitors – its latest large-scale exhibition, In the Light of Amarna: 100 Years of the Nefertiti Discovery (through April 13), marks the centenary of German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt’s expedition to Amarna and the discovery of the now-legendary, over 3400-year-old bust of the ancient queen. The number of those bewitched by the beauty of the wife of the pharaoh Akhenaton rivals that of the tourists who make a pilgrimage to the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. In a sense, the bust of Nefertiti has been the Mona Lisa of the German capital for some time, drawing more than half a million admirers per year. Some have even called her “the most beautiful woman in Berlin”, and as Borchardt himself wrote down in his notes in 1912: “No use describing it, you have to see it.” The nape of the queen’s neck alone is somehow hypnotic; the subtlety of the expression forming at the corners of her lips – mesmerising. The effect is a feeling that Nefertiti has reincarnated in true flesh and blood. The exhibition is dedicated to the city of Amarna, the one-time (and short-lived) capital of Egypt founded by Pharaoh Akhenaten (1353-1336 BCE). In the temples of the new city, the pharaoh cultivated his new sun-worshiping religion, instituting Aten as the supreme deity and creator of life. Amarna’s ruins can be found on the eastern bank of the Nile, more than 300 km south of Cairo. It was a wealthy German businessman (and patron of the arts) who sponsored the archaeological expeditions at the beginning of the 20th century, and 5500 of the approximately 10,000 excavated artefacts ended up in Berlin. Some 600 of these treasures are now on display, the lion’s share never before seen by the public. Controversy has swirled around the bust of the queen ever since its discovery, the Egyptians maintaining to the current day

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Holocaust memorial near the Brandenburg Gate

that it rightly belongs to them. The creation of the bust itself is also veiled in intrigue. An uproar arose when scientists recently posited that the sculpture might have been subjected to a “facelift”; a computerized tomography (CT) scan has revealed that the limestone core of the bust was later covered up with several layers of stucco. Hidden underneath these layers of “makeup”, the queen’s true features are distinctly different than the vision of beauty embodied in the final image. It turns out that her cheekbones were not all that prominent, nor were the inner corners of her eyelids so deep. Thutmose, the royal court’s sculptor at the time, is assumed to have done the face-lift himself, as the bust was found in his workshop. Quite possibly, this “botox of the ancient world” was requested by Nefertiti’s own husband, who may have wished to capture her image as the essence of ideal beauty for his time. The exhibition is also worth seeing for its set design – the main hall overflows with magical orange light, just like a desert at sunset. For those who have yet to visit the museum, this is a great opportunity to see one of the most impressive examples of museum architecture in Berlin. The restored Neues Museum was finished in 2009, a masterful job by British architect David Chipperfield (for which he received the prestigious Mies van der Roe Award for Architecture in 2011). Originally built between 1843 and 1859, the grand building is part of the architectural ensemble on Museum Island that was dedicated to Germany’s art and science by King Frederick William IV. From the start, the museum has housed the most ancient historical artefacts of various collections. It was severely damaged by the bombings of the Second World War and stood empty for a long time afterward. The most unique feature of Chipperfield’s restoration project is the architect’s avoidance of the classical formula for reconstruction – instead of hiding the building’s patina and signs of age, Chipperfield revealed these elements and even brought them to the forefront: in some instances as fragile imprints (e.g., old frescoes on walls, ceilings and columns), in others as rather brutal footprints (e.g., bullet holes from the Second World War). As Chipperfield himself said: “We had a rule at the outset. No false walls, no ducts, no false ceilings,” the result being a truly accurate description of the times that the structure has lived

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Kennedy Museum

through. Of course, not everywhere could something be preserved, which led to the museum becoming an excellent example of 21st-century ultra-modern ascetics living side-by-side, and in perfect harmony, with historical Romanticism. Each of the rooms is a story about both history and architecture. For example, 1,350,000 bricks were sought and collected from practically every corner of Europe in order to create the museum’s exposed brick walls. The most impressive of these is the one surrounding the staircase, the bricks now taking the place of destroyed frescoes. On the other side of the Spree River, right across from the Neues Museum, is another of Chipperfield’s projects – Am Kupfergraben 10, a four-storey building that houses galleries. The most striking characteristic of the structure is its laconic, roughly plastered brick façade, the robust massiveness of which is splintered with gigantic wood-framed windows. Reaching a height of 5.5 metres, the galleries’ ceilings allow for ample daylight – as well as a panoramic view of Berlin, to be enjoyed along with the works of art on view. Admittedly, and for now at least, the structure does look like an extreme version of a construction site – whether you’re looking at it from the eastern or western side.

CWC gallery in Berlin’s Ehemalige Jüdische Mädchenschule, a recently converted former Jewish girls’ school dedicated to art and kosher haute cuisine in the trendy gallery district of Mitte

The Jewish Girls’ School’s new lease on life Berlin feels like it is continuously recreating itself. It’s like ploughing up soil and finding treasures that have been buried in the ruins, while the process itself allows the soil to breathe again with renewed vigour. Every time you arrive here you realize that it’s pointless to search for the Berlin that you visited, say, six months ago, because the city has changed once again. A store or a restaurant has closed, while other spots have opened, or some new space has again been reborn from the ruins. An absolute must-see, or this moment’s most talked about place in Berlin is the former Jewish Girls’ School (Jüdische Mädchenschule) on Augustraße, a popular gallery street in the Mitte district. The school has now been transformed into a real epicentre of art and gastronomy. The project is the initiative of gallery owner Michael Fuchs and it opened its doors last spring, gradually filling up with new tenants. The school building, which began to function in 1930, was planned by Alexander Beer (1873-1944), a prominent Jewish architect. It embodies the quintessence of the Weimar Republic’s style, where functionality dominated over aesthetic excesses. In turn, the building itself and its destiny illustrates Germany’s

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Do you read me? reading room and bookstore

Apparently, John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the USA, is particularly loved in Germany 20th-century history in miniature. Its architect, along with many students and teachers at the school, later ended his days in a concentration camp. The school itself – with its roof garden, sports hall and 14 classrooms – was one of the most modern in the city. It was shut down in 1942, already half-empty after the first purges by the Nazi regime. A German military hospital moved in until the end of the Second World War. In 1950, the building – now in East Germany – resumed functioning as a school, but was closed in 1996 due to a shortage of students following the collapse of the USSR. It remained empty for more than ten years, with a range of speculation about its future use. The building was opened to the public for a time in 2006, as part of the 4th Berlin Biennale, which had Maurizio Cattelan as one of its curators. In 2009, it was returned to the Jewish community, from which it is now being rented by gallery owner Michael Fuchs for a period of 30 years. He says that he will return it to the Jewish community once his contract expires, so that it can continue a new life with a new generation. Prior to its restoration, the building had been in a terrible state, with the roof on the verge of collapse and crooked windows. Although its facelift has been extensive, it continues to preserve historic evidence

of its past, including an old staircase and a lonesome wooden bench from the former school on the ground floor, alongside an illustrated exposition of the school’s history. The building’s first floor is dedicated to the pleasures of the flesh, or, more precisely gastronomy. Its most glamorous and simultaneously most controversial tenant is the Pauly Saal restaurant, which is located in the school’s former gym hall. Above the open kitchen is a red-and-white rocket covering the width of the wall, while at the other end of the hall are two stuffed foxes with tied-up paws, just as if they’d escaped from the Soviet-era children’s book The Adventures of Buratino, which turned out to be Aleksey Tolstoy’s plagiarism of Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio. Attached to the ceiling are four amberhued Murano chandeliers. If you removed the tables, then the restaurant would be ideally suited for an art gallery, with a light touch of the Weimar Republic’s 1920s selfindulgence. Chef Siegfried Danler has a Michelin star, offering classic German dishes in a creative haute cuisine interpretation. The owners of Pauly Saal have already had a prominent place on the list of Berlin’s trendy restaurants for years with the Grill Royal. Their latest project is no less ambitious, but somewhat shocking against the landscape

Blain|Southern art gallery in the former printing house of the Der Tagesspiegel daily newspaper

of Berlin’s overall gastronomy with its uncharacteristically high prices (main courses start from 32 EUR). Nevertheless, even though the locals sneer and moan about this, the restaurant is full every evening and insists on prior reservations. In the evenings its lobby transforms into the Pauly Bar and is abuzz with activity. Further along the corridor, the Kosher Classroom operates three days a week in a former classroom, offering strictly kosher cuisine. Then there’s the Mogg & Melzer Delicatessen almost next to the school’s entrance doors, with wooden tables and an informal atmosphere that reminds you of a classic school canteen. You can have a meal on the spot or get something to take away. The three remaining floors in the building are devoted to spirituality, or almost. The second floor houses the CWC Photo Gallery, where one can still view an exhibition by erotic/fashion/ porno virtuoso Ellen von Unwert until February 16. The German photographer’s racy and scandalous project is entitled The Story of Olga, with behind-the-scenes stories that are no less provocative than the photographs themselves. The heroine of the photo series is 38-year-old former model Olga Rodionova, the third wife of Russian oligarch Sergey Rodionov. If you discard the photographic and artistic qualities, then at its deepest essence von Unwert’s defiantly erotic photo story is nothing other than the unusual amusements of a family from the Russian elite. Namely, the billionaire’s hobby for many years has been to commission and pay for nude photos of his wife (the couple has been together for 18 years). Initially, some of these photos were on the magazine covers of the Russian Playboy and FHM magazines. Other photo sessions followed with photographers like Helmut Newton, Peter Lindbergh and David LaChapelle, to name a few. With ambitions growing apace, the idea came up for a book. The first one came about in 2008, in collaboration with photographer Bettina Rheims and the Taschen publishing house. The second book was published in December of 2012 under the direction of von Unwert. The main heroine in The Story of Olga is a rich old man’s young widow, who, hungry for sex, throws herself into continuous orgies, provocatively balancing on the border between erotica and open pornography. Freed of their instincts, intoxicated naked bodies devote themselves to pagan rituals and lunches at an extravagant palace.

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Mogg & Melzer delicatessen

Indeed, a popular hobby among the ranks of rich Russian men is the commissioning of nude photos of their wives from famous photographers. However, these are usually not exhibited in public, unlike the case with the Rodionovs. In all likelihood, we can expect a further sequel to The Story of Olga. Rodinonov has stated that he’d like his wife to continue her nude photo sessions. “She’ll always try to look as good as possible and take care of her body, which is in my interests.” Since this is a gallery exhibition, the photographs on view can also be purchased, going for either 10,000 or 20,000 EUR apiece. Another tenant of the former Jewish Girls’ School is one floor higher – the Kennedy Museum. Honestly speaking, after having just viewed von Unwert’s erotic orgies, this place seem no less peculiar. It turns out that the Kennedy Museum has already been in Berlin since 2006 and was previously located at the Pariser Platz. Apparently, John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the USA, is particularly loved in Germany. This is the second largest Kennedy museum in the world, with more than 300 objects connected with him and his family, including photographs, films and documents. The exposition is a real lesson in mythology – an extensive section is devoted to Kennedy’s only visit to Berlin on June 26, 1963. Initially, he didn’t even want to go there due to the Cold War, fearing a worsening of relations with the Soviet Union. However, on seeing the Berlin Wall and the Brandenburg Gate, he rewrote his speech. Its historic phrase: “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner) made

him a hero in the eyes of the Germans, who appreciated his solidarity with the inhabitants of the divided city and his small act of defiance against the USSR. Five months later, Kennedy was assassinated. His impeccably ironed white shirt and reading glasses are on display, alongside happy family photographs with his wife Jackie and their children. It couldn’t be more ideal; not a word is mentioned about Kennedy’s extra-marital affairs and questionably close relationship with Marilyn Monroe. Two more art galleries can be found on the top floor. One belongs to Michael Fuchs, the initiator of the Jewish Girls’ School’s latest transformation, while the other is the Eigen + Art Lab – the first in the current constellation of Augustraße galleries. It has managed to survive to this day and is still drawing visitors.

Art and style courtyard In Berlin you can never be sure what you’ll find behind the doors that you come across. The city remains unsurpassed in the way that new spaces are created out of old ones, with fashion stores moving like migrating birds from one part of the city to the other. One current hotspot is a courtyard on Potsdamer Straße, which until recently housed the printing plant of the Der Tagesspiegel daily newspaper. Since 2011, the plant’s white, industrial and minimalistically robust premises have been occupied by the Berlin branch of London’s Blain/Southern art gallery and by the Andreas Murkudis concept store. The art gallery is enormous: its 1300-squaremetre exhibition space is spread out across

YOUR NEXT DESTINATION two stories in a concrete and steel interior, on the site where the newspaper’s printing machines once stood, with huge glass windows now installed to let in additional daylight. Andreas Murkudis, for his part, is a local fashion and style legend, whose concept store was previously located in another courtyard on Munzstraße in the Mitte district. Since moving to its new location, Murkudis’ establishment has become increasingly popular, drawing hordes of shoppers and curious visitors like a magnet. Currently, the store has no equal in the city. Some even say that it is the best retailer of avant-garde fashion and design items, as well as niche cosmetics, in all of Germany. The showroomlike interior occasionally serves as an art gallery for regularly changing expositions. Incidentally, this neighbourhood, which now houses various art galleries, was known before the Second World War for its lively night life and historical 19th-century villas. One of them has been miraculously preserved in the courtyard (right across from the former printing plant), its practically unchanged interior offering a unique glimpse of Old Berlin. At the very entrance of the courtyard, Berlin’s legendary haberdasher Fiona Bennet has her showroom and store. It opened to the public only recently and there you will find a true fantasy world of hats for all occasions. What’s more, they are made right there, on the spot. Passers-by can observe the process of creation in all its minute detail through the large store windows. The boundary between reality and dreams is so fragile here that watching the nimble hands of the hat-makers, even for a moment, makes you feel as if you’re in a Victor Hugo novel. Across the way, on the other side of Auguststraße, the new

bookstore/reading room/gallery Do you read me? is making quite a name for itself. The contents of its shelves are a true oasis for art, architecture, design, music, photography and fashion lovers. The bookstore is divided into two areas – the store and the reading room, with a great wooden table that occasionally serves as an exhibition space. The interior was created with the help of Finnish furniture producer Artek. Among the central design elements are designer Enzo Mari’s wooden self-assembly chairs (designed in 1974), which Artek is still producing. At any rate, the reading room is a wonderful place to try them out. As the owner has stated, putting your first chair together (you build it from nine pre-cut pine boards and nails) might be a bit tricky, but with a bit of practice, it can be done in 20 minutes. At some point, one of the store walls was co-opted for the spontaneous What do you read? project, where various personalities from the fields of fashion, design, art and culture are invited to reveal their current reading material – what they keep by their beds and what they work with at the office. This mess of catalogues, novels, cookbooks and magazines (26 different personal reading lists and more than 300 publications) has been amassed in a colourful bookshelf – a creatively chaotic library that you can sink into to be inspired. You’ll come across some real gems that you might not find anyplace else. The above establishments can all be found within the space of one small city block in Berlin. However, don’t delay seeing them for too long, because once an area becomes popular as the result of creative initiatives, the inescapable gentrification that eventually follows changes it, and then the creative caravan moves on to new territories.

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An insider’s view

Berlin’s artistic mess A couple of years ago, art curator and writer Kaspars Vanags returned to live in Berlin, which is where he had spent the early 1990s as a student. He admits that back then, Berlin was “the right place Kaspars Vanags and the right time” par excellence. Although it would be hard to imagine anything like the creative anarchy of the 1990s coming back to life again, Berlin – with more than 400 art galleries and 200 non-commercial art spaces – is still one of the most vibrant centres of contemporary art in Europe. Here is an insider’s glimpse into some of the venues worth visiting. Forget about the love for order as a stereotypical German trait. When it comes to Berlin, the charm of the city lies in its disorder; not the bipolar one of the East-West split, which by and large belongs to the past. I’m talking about Berlin’s “artistic mess”. Take the Turkish market on the south side of the canal in Kreuzberg. Who would have thought that among all those fruit and vegetable stalls, fishmongers and halal butchers, there would also be a stand piled with rolls of canvas for painters? I like to do my shopping there and see how multicultural Berlin has become. Turkish grannies in headscarves, pulling heavily-laden shopping trolleys, rub shoulders with the hipsters, who prefer to consume part of their purchases on the spot. Their self-initiated picnic area at the eastern end of the market has become a favourite venue for local musicians, a soundcloud.com of sorts, but unplugged and off-line.

In German, they call this phenomenon Ducheinander, of which there is no lack of examples in Berlin. Take the art-house cinema Lichtblick (Kastanienallee 77). Housed in a former butcher’s shop, it is one of the smallest and cosiest movie theatres in the city, despite all of the meat hooks hanging from the walls. Then there is the municipal swimming pool and sauna of the Wedding district (Stadtbad Wedding, Gerichtstraße 65), built in the early 1900s with gender-separate entrances and segregated pools. It is now a cultural complex that hosts massive dance parties, multimedia performances and exhibitions of contemporary art. The factory building at Skalitzerstraße 68 has also got new tenants. Once the headquarters of a prominent Berlin manufacturer of gilt picture frames, it seems to have been taken over by an Occupy movement. The doorman’s quarters are home to Silberkuppe, a critically acclaimed project space dedicated to challenge any conventions of art presentation. The former factory showroom, with its historic interior preserved almost intact, is a perfect dwelling for the Motto art bookshop. There, one loses track of time already at the entrance, so feel free to spend an eternity leafing through all those volumes of printed matter, which includes highbrow art theory, fanzines, back issues of nerdy almanacs, posters and experimental artist’s books, many of them rare editions. For those who like wood panelling and built-in bookcases, the Klosterfelde contemporary art gallery (Potsdamer Straße 93) has nestled into what was once an old stationary shop. In the nearby Isabella Bortolozzi Galerie (Schöneberger Ufer 61), one can grasp a fleeting sense of the days when it was the flat of Hans Albers, the most famous German movie star of the 1930s. A visit to Moeller Fine Art (Tempelhofer Ufer 11) is tempting for those into century-old gossip about the high society of the Belle Epoque: here was the Berlin residence of German Prince Aribert of Anhalt, whose non-traditional sexual orientation caused quite a diplomatic stir between the courts of

Kaiser Wilhelm II and Queen Victoria of England. Neither can I refrain from mentioning the vertigo that I experience every time I visit the M72 gallery (Mehringdamm 72), located in an apartment house with one of the most surreal stairwells in all of Berlin. Speaking of stairs and art galleries, be sure to hold on to the handrail if you decide to climb up to the Eigen+Art Lab or Michael Fuchs gallery on the upper floors of the former Jewish girls’ school (Auguststraße 11-13). The handrail, a graceful piece of the functional New Objectivity style of architecture, will send a shock wave through your body once you realize that in order to reach it, you must hunch over in a clearly dysfunctional manner. The necessity to adjust to the dimensions of a child’s world is an effective reminder about the previous residents of the building. Historical interior details take on a special meaning when you live in Berlin, as there are so few of them left. Take time to glance over the tables at the Arkonaplatz flea market, where enthusiasts of not-so-ancient history sell domestic paraphernalia dug up from the mountains of rubble that covered much of the city during the first post-war years. A history lesson can also be had by visiting the Boros Collection (Reinhardstraße 20). To exhibit their vast collection of contemporary art, Christian and Karen Boros have acquired and remodelled a fivestorey concrete bunker that was originally built as an air raid shelter by Hitler’s favourite architect Albert Speer and that could accommodate more than 2000 people. Others have also been fascinated by concrete architecture. Art dealer Johann König recently bought the 1960s Brutalist-style building of St. Agnes Church. Once he finishes with its reconstruction and moves his art gallery there, one will be able to say with certainty Fly to Berlin that in Berlin, with airBaltic round contemporary art can trip from be found practically Price available for bookings at least anywhere. BO 5 months in advance

€99

OUTLOOK / INTERVIEW

Local foodie for a Global Age Chef Claus Meyer

TEXT By Simon Cooper | Photos courtesy of Meyerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mad and NOMA

Whilst many people consider the Copenhagen restaurant Noma as the flag bearer for New Nordic Cuisine, the true engine behind the movement has to be Danish chef, businessman, food scientist, nutritionist, lecturer and entrepreneur Claus Meyer, a man considered by many to be the most seminal gastronomer of his generation. From opening delis and canteen services to educating prisoners and lecturing on food sustainability, Meyer has, over the last 20 years, become a household name in his homeland and increasingly so abroad, and he has simultaneously achieved godlike status whilst remaining the grounded foodie whoÂ lives next door and picks his own apples 40 / AIRBALTIC.COM

OUTLOOK / INTERVIEW

From

the weather-beaten crates of root vegetables withstanding a windswept November morning on the patio, you can tell that the owner of this house takes his food very seriously. You might expect him to be an obsessed gardener or a pensioner competing in a produce show. In fact, the proprietor of this hearty urban homestead is Danish celebrity chef Claus Meyer. An entrepreneur and a visionary, Meyer has experienced another successful business year in 2012. “This is where I do most of my cooking,” he says as we enter his kitchen, which contrasts markedly with the austere outer shell of the house. The modern room is stocked so exhaustively and colourfully that one might think Meyer is hoarding for the Apocalypse. He often cooks at home, usually four to five times a week.

Does he have a signature dish? “No,” comes the reply. “Everything can be fantastic if you put sufficient energy towards it and if you’re inspired. That’s also the story with Noma [titled as the world’s best restaurant for three years in succession (2010-2012) by the British Restaurant magazine – ed]. People say that you can’t make anything out of rye, cabbage or beetroot, which are unfashionable and seen as animal fodder. But what if you looked upon cabbage in a different way?” This spirit of inspiration has helped the vivacious 49-yearold to breathe new life into a Scandinavian, and more specifically Danish food culture. From the outset of his career, Meyer has been seeking to iron out perceived “imperfections” in the Danish way of eating – a crusade against a northern diet over-reliant on fatty meats, rye bread and potatoes. It’s a journey that has taken him from opening the world’s best restaurant and devising a New Nordic Manifesto to teaching prisoners how to cook. “When I invented the concept of New Nordic Cuisine, I didn’t set out to fundamentally change Nordic eating habits. It was more a question of creating something fresh,” says the chef and businessman, decanting some herbal tea from a classically Danish-designed teapot. Noma has arguably become a figurehead for the new Nordic way of cooking, placing an emphasis on seasonal ingredients. When Meyer and his partner of Macedonian descent, chef René Redzepi, dreamed up the concept for the now universally renowned restaurant, they could

hardly have envisaged its meteoric rise and sustained global success, which saw the waterside eatery put Copenhagen on the global food map and render the Danish capital a Mecca for foodies. Scaling such heights of gastronomic recognition was never the founders’ intention. “Noma wasn’t meant to be the best restaurant in the world,” states Meyer. “The purpose was to redefine food in Denmark.” But it did become the world’s best restaurant, succeeding along two lines. Whilst experimenter extraordinaire Redzepi is left to his creative devices in serving up the dishes with flair and modernity, Meyer has been able to spend most of his energy on disseminating the ideology of fresh and seasonal food. Meyer was born on the island of Falster to middle-class parents and grew up in the 1960s, which he terms as “the darkest period of Danish food history.” At the time, home cooking was awash with the likes of tinned meatballs and food colouring. Meyer recalls being fed cheap quality meat and frozen vegetables “pre-boiled years before in Kazakhstan”. He admits being an unhealthy teenager, eating foods based primarily on economy of ingredients and time. “Cooking has never been about sensuality here,” states Meyer. “We live in a puritan country. We’ve been influenced by doctors and priests who, since the beginning of the 1700s, have communicated the idea that great food is a sin. If you cook something fantastic and enjoy it for a number of hours, then you are sinning. Instead, you must eat something of inferior taste and do it quickly.” To the backdrop of what he saw as dietary disaster, the young Meyer spent a life-changing year as an au pair in France after finishing school, helping out in the bakery of a French couple. “France will always have a place in my heart,” he says while acknowledging that a decade ago, Copenhagen’s fine dining scene was almost exclusively the domain of French restaurants and bistros. “That is where I learnt the DNA of a great food culture – the structure, the architecture – from the inside out.” Over the last decade, however, the Danish capital’s concept of haute cuisine has been turned on its head,

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with Gaelic gastronomy being squeezed out by an influx of Thai and Vietnamese restaurants, and then again more recently by the blossoming of new Nordic cooking talent. This leads Meyer to comment wryly that “the Spanish and French guys are still licking their

in Denmark has penetrated many areas of society. Along with Noma and a luxury deli, Meyer also runs a cookery school named Meyer’s Madhus (Meyer’s House of Food, in English), several bakeries, and a number of cooking schools for kids. He first entered

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Meyer recalls being fed cheap quality meat and frozen vegetables “pre-boiled years before in Kazakhstan” wounds. What happened? How did we lose it in Scandinavia? How could we become so yesterday in so few years?”

Danish schools 25 years ago with a Day of Taste, designed to “put a bit of rock n’ roll into home economics”.

A year after opening Noma in 2003, Meyer devised the forthrightly-titled New Nordic Cuisine Manifesto, which was formally approved and adopted by the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2005.

“School canteens have started to offer centrally-produced high-end meals at a very attractive price to children,” he says excitedly of a programme that has challenged the long-standing lunch culture of dark rye bread and a topping. “Now there is an alternative for parents with little time or energy. Their kids can buy a nice lunch for something like 20 kroner – the value or a bag of candy.”

“A lot has changed,” he continues. “People are more interested in local food. They are more active, starting up consumer co-ops, where they buy products from the farmers and then share them with others. You see a lot of farmers’ markets and small-scale food companies arising, based on the Nordic cuisine manifesto. You see a lot of attention to children’s food culture, to educating them in the schools.” Much as in the United Kingdom, the USA and other countries, the food movement

Was there any resistance to Meyer’s efforts? “A little,” he admits. “In some schools, the parents actually said no to the idea of having affordable meals made centrally and delivered to the canteens. ‘We love to prepare our own daily lunch packs for our kids, so please don’t impose on us’.”

OUTLOOK / INTERVIEW now working in three prisons with 120 inmates, whom we are educating so that they have marketable skills when they get out.” Meyer has also left his mark in La Paz, Bolivia, which he describes as “a poor country with not too much © Christina Smedegaard Jensen

Out in the wider community, Meyer’s Madhus, though set up predominantly as a place for adults, began offering a full range of children’s cooking lessons. Then there was the prisoner experiment where, in 2012, Meyer, along with two other chefs, entered Vridsløselille State Prison near

Meyer on the set of New Scandinavian Cookin

Sniffing herbs at a market stall during a trip to La Paz, Bolivia

Copenhagen to give inmates an eight-week course in cooking, baking bread and growing vegetables. The programme was run as a television series and finished with guests from outside being invited to try the food cooked by the prisoners in a makeshift restaurant setting. Now, an expansion of the scheme is in place. “We have signed a contract with the prison service for another two years,” he says excitedly. “We are

violence, but amazing biodiversity and produce. ” There, he is in the process of setting up a restaurant, bistro and cookery school. “We are now in the final stages of building the restaurant with a bakery inside and a food school for poor 16-18-year-olds from the slums of La Paz. We’re training them as chefs.” Meyer is also in the process of preparing a Bolivian food manifesto, on a similar vein to the work he has done in Scandinavia.

OUTLOOK / INTERVIEW Apart from his existing projects, what else does Meyer have up his sleeve? He considers the question. “Well, we’re supporting a guy who specialises in making chopping boards with distinct varieties of local wood from already dead trees, and crafted by hand into the most beautiful pieces of art. His attitude to the wood is similar to Noma’s approach to food. We don’t want to compete with the carrot; we want to celebrate it. It’s very much the same with the wood. We don’t want to

“It’s a very tough project because we’re trying to initiate a culinary revolution, and the last revolutionary (Che Guevara) who tried to change the country was summarily executed. The Bolivians don’t like to be patronised,” accepts Meyer. “On the one hand, they know they need help, but on the other they don’t want to feel like victims. It’s difficult coming with the message that I’m going to help you and that I’m going to use food as an instrument for change. We have learnt to be very careful there.”

Noma: the brightest star in the constellation of Michelin-starred restaurants, yet Meyer’s original intention was not worldwide foodie acclaim

While Meyer hopes that his work in Bolivia will be personally rewarding, nothing excites him more than the food from his native Scandinavia. “It’s particularly nice when a food has an intimate relationship with its landscape, when what you are eating cannot be found anywhere else in the world, such as reindeer and local white berries in Lapland or Skrei fish in Norway. Then there is the Norwegian grouse, which never flies more than 10 kilometres away from its place of birth. It lives on local berries, moss and mushrooms. So when you eat that grouse, you are also eating its landscape. I love the changing of the seasons, each bringing different types of food that are ripe and perfect.”

change it, but work with its natural structure and composition.” “Another project is a big food hall outside of Copenhagen, where all of my retail ventures will be integrated together – the cookery school, coffee roaster, coffee bar, wine bar, restaurant and grab-and-go. Bakers will make fresh bread in a wood-fired oven, as well as really nice, un-Italian pizzas!” This next move is sure to boost Denmark’s growing stature as a world foodie haven – something that the teenage or even the young adult Meyer might have once found hard to believe. BO

OUTLOOK / TRAVEL Text by UGis Olte | Photos Courtesy of TAVA, F64 and by UGis OLTE And MARis OLTE

The hottest ways to get through a cold winter

A story of winter activities conducted at starkly contrasting temperatures

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Back in the days when we were first-year

university students and had just been introduced by our professor to the concept of Maslow’s Pyramid (i.e. that all human needs can be arranged in a hierarchical, importance-based pyramid), we joked that a really good party is one in which you get to experience the “whole pyramid”, bottom to top: from the human urge to eat, drink and procreate, to the need for spiritual values that bring joy to the soul and promote the progress of civilization. Latvia, my homeland, lies at such northerly latitudes that the paucity of winter sunlight often causes our chilled brains to reject the more cerebral things in life, or what could be called “the top of the pyramid”. Nevertheless, Latvians are too proud to spend practically a third of the year simply stuffing their faces or shovelling through the snow. As a result, they’ve tacked on some supplementary “soulsatisfying and spirit-lifting extras” to the customary methods of meeting basic human needs. I shall attempt to share my knowledge of how to best experience these “methods” during a Latvian winter. Thereby I bring to your attention two winter activities that can be done practically anywhere in Latvia, and without having to spend a lot of money doing them. Wintery weather, however, is essential.

Winter landscape near Ērgļi, central Latvia

Although the confusing facts about global warming may lead one to believe that snow is not necessarily guaranteed just because the calendar states that winter has “officially” arrived, I can safely say that during the last 15 years, Latvia has had only one poor winter. And by “poor”, I mean “not much snow” – not “no snow at all”. We don’t have any mountains (the highest point in Latvia, Gaiziņkalns, is a mere 311 metres above sea level), we still have a lot of people who participate in downhill skiing and snowboarding. On winter weekends, the capital city seems empty – probably because many folks can be found on the well-kept downhill ski runs that are scattered throughout the whole country.

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Ventspils

Near Ērgļi, central Latvia

To Latvians, a “downhill ski-run” means a hilly slope (with a maximum height of 50 metres) that has been dutifully cleared of trees, shrubs and stumps (during the summer months) by its chainsaw-wielding owner. Along one edge of this angled clearing, a motor slowly churns a tow-rope that has been tautly looped around two rotating wheels; handholds on the tow-rope allow skiers to effortlessly glide up to the top of the hummock. If you’re lucky, there will also be a small on-site café and a ski rental place. But the one thing that every ski slope in Latvia has, as a rule, is a loudspeaker system blaring a steady stream of raucous noise – otherwise known as the local pop-radio station. On any given winter’s day, a ski slope in Latvia is a spectacle worth taking the trouble to see even if you don’t particularly like to ski: a snowy field teeming with numerous, vibrantly-coloured bipedal figures. The ones hooked up to the tow-rope passively and stiffly

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inch up the incline, enviously watching as those – who have already been liberated from the rope – swivel their hips, slipping and sliding down the hill at a speed that is ten times faster than their own. This large discrepancy in speeds means that to get up the hill, one must wait in a long line – which is reason enough to practice one’s social skills beforehand. After all, what else is there to do while you wait your turn on the “bugelis” (Latvian slang for the tow-rope mechanism), other than people-watch until you finally get up the nerve to “break the ice” with a fellow skier? Meanwhile, at the other edge of the hill, a backwards-skiing instructor teaches this winter sport to tots; the parents of these children have decided that after having mastered the art of walking, skiing is the next compulsory skill that their offspring must acquire. This part of the hill, however, is not to be regarded lightly, since every resort-owner worth his ski wax usually designates the flattest part of the hill as being for children and “teapots” (beginner skiers) only. A Latvian-style downhill ski run is like a steep promenade on which a 40-second-long (at max) ride down the hill must be repaid with at least six minutes of meditative idleness spent queuing up. When I was a kid, skyrocketing down the hill in a straight line without breaking was, indeed, a cool thing to do. If you had downhill skis, this was practically expected of you. But the truly amazing guys were the weirdos who showed up at the top of the hill with cross-country skis: they’d crouch down into a tucked position, then shoot off down the slope – in a direction known to them alone. Now that took guts! This type of skier would be regarded as a “free spirit” – heading off wherever he wanted to go, and for free. That was when I came to the realization that crosscountry/Nordic skiing was the way to go. Luckily, it’s a daily activity for many Latvians, and growing ever more popular. I went to primary school in a small town in the central Latvian region of Vidzeme, and the ceiling of our gymnasium was as low as that of an Art Nouveau flat in the centre of Riga. Needless to say, it wasn’t advised to serve a volleyball full-force – it would immediately slam into the ceiling, or into the opposite wall. Running laps in the tiny space would lead to bouts of dizziness. When the head of the school decided that the gymnasium should be converted into a library, our days of claustrophobic physical education came to an end. From then on, emphasis was to be put on sports that combined physical activity with the benefits gained from growing bodies being out in the fresh air. This is why, every winter, one corner of the classroom was always crammed full of Nordic skis and poles, and the hot-water radiators were usually hidden from sight by a layer of wet ski boots. Twice a week, we all went skiing; if not of our own free will, then jump-started by the power of the obligatory dictates of the educational program. If you forgot your skis at home, then you were not spared: you had to sprint after the skiers on foot, because in Vidzeme, being a skilful skier is a point of honour! “This is the only place in Latvia where two inhabited areas are connected by a web of ski trails. If you wish, you can ski 40 to 50 kilometres on well-kept trails, never having to repeat even a metre of ground already covered”, Raymond Dombrovsky – who has lived halfway between the towns of Jaunpiebalga and Vecpiebalga for

OUTLOOK / TRAVEL the last 12 years – proudly informs us as he waits for his guests to catch up. I’m not out of shape by any means, but any attempt to keep up with Raymond is futile. After all, Dombrovsky was a member of the elite US biathlon team, and, smiling under his moustache, was photographed together with President Ronald Reagan. “I just stew here in my own juices! The natives don’t consider me as one of their own.” Pretty good juices, I think to myself. Raymond’s own prized ski-trail runs straight through his courtyard – open the front door, fasten on your skis, and make a run to the store for some matches and herring! “I once dreamed that I would have a home, with the Latvian flag streaming in the wind in the courtyard, and me skiing on my very own trails,” confides Raymond. Even to a man who earned his spurs in ‘the land of great opportunity’ – America, back then Raymond’s dream seemed pure fantasy. He left Latvia during the 1970s, at a time when flying the carmine-white-carmine striped flag of the country’s first independence period (1918-1940) was punishable by imprisonment under the Soviet regime. He returned two decades later, after his homeland regained its independence, free to promote skiing as a hobby in his region, and unhindered by various constraints that he would likely face elsewhere. “In Germany, France or America, I wouldn’t even dream of such an endeavour, unless I obtained a multimillion-dollar loan. Think of all the documents, forms and the licenses that I would have to obtain just to construct a small, simple skiing bridge over a stream or a light pole for a night trail! Here, I take my shovel, go dig, and in three hours my lantern is ready! That is Latvia! Here we have endless opportunities for development.” Of course, Raymond is not the only one to have grabbed this opportunity by both horns. Strong-minded folk are creating crosscountry ski trails all across Latvia, including Ventspils, the Blue Hills of Ogre, Alūksne, Madona, Ērgļi, Priekule, and even the centre of Riga. Almost two kilometres long, the latter trail, complete with a ski-rental kiosk, is a mere 15-minute walk from Riga’s old town – right next to the towering monument in Victory Park [Uzvaras parks], on the left bank of Daugava River. However, the Vidzeme trails in Ērgļi, Madona and Raymond’s

Near Rezekne, eastern Latvia

Just as a sugar caramel shell tops a crème brûlée – the snow cover develops an upper crust of ice mixed with snow Vanagkalns possess one extra enchanting feature: an elevated ever-changing terrain. During a half-kilometre spell, the trails drop downhill and then climb again. It is precisely this topography that allows one to relish the breathtaking contrast to the senses: outside it’s bloody cold, the steamy breath emanating from one’s nose and mouth like smoke from a dragon. However, inside, the body is all fired up and the blood is flowing forcefully. You don’t need anything else to feel that you are truly alive.

OUTLOOK / TRAVEL In Piebalga, where the trails are ranked according to difficulty, you get a splendid view of the classic Vidzeme landscape, worthy of a lyrical literary masterpiece, fundamentally unchanged for centuries: low-lying, harmoniously proportioned log dwellings with ancient trees in the courtyards, surrounded by hilly fields edged by the dark silhouettes of evergreen forests. The ski trails are even blazed across fields in which farmers will be sowing or planting in the spring. Hardly a problem, since in the winter they lie fallow. That is the beauty of the Latvian people – events that elsewhere

unnecessary risk to the skier’s safety, while the rhythm in which a clearing turns into woods, then into brush, then into a meadow is truly Latvian – experienced most fully if enjoyed slowly. Add to this the knowledge that you can ski for 15 kilometres without encountering evidence of any other living being, and you will receive the most delicious experience of winter solitude that one can long for in Latvia. Well, alright...perhaps in a handful of places you’ll spot the tracks of some non-hibernating forest animal, and perhaps a more nimble skier will pass you. But that’s

A ski slope in Latvia is a spectacle worth taking the trouble to see: a snowy field teeming with numerous, vibrantly-coloured bipedal figures would get mired in a bureaucratic swamp can be accomplished here stress-free; you just work out a deal with your neighbour. A wise local bard once observed: “Latvians like to live next to their neighbours, but not too close!” This love of ‘social solitariness’ is self-evident in the logistical layout of practically every long-distance ski trail in Latvia. You can ski in complete serenity, with no glaring billboards, advertisements, background music, guides or signs with not-always-useful information to assault one from trailside. From the moment when you rent your boots, skis and poles, the only concern is whether to ski in the slide/slide fashion or the classical “how-I-walk-is-howI-ski” manner on a smooth, snowy trail that has been cleared of drifts. The ‘classic’ approach has designated lanes on either side of the trail, while the ‘slide/slide’ method entails a packed three to four-metre-wide spur – like the virgin canvas of an artist waiting for the singular crisscross pattern of the skis, punctuated by the marks of the poles laid down by panting skiers. The clear, crisp sound of smooth skis on pristine snow mingled with an ever-changing landscape excites the senses much more deeply than dawdling endlessly by a downhill ski lift. The gently rolling hills of Latvia’s countryside provide enough of a shot of adrenalin without

all; after a moment, he’s skied round the bend and is gone in a flash. Multiply this state of bliss by two if you decide to glide off on a night ski along a lit trail. The surroundings alternatively seem to contract and expand, but the snow that seemed a homogenous white mass in the daytime now transforms in the glow of lanterns, turning into the Snow Queen’s glittering disco ball – a million glittering shards of shimmering ice crystals. And certainly, as with all things in this world, the pleasures of cross-country skiing also have their premium class. My personal favourites are the following two manoeuvres that one can accomplish while skiing outside the trails. First – finding a small, less travelled country road that a snowplough has cleared, but not yet sanded. Now you’re free to travel down scores of kilometres, along a perfect surface with high snow banks on either side, like a bobsled run. One of Latvia’s unusual features is the fact that many country folk don’t live in villages, but in single-family dwellings – perhaps two families per square kilometre. These islands of solitude are always joined by a road. The local municipalities clear them in the winter without fail. Thus, this kind of improvised skiing can be accomplished in most any corner of the country.

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Latvian black pirts

The next exclusive skiing pleasure arrives closer to the spring thaw, when the ice-melt of the warmer days is followed by a stiff freeze at night. Then – just as a sugar caramel shell tops a crème brûlée – the snow cover develops an upper crust of ice mixed with snow that Latvians call sērsna. The crust means death to wild animals like deer that must flee from hunters and other pursuers; their narrow legs pierce the crust with every step, slowing them down considerably. However, for creatures with wide feet (like hobbits and skiers), this opens up the possibility of moving about freely anywhere the eye can see – field or forest – no matter. Under such snow conditions, the skier is king. One word of caution, however: don’t ski too close to any houses. If the dogs have not been tied up, then you might end up

experiencing first-hand what a fleeing animal feels like. People, however, are not a problem. In Latvia’s countryside, as long as you greet the homeowner warmly from a distance, he won’t accuse you of trespassing on his private property. If you’re lucky, then he may even treat you to a cup of hot herbal tea or invite you to a pirts (the Latvian version of a Finnish sauna). And here we arrive at the next winter pleasure – one imbued with the same potential for recharging your spirit as attending a house of worship. The pirts! This delight can be accessed almost anywhere in Latvia. If you tell the locals that you wish to try a pirts, then they’ll organize it straight away, as pirts are found in many homes and country guest houses. The Finns say that they live half their lives in saunas; while the Estonians say that they are born and die in the sauna. The Latvians also love their ritual purifications in the pirts, which they perform in a variety of imaginative ways. We joke that a Latvian considers a pirts heated to 80 degrees Celsius as chilly, but a summer day when the thermometer rises above 25 degrees as unbearably hot. Children aged 11 and under are allowed to stay home if the outside temperature dips to below minus 20 degrees Celsius, while those aged 12 and over can play hooky without getting into trouble if the temperature drops to below minus 25 degrees. Yet Latvians will want to heat up any room that has cooled to below plus 21 degrees. In short – the contrasts in temperature that Latvians experience render their souls noticeably multidimensional. Latvians also have a wide variety of pirts: the most lacklustre are usually small wood chambers in basements or outbuildings, heated by electrical stoves topped with a small heap of rocks. When a handful of water is poured over these, a surge of hot steam is generated – the Latvians call this gars (spirit). At first you flinch from the whip-like jolt of heat, but soon after you purr in contentment as your body’s pores liberate a deluge of perspiration. A real Latvian pirts has little in common with the familiar Finnish sauna, which relies primarily on dry heat, while Latvians place a great emphasis on the gars. In Latvian homesteads you will find a small wood structure at

OUTLOOK / TRAVEL a distance from the living quarters, usually with a pond in front, an antechamber where people disrobe or rest from the heat, and another chamber of equal size where the pleasure from the heat is savoured. To me, the best pirts are fired by wood – its heat has a velvety soft character and a smoky sweet, chopped- wood scent. Besides, nothing is better for ‘conjuring up the spirit’ – the gars – than a mound of scalding hot fieldstones in a corner of the pirts. Chhshhh! They hiss and the air next to the ceiling fills with steam. And if the ‘spiritwater’ has a handful of light ale added, then the chamber is infused with the indescribable, bittersweet aroma of freshly baked rye bread. In the days of old, the pirts was the mainstay of cleanliness. I assume that back then all Latvians smelled like the two most beloved parameters of this nation’s tastes, that is – smoky and salty – because one variant of the traditional Latvian pirts is without a chimney. During the stoking of the pirts, the chamber, which the people later enter to work up a sweat, roils with smoke. Once the pirts has reached the desired temperature of 100 degrees Celsius, a small window in the side of the chamber is opened to dispel the smoke. Here and there these ‘black’ pirts (due to the smoky colour of their walls) can still be found, mainly in Latvia’s eastern region of Latgale. If you have a desire to try this option, then remember the code words – Latvian pirts or alternatively, melnā pirts (black pirts)! That’s what it’s called in these parts. It’s best not to touch the walls, which are covered with soot from the condensed smoke. Besides its archaic charm, the pirts has scores of bliss-inducing facets. To begin with, one never goes into a pirts with one’s enemy, only with a friend! There is no clearer code that better attests to the beauty of human bonding than a cluster of voluntarily naked folk in a small room that is so sweltering that water evaporates. Conversations in the pirts are always heartfelt and of the essence – there, where your flesh endures the trials of heat, the soul will never be preoccupied with the trivial. In turn, the traditional ‘thrashing’, performed to galvanize the expulsion of toxins from the body, is a total surrender to

your companions as they lash your entire body with ‘brooms’ or besoms made from any of a wide range of plant life. Although in my day I have submitted to the extreme of a ‘juniper broom’, the most pleasing to the flesh are the tender new leaves of the birch. The foliage for the ‘thrashing brooms’ is collected no later than June, while the boughs are still brimming with energy. The more supple branches are tied into a sizable besom and used immediately or dried for the winter, so that when nature is decomposing the past season’s leaves under a mantle of snow, the heat of the pirts invokes the semblance of spring scents and recharges the soul with the energy of Nature’s life force. Clearly, one must go to a pirts not only in the wintertime, but during all four enchanted seasons in Latvia. However, winter provides the opportunity to perform one particular ritual that you will never forget: after your flesh has been heated up, rested, heated up again, cooled down again, heated up for a third time and thoroughly thrashed with a birch branch ‘broom’, you dash from the heat of the pirts and dive into the nearest snow bank, roll about and quickly flee back to the pirts’ hot embrace! The flesh will yelp, but your spirit will be thrilled! I recommend that you then anoint your purified body, while it’s still hot, with at least 300 grams of honey. Just don’t be alarmed that when partaking of the pirts, the otherwise cool and reserved Latvians suddenly throw off their clothes and stand completely naked in front of complete strangers (the man who goes into the pirts in his underwear is considered decidedly strange), then perch themselves on the pirts benches like doves on a wire, and after half an hour of hellish heat, offer to thrash you. This is not revenge for some historical wrong that you have no prior knowledge of having perpetrated, but rather the highest testament to hospitality and respect. The interplay of contrasts forms the basis of any good work of art. Hence, after a decent thrashing and a spin in the snow, your soul, like a vortex of steam, will hover in deep contentment at least a metre above your body without the least thought of abandoning it. Quite the contrary – this well-thought interplay of heat and cold will make you feel more alive than ever! BO

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Gorgeous Georgia The sun-bathed Caucasian valleys of Georgia hide an underrated treat, just as much for skiing beginners as for steep-and-deep experts. So far, Gudauri’s well-run pistes and superb powder have remained a pretty well-kept secret, at least for Western Europeans, which means only one thing – try Gudauri before it gets too crowded!

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OUTLOOK / TRAVEL

It’s

our third run up the hill on a day that the Germans would call Postkartenwetter – the kind of weather that’s too beautiful to be real. No Photoshop would be needed to make a Caucasus postcard out of this scene. Someone beside me seems to be thinking exactly the same thing – a slightly chubby snowboarder taking the same chairlift up. We begin to chat, for we have something in common: it is our first time in Georgia, and our first day on the slopes of Gudauri. Noah, an American of Czech origin, seems to be a quick decision-maker: he quit his position as an electrical engineer last spring and turned travelling into a full-time occupation. It took him only minutes to buy a season ticket to Gudauri (226 EUR), basically turning the resort into his home for the next couple of months. Gudauri is not a huge place and I run into Noah now and then. He seems to have befriended a bunch of wild free-riders, some true Gudauri veterans, all lavishly praising the powder. When they find out that I’m writing this article, they offer to share some tips with the readers of the magazine. The contribution is surprising in both its brevity and its content: “Gudauri sucks. Don‘t come here.” Read between the lines: the selfish free-ride maniacs don’t want crowds of tourists to invade this awesome skiing paradise.

GUDAURI resort

Caucasian winter capital © Peter Mathis, Mallaun, Wucher Helicopter

pened in 1986 O About 120 km north of Tbilisi, which is about a two-hour drive More than 57 km of ski runs and over 20 pistes The lowest lift station is at nearly 2000 metres above sea level Features five Doppelmayr chair lifts and a Poma gondola lift The top station, Sadzele, is at 3306 metres Average in-season snow depth exceeds 2.5 metres Night skiing available on Fridays and Saturdays Heli-skiing offered by two companies Number of visitors in 2012 – 62 000 A day ski pass for an adult costs 30 GEL, while a six-day ski pass costs 160 GEL

Georgia is about the same size as Austria, and just about as mountainous, but there are only three spots that the locals name as skiing destinations. Located on the Greater Caucasus mountain range, a two-hour drive from Tbilisi, Gudauri would be the highest resort and most suitable for passionate skiers; Bakuriani, being the oldest, most urban and closest to the capital, has taken the family ski destination segment; while the region of Svaneti offers a rather wild experience, thanks to its lack of infrastructure and harder accessibility (it takes nearly 10 hours to drive there from the capital).

BALTIC OUTLOOK / FEBRUARY 2013 / 55

OUTLOOK / TRAVEL Unlike many other ski destinations, Gudauri was not a mining town or a site for the Winter Olympics before being turned into a ski resort. In 1980, it was barely a village, when two Italians came on commission from the government of Soviet Georgia and Fresh powder is one of Gudauri’s distinguishing features

Two rival heli-skiing service providers – Heliksir (above) and Wucher

Weather-wise, Gudauri gets a lot of virgin snow and the number of powder days is high. This is one of the resort’s main appeals to hardcore ski bums Of the three, Gudauri is already equipped with most of the prerequisites to grow into the winter capital of the Caucasus. Located above the tree line, with largely avalanche-free ski trails, steady snow cover, good piste-construction possibilities and unlimited free-ride options, Gudauri only requires three more things to attain this status: money, a solid vision and political stability for the country. Speaking of stability and foreign affairs, our Tbilisi–Gudauri transfer driver half-jokingly says that through Georgians’ strong Christian faith and love of wine – two things equally capable of uniting the people – they have managed to consolidate their country’s independence, although its location and resources have always tempted the neighbouring superpowers, Turkey and Russia.

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established the skiing potential of the place. Entrusting the first investments to Austrians (the construction of four rope tows and the hotel that now is known as Marco Polo Gudauri), Soviet Georgia opened the resort in 1986 and ran it until the collapse of the USSR. Thanks to Western investments, for a while Gudauri possessed the Soviet Union’s only snow groomer for ski trails. However, little money inflow was seen over the years when Gudauri was run by the Georgian Ministry of Economic Development, and things were especially quiet between 2006 and 2010, when tense relations with Russia ended in the closing of the boarder between the two countries. For Gudauri, located on a Georgian military road – an ancient artery that connects Tbilisi to the Russian city Vladikavkaz – this had a negative impact on the number of clients, of which the Russians formed and still form a solid share.

New Gudauri Three years ago in March, the border opened again, and a month later the Gudauri Development Fund, a Tbilisi City Hall-run institution, took over the maintenance and development of the place with the aim of turning it into the best ski resort in the postSoviet territories. A bright future seems to be ahead, judging by the fund team’s speed and dedication. It set up the first gondola lift a year ago, while this year, it is overseeing the construction of two new hotels and an apartment building. This will raise the town’s bed capacity by half to about 1500. The fund also plans to finish an artificial snow project to prolong the ski season, permitting the resort to open in November instead of December and continue working for six months in a row. Extra ski lifts and parking lots are

OUTLOOK / TRAVEL also on the to-do list. To add to Gudauri’s off-piste entertainment, a casino will soon see the daylight. Currently the village is scattered over Lower and Upper Gudauri. After the implementation of all these investments, we will be speaking of a place called New Gudauri, according to the development fund. When it comes to piste grooming, Gudauri’s slopes are maintained surprisingly well, even better than in many Alpine resorts. Weather-wise, Gudauri gets a lot of virgin snow and the number of powder days is high. This is one of the resort’s main appeals to hardcore ski bums. Sadzele, the top station at 3307 metres, not only offers a stunning view of Kazbeg, the country’s third highest mountain (5033 m), but also provides some of the best off-piste skiing opportunities. About two days per season, the wind gets too harsh for the lifts to stay open, and Sadzele is the first to get closed in case of bad weather. However, when open, it’s a must in Gudauri. Expert skiers will be thrilled to carve 3C and 3D slopes, which end in a café that easily deserves the honour of the mountain’s best eatery. Its lamb, beef, pork, chicken or vegetable shashlik (i.e. shish kebab) is a must, and so are the hot Mexican-style potatoes. A tea with chacha (a liqueur dubbed as Georgian vodka) will complete the picture perfectly. Meanwhile, 7A is the perfect cruise for intermediate skiers. It’s long, scenic and allows you to build up your carving skills without getting too steep. The months ahead in February and March are the best. As a local guide puts it, in February the snow is usually better, for the sun is not yet strong. However, March is favoured by families with children on their school holiday. The average temperature in February is plus 3 degrees Celsius, while in March it is already 7 degrees.

Off-piste free-rides can bring you as low as the tree level

Off the slopes When it comes to après-ski, nightlife and pulsating music beats, Gudauri is not on top of the list. However, this doesn’t mean that life gets quiet after the lifts close. The warm disposition of the locals and the low wine prices mean that no one should complain about a lack of parties. These less organized, more improvised types of feasts take place in the few off-slope restaurants that Gudauri has.

Untracked powder, a heli-skiing privilege

OUTLOOK / TRAVEL

The restaurants here are simple, and some waitresses have not yet become familiar with the smile culture of customer service in theÂ West. Any menu in Georgia will likely include numerous dishes; none of them fancy, but all rich in flavour. The Gudauri eateries are no exception, with numerous types of bread alone taking up half a menu page. While winemaking has lengthy traditions in the country, Georgians are only now starting to produce high-quality wines, which have not yet reached Gudauri. The reds and whites at this resort are most likely to be homemade, as is the chacha, leaving you wellequipped to devote the majority of your dinner meal to a favourite Georgian pastime â&#x20AC;&#x201C; raising toasts with your newfound friends. Be sure to make every other toast to the beauty of Mother Georgia, as she totally deserves such tributes. BO

ÂŠ Peter Mathis, Mallaun, Wucher Helicopter

The four-starred Hotel Marco Polo, also known as the cradle of Gudauri

LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF GUDAURI ADRESSES HOTEL MARCO POLO GUDAURI For some reason named after the famous Venetian explorer, the Hotel Marco Polo is basically the cradle of the entire resort. When the Georgians realized the potential of the location at the beginning of 1980s, they entrusted the construction of the hotel and four rope tows to an Austrian company. Previously called the Gudauri Sport Hotel, the 200-guest, four-star hotel now has not only changed its name, but also gone through a solid makeover, so only the façade betrays its three-decade-long history. The Marco Polo is probably the best location to access the slopes, as the first lift of the resort stands a short downhill ride from the hotel’s ski depot. The resort’s ticket office and ski rental are also at the tip of your nose, and – of no small importance at the end of any ski-filled day – hotel guests have free admittance to its spa. Since the facilities at Gudauri are fairly spread out, the Marco Polo serves as a conveniently central location. Its lobby is a popular meeting point,

while during the evenings, couples dance among the eight tables of the second-floor bar. A standard double room costs 230 GEL (104 EUR), while a junior suite (including half board and the spa area) goes for 425 GEL (192 EUR) per night. www.hotelgudauri.com

HOTEL OZON One of the oldest guest houses in Gudauri, the three-storey Hotel Ozon can accommodate up to 58 people. Like most hotels in Gudauri, the Ozon offers half board, which means hearty home cooking twice a day. Since it is some distance away from the slopes, a transfer car will bring you there. Admittedly, the interior and some of the technical solutions at Ozon are not the poshest and most up-to-date. However, the hospitality of Tatia Tugushi, the lady of the house, and her team will compensate for that. Other good guest house options include the Hotel Shele (www.hotelshele.ge), Shino and Gagieti. Double room (half board) 70 EUR, single room 35 EUR

OUTLOOK / TRAVEL HOTEL TRUSO Given that Gudauri’s supermarket, gas station, police office and one of the two non-hotel restaurants all surround Truso, it could be called the most centrally located hotel in the resort. Ski lifts are a mere 10-minute walk away. Truso invests into marketing, and information-wise might be one of the most accessible places for foreigners in its weight-category of 10-20-roomsized hotels. Double room (half board) 116 EUR, single room 94 EUR www.hoteltruso.com

HELI-SKIING BY WUCHER

Après-ski activities at the Marco Polo spa include a sauna, a jacuzzi, a pool and the option of massage

For years, Heliksir was a monopolist in Gudauri, delivering solid French heli-skiing quality at prices that generally exceeded average rates in the Alps. However, starting this season, a competitor has emerged in the Caucasian region: the Austrian company Wucher, which has helped to bring prices down a little. Wucher’s fleet, pilots and technicians are all Austrian. It will be offering two kinds of packages through March 16: 3+3 (three days of heli-skiing, three days of regular skiing; 3350 EUR per person in a double room with half-board and with 8000 vertical metres of heli-skiing descent guaranteed) and Premium 7 (seven days of heli-skiing; 6390 EUR per person in a double room, with 20,000 vertical metres of heli-skiing decent guaranteed). www.wucher-helicopter.at

HELI-SKIING BY HELIKSIR

Junior suite at the Hotel Marco Polo

At Heliksir the season lasts two weeks longer, until March 30. Its packages resemble those by Wucher – three days of heli-skiing (7500 guaranteed vertical metres) for 3300 EUR and seven days for 6500 EUR, with a single three- or four-star hotel room and full board (breakfast, lunch and dinner included). The price also covers a transfer from Tbilisi airport and back. Heliksir’s helicopters and crew come from Switzerland. www.heliski.travel

White Garden — это первая в Риге узкоспециализированная мастерстудия класса “люкс” , предлагающая комплексный уход за руками и ногами по авторской методике Christina Fitzgerald , эпиляцию с австралийскими восками Lycon. Поклонники аппаратного педикюра смогут по достоинству оценить немецкую косметику Baehr. В салоне также есть возможность сделать различные процедуры по уходу за лицом и телом, фотоэпиляцию и вакуумный массаж тела от Starvak. Являясь эксклюзивным представителем косметики и лаков Christina Fitzgerald в странах Балтии, White Garden предлагает широчайшую палитру лаков, число цветов в которой — 67. White Garden — место, где каждый клиент найдет для себя что-то особенное! Здесь знают секреты красоты!

White Garden is the first luxurious Master Studio with a dainty finesse in the city of Riga, offering the most sophisticated Christina Fitzgerald hands and feet care treatments and Australian Lycon epilation as well as Baehr German cosmetics for the delight of those who love to indulge in the pleasures of machine pedicure. We also offer assorted manner of face and body care treatments, photo epilation and Starvak vacuum massage. White Garden, in the Baltics, is the sole representative of Christina Fitzgerald cosmetics with its enormous range of nail polishes that number up to 67 colours! There is something special for you out there, discover that secret at White Garden! Master’s Studio White Garden, 5 Ausekla street , Riga Ph.: +37167078777, +37127553777 www.whitegarden.lv

OUTLOOK / PROMO

Publicity photos

Give your health a boost

in Jūrmala

Stress negatively affects the immune system and the body’s ability to protect itself against a variety of illnesses. No matter how much you use various fruits and vegetables in your diet, that may not be enough to ward off the viruses of winter’s cold and windy months. The immune system is a delicate mechanism that reacts to the smallest changes. An incorrect diet, vitamin deficiency, stress, overwork and many other conditions affect it. Jūrmala’s rehabilitation centres and resort hotels offer a number of effective programmes to strengthen the immune system for children and adults Ideas for improving your health and mood at Jūrmala: • Walks along the beach, where the ionized air of the sea and pine forests, rich in phytoncides, will have a positive effect. Nordic walking and other outdoor sporting activities (with or without a trainer) are offered by most of Jūrmala’s health resort hotels and rehabilitation centres. These will bring positive changes to your health and mood, as well as lower your level of stress. • Spoil yourself with a spa procedure – a massage or bath in one of Jūrmala’s spa centres. Our organism reflects our emotions. If you feel anxious, then this can manifest itself in a sore throat or a runny nose.

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• Halotherapy or treatment with a salty microclimate has become increasingly popular in Latvia. One can relax in a salt cave at many spas now, not just at medical centres. The treatment takes place in a room whose ceiling, walls and floor are covered with salt. However, three other factors are just as important: the temperature, the humidity level and the salt aerosol – a special piece of equipment that crushes the heated salt into a fine powder and blows it into the room. All you have to do is to lie down comfortably in a bed and breathe deeply.

• Try out a steam bath or sauna, as well as a pool filled with mineral water. The most important advantage of steam baths and other water procedures is their capacity to improve your physical and emotional well-being, to free you from daily stresses, relax you and renew your energy. • Absorb the sun’s energy in the sunlight rooms of Jūrmala’s resort hotels and rehabilitation centres. The bright light stimulates the body’s regenerative processes and immune system, while harmonizing its metabolic processes. Light therapy reduces the symptoms of seasonal depression and is beneficial for practically anyone, not just for people with winter depression.

OUTLOOK / PROMO

Baltic Beach Hotel

Special offers for wellness rituals » Baltic Beach Hotel***** Enjoy our special bath rituals for the regeneration of your body and spirit. The Ice & Flame bath ritual includes a massage with bamboo whisks; body wrapping with ginger and scrubbing with ice, as well as a 60-minute visit to The Garden water relaxation area, where you will find: • an Amber sauna; • and Old Wood sauna with a fireplace; • a Hamam Turkish bath; • a swimming pool with a cascade; • a Jacuzzi; • shower facilities; • a Kneipp pool for your feet. Price: 45 LVL / 64 EUR (2 hours)

The salt room It’s special microclimate improves the skin structure, stabilizes one’s natural metabolism and promotes the body’s ability to resist different diseases. Price: 5 LVL / 8 EUR (1 hour), 3 LVL / 5 EUR (30 minutes; for children)

A steam bath with bathing besoms Treatment increases the blood circulation in the body’s muscles, while stimulating the metabolism and oxygen delivery. Price: 15 LVL / 22 EUR www.bbh.lv

» Jaunķemeri resort rehabilitation centre Rehabilitation program to strengthen the immune system* (7 days / 6 nights)

Includes: • Accommodation in a facilitated double or single room; • Diet menu meals three times a day; • Consultation with a physician; • Daily phototherapy; • Ayurveda specialist consultation (1 x); • Session with a psychologist (60 min); • Physiotherapist or yoga class group (yoga / Nordic walking; once a day); • Cardio training (3 x); • Massage (30 min; 2 x); • Mineral baths (4 x); • Mud applications (3 x); • Swimming pool (4 x); • Salt therapy (3 x); • Physical therapy (5 x); • Jaunķemeri mineral water procedure. Price: 382 EUR (1 person, twin room), 494 EUR (single room) * The program is not offered during the summer months. * It is possible to supplement the list of procedures for an additional payment on doctor’s orders. www.jaunkemeri.lv

» Enjoy a winter fairytale at the Pegasa Pils spa centre Body hydro massage with red bilberry oil During this massage, the red bilberry oil moisturizes, softens, soothes and nourishes your skin, while relieving skin irritation.

homemade red bilberry jam at the restaurant. Price: 31 LVL / 45 EUR www.hotelpegasapils.com

» Light House Jūrmala A unique place in Jūrmala that offers fresh sturgeon for your dining pleasure. The restaurant houses an aquarium with live fish that the chef will prepare specially for you. Sturgeons are considered to be among the best fish of all, both in terms of nutrition and flavour. February’s special offer to Baltic Outlook readers for two persons – 40 LVL / 57 EUR* www.lhj.lv

Vitamy body wrapping treatment This Histomer Vitamy treatment fights signs of skin ageing and eliminates all lack of calcium and vitamins. Vitamy represents a new direction to face the flaws of an ageing body. It is a wonderful antiage body treatment. Price: 40 LVL / 57 EUR (70 min)

Vitamin C treatment

* Show a copy of Baltic Outlook magazine at the reception, or write in the promotional code BO February when making your reservation.

This Histomer treatment will give your complexion a clearer, more radiant look and remove small pigmentation flaws. The skin becomes more elastic and wrinkles appear less visible. Price: 30 LVL / 43 EUR (60 min)

» Eiropa Hotel**** Order an Eco SPA procedure for two people at the Eiropa Hotel, and you will get a special price for a Business Double Room – only 35 LVL! * Order an Eco SPA procedure with ecological Norden cosmetics for two people at the Eiropa Hotel, and you will get a special price for a Business Double Room – only 35 LVL / 50 EUR! *

www.hoteljurmala.com

www.tourism.jurmala.lv

www.eiropahotel.lv

* Show a copy of Baltic Outlook magazine at the reception, or write in the promotional code BO February when making your reservation.

How to get there

Speleotherapy – salt cave treatment

» Hotel Jūrmala Spa****

After the treatment, we invite you to have a cup of green tea with

This Histomer Vitamy treatment

Vitamy body peeling

includes a body scrub and moisturizing with lotion. Fights signs of aging and enriches the skin with calcium and vitamins. Price: 21 EUR (30 min)

From the airport Riga by taxi (apr. 15 min.) From Riga Central Station: by train or minibus. If you want to explore the centre of Jūrmala, ask for a ticket to Majori Station

BALTIC OUTLOOK / FEBRUARY 2013 / 63

OUTLOOK / GADGETS

TEXT BY ROGER NORUM | PUBLICITY PHOTOS

Just in case These sleek laptop sleeves will make you the envy of your cubicle mates or the passengers sitting next to you

Knomo Lincoln Slim Briefcase Commuterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dream satchel

Urban, classic and simultaneously contemporary, this French-designed envelope-like case offers the protection of sumptuous plumber bag. The organically tanned (with chestnut and acacia tree tannins) leather business card and USB stick holders are dated and signed by the artisan who hand-cut and stitched the bag. Just the thing to bring to your favourite contemporary art museum or to an interview for that next architect job.

This padded leather case is made from waterproof and lightweight waxed canvas, featuring muted tones with an interior in bright contrasting colours. There are short carry handles as well as a detachable strap, plus an external long top zip pocket for cables or general items. The waterproof zips are complemented by aluminium zipper tabs that let you fasten a small luggage padlock through them. Comes in black, khaki, grey and multi-coloured shades.

95 EUR | www.bleu-de-chauffe.com

85 EUR | www.knomobags.com

Bleu de Chauffe TrĂ¨s chic felt case

OUTLOOK / GADGETS

Herschel Anchor Funky plaid laptop holder This simple two-panel sleeve is designed with a fully padded fleece-lined interior. It comes in a range of retro plaid fabric styles that will make you look at home in any bohemian

Incipio Denver Cool, slick pad

setting. Features a dual zip top closure with leather pulls. Slightly more functional is Herschel’s Pop Quiz sleeve, which has an additional front pocket and pouch for accessories. 100% polyester. 34.95 EUR | www.herschelsupply.com

Ideal for frequent fliers, this padded laptop sleeve with zipped fastenings is one of the sleekest on the market. The Denver protects against knocks, bumps, scratches and scuffs while on the go, but adds little bulk and weight to the package. Also check out Incipio’s other cases, including the SEA, which features an outer pocket for quick access to charging cables and documents, and the envelope style SFO, which has velcro fastenings and a stitched, quilted finish. 31.50 EUR | www.incipio.com

Otis Batterbee Travel Pouch Classic British carry-all Designed by a great, recently-founded British men’s accessories brand, this classic A3-sized pouch is perfect for holding travel documents, magazines and a tablet or slim laptop. It is made from an ultra-durable waxed canvas fabric and lined with quilted suede fabric that offers great protection. A small internal pocket can hold keys and a mobile phone. The pouch offers a look that is both trendy and timeless. 98 EUR | www.otisbatterbee.com

CARS

In association with car buyers guide Whatcar.lv

Driven: The new Volkswagen Golf The Mk7 Golf is built

on an all-new platform, while weight-saving measures, such as the use of high-strength steel, make it up to 100 kg lighter than its predecessor. This, along with new engines and better aerodynamics, has helped VW to reduce the Golf’s fuel consumption by an average of 14% across the range, claims the automaker.

This is the new Volkswagen Golf, and although its lines are instantly familiar, VW hasn’t just updated the existing model as it did the previous time it introduced a ‘new’ Golf 66 / AIRBALTIC.COM

What’s it like to drive?

We tried the 140-hp 1.4-litre petrol engine and the 2.0-litre diesel, both of which feel strong and punchy. The petrol is particularly impressive because it has a broader

spread of power and is super smooth, whether it’s running on four cylinders or two; you’re unlikely to even notice it switching between the two. We were impressed by the refinement in general. There is some tyre noise and the door mirrors generate wind noise at motorway speeds, but overall the Golf is quieter than most of its rivals. The latest Golf has slightly quicker steering than its predecessor, so it feels a little bit more eager to turn in to bends. More expensive models come with a system that lets you alter the throttle response and the shift speeds

CARS of the optional DSG semi-auto gearbox. However, don’t think that this all makes the new car feel dramatically different from its predecessor. The steering feels a little lighter and easier at parking speeds, but it’s much the same as in the outgoing model, and the balance between ride and handling feels just as familiar. Fortunately, this is no bad thing, because it means that the steering offers plenty of reassurance and the car manages to blend a comfortable ride with good body control. The one slight word of caution is that all the cars we’ve driven have more than 120 hp. These get a sophisticated multi-link rear suspension design, like the current car’s, whereas less powerful models switch to a less complex, but lighter set-up.

What’s it like inside?

The new Golf is longer and wider than its predecessor, which translates into more leg- and shoulder room front and rear. True, there’s less headroom because the roof is lower than before, but six-footers still have plenty of space. Drivers of all sizes should be able to find a comfortable driving position, thanks to the huge range of adjustments on offer. Meanwhile, all-round vision is excellent, despite the introduction of quarterlight windows ahead of the front doors, which bring a small extra pillar behind the windscreen. The dashboard is now angled towards the driver, being easy to use thanks to simple rotary climate controls and a standard touch-screen infotainment system that

CARS

features clear menus and handy shortcut buttons. The only slight concern is that, aside from more sophisticated on-screen graphics, the perceived quality of the things you see and touch hasn’t moved on. As a result, the Golf’s cabin isn’t as appealing as the latest Audi A3’s, although it still feels a cut above that of most other rivals. At the other end of the car, the boot has grown from 350 litres to 380, making it one of the biggest in its class, now featuring an adjustable floor. This divides the space in two and reduces the load lip when it’s in its higher setting. It also

Whichever Golf you drive, the impression it leaves is one of quality ensures that there’s no step up to the rear seats when they’re folded down. We would pick a Golf that comes with adaptive cruise control and a City Emergency Braking system that automatically applies the brakes if it detects an imminent collision at speeds below 30 km/h. Other safety equipment that is available includes a fatigue-detection system, lanekeeping assist and traffic sign recognition.

Should I buy one?

Despite its improved technology and efficiency, the new Golf costs about the same as an equivalent version of the previous generation. It sits between the Ford Focus and Audi A3 on price, although it’s likely to work out cheaper than the Focus in the long run – because of better resale values. The A3 will provide a sterner test, especially when Audi introduces the five-door Sportback version this spring. Still, whichever turns out to have the edge, it’s clear that Volkswagen has succeeded in producing a better Golf, and that makes it one of the best small family cars around. BO

MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY IN VILNIUS DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS • Land area – 19 055 sqm • Scope of development (GBA) – - Total net areas – - Residential (GSA) – - Commercial (GLA) – • Parking planned – 450 spaces • Detailed plan approved

38 300 sqm 33 500 sqm 16 500 sqm 17 000 sqm

LOCATION

DETAILED PLAN REGULATIONS

PROJECT DETAILS

Located in central Vilnius, just 3 minutes walk from the most important street of the city, Gediminas Ave., and only 10 minutes walk from Vilnius Old Town. Fully developed infrastructure with public transportation stops, several kindergartens, schools and prime shopping streets. In addition, shops restaurants and cafes operate nearby.

• Intensity – 2,1 • Density – 60 % • Height – 5 ﬂoors (20m) • Purpose of use – residential and commercial • Date of approval – Autumn 2012

Approximately 17 000 sqm GLA of multipurpose commercial building for B+ ofﬁce and/or hotel. On the left part of the site, a mid/high level residential complex with total of 16 500 sqm of GSA is planned.

CONTACTS: GIEDRIUS RAGAISIS Head of Advice, Lithuania + 370 612 16 408 + 371 6750 8400 g.ragaisis@newsec.lt www.newsecbaltics.com

THE FULL SERVICE PROPERTY HOUSE

Exclusive adviser

OUTLOOK / PROMO / DINING

PUBLICITY PHOTOS

the building’s venerable past. These old stalwarts have been complemented with more modern amenities, such as practical wood stoves that permit the restaurant’s patrons to observe the snow-covered streets of the old town in warmth and in comfort. Roberts Smilga, the head chef and co-owner of 1221, is an artist at heart. He sees his cooking as being no less creative than any other field of art, and says that he can’t come up with new dishes on commission. In other words, the ideas for his new recipes have to come naturally, based primarily on inspiration. Although the restaurant’s regular clients have their own favourite dishes, Smilga likes to place new recipes on the menu from time to time. That requires a constant upgrading of his skills and talents. The chef’s next challenge is to offer a dish with fresh truffles; not an easy task, but one that he is determined to carry out in the near future. Smilga regularly visits Michelin-starred restaurants all across Europe to see what products other chefs are using, as well as remember forgotten recipes and draw inspiration for new dishes. Once, while shopping in a supermarket, he saw a jar containing apricots stuffed with goat’s cheese, which triggered his creative processes and induced him to think up a new recipe for his restaurant. He is always searching for new ideas, spurred on by the fact that eating is one of life’s most important aspects – and greatest pleasures.

A gourmet feast Not far from the Dome Cathedral is Jauniela,

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

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one of Old Riga’s most beautiful and charming streets. It, in turn, is home to one of the old town’s most beautiful and charming buildings – a pretty light blue edifice with a decoratively painted façade. There, one will find one of the city’s finest and most renowned restaurants – 1221. The small, historical three-storey building was first inhabited by Bishop Albert, who founded the City of Riga in the early 13th century. It was rebuilt in its present form after a devastating fire in the 17th century. Today, the building’s current owners have installed a tastefully reserved interior, whose old wooden staircase, crossbeams and other historical attributes attest to

Smilga has designed the menu at 1221 so that tourists can enjoy local Latvian products, and so that local residents can try out something more exotic. Word of the restaurant’s outstanding cuisine has spread quickly, with people sometimes queuing up at the entrance during lunch and dinnertime. Some patrons come armed with lists of dishes that others have recommended, and gourmands flying in from Moscow have been driven to the restaurant straight from the Riga airport. The smiling chef adds that nothing motivates him more than the heartfelt thanks of his clients. The main addition to this winter’s seasonal menu is wild game, including beaver and stag meat, with wild boar, deer and even dove meat set to follow soon. The chef purchases these products from trusted partners and puts them through a rigorous evaluation process before placing them on his patrons’ dinner plates – to universal praise and acclaim. BO

OUTLOOK / PROMO / DINING

Publicity photos

Alberta 1221 restaurant Antonijas iela 13, Riga Hours: Mon.–Sun. 11:00–23:00 alberta1221@ltk.lv (+371) 67336500 www.alberta1221.lv

The chef’s new experiments:

Alberta 1221 One of Riga’s newest restaurants,

Alberta 1221, opened in a pleasant atmosphere at the end of last year in the “quiet centre” of Riga, otherwise known as the Art Nouveau district. The opening took place at the auspicious time of 12:21 PM on December 12. Those who are familiar with Riga’s gastronomic scene already know the newcomer’s sister restaurant 1221, where head chef Roberts Smilga also works. The waiters politely invite you into the reservedly elegant interior, whose antique furniture, lampshades and gilt-framed mirror were selected by established

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Latvian architect Andis Sīlis. Chef Roberts Smilga, in opening the new Alberta 1221 restaurant, wanted to try out new things so that his days wouldn’t become routine. Smilga swapped his beloved French cuisine, which he describes as working with small pincers, with Italian gastronomy, which he compares to Impressionism – one can see the brush strokes in it more clearly and the composition is freer. When a customer asked whether the chef at Alberta 1221 is Italian, Smilga saw this as one of the best compliments that he could receive for his work.

The chef has always liked to try new things, and excels at experimenting to find unusual nuances of flavour. He also offers foods that are not usually found in Latvian restaurants. Take the veal tail and tongue, or the meatballs made from pheasant meat as the most interesting new items on the Alberta 1221 menu. Recently, as a guest on a cooking show in Russia, Smilga prepared something from products he’d brought along from Latvia – chanterelles and wild strawberries – allowing guests to sample previously unknown combinations of flavours. At Alberta 1221, one can try out the chef’s creative accomplishments every day of the week. While Smilga tries to use local products as much as possible, he won’t hesitate to combine them with foreign ingredients if they complement each other. That’s how he developed his fresh salmon carpaccio with rosemary oil, balsamic vinaigrette and Dorblu brioche. There, the mildflavoured salmon and fresh peppers are pleasantly combined with a lightly toasted layer of salty cheese. For dessert, try the iced tamarillo with vanilla ice cream in balsamic and honey, which allows you to taste an exotic fruit together with freshly-made ice cream prepared right at the restaurant. For a long time afterwards, you’ll be thinking back about that newly discovered sweet-and-sour taste. Smilga gladly comes out from the kitchen to ask his guests whether they have enjoyed their meal, often telling them about some of the nuances in the preparation. Among the betterknown patrons he has served are Gina Lollobrigida, Alain Delon and Chris Norman, as well as many prominent people in Latvia. As an added perk, the specialists at Alberta 1221 have selected exquisite wines that can’t be found in most stores, and which bring out the flavour in Smilga’s creatively prepared dishes. The friendly staff will make sure that you feel welcome, as you savour quality food that has been prepared with just the right dose of improvisation and playfulness. BO

FOOD & DRINK

TEXT BY KATE KRUMINA | PUBLICITY PHOTOS

Restaurants, bars and cafés

Hotel dining finds in Riga

Fly to Riga with airBaltic from

€39

D’vine wine bar and restaurant, Riga D’vine will tempt you to drop once and for all any ‘hotel dining’ prejudices. Its central location, tasteful décor and relaxed ambiance make it a prized entity in itself. However, the real value of the place lies in the kitchen, which, judging by its miniature size, demonstrates one of the highest efficiency rates per square metre of any restaurant I’ve been to. Located right in the middle of the establishment, the kitchenette really ties the room together, at the same time filling your plate with something as intricate and delicious as a salt-crust roasted wood pigeon breast. D’vine is an all-day venue, starting at noon with a business lunch (from 12:00–16:00). For a moderate 4.50 LVL, one gets a soup or salad, plus a main dish that is surprisingly no less delectable than any of the à la carte dishes. Considering its prime location, speedy service and variety of lunch options, this is certainly a value–for–money deal. Nearly every second table hosts a business meeting, as D’vine’s location couldn’t be more central and it is easy to find even for first-timers in Riga. The restaurant’s excellent fare has a solid focus on fish and seafood, and the recently launched menu stresses this more than ever. Take the exemplary seafood paella with lobster meat or poached sturgeon fillet as examples. There’s even an option for the undecided, rarely seen at any other restaurant; called Surf’n’turf, it’s a ¼ of a lobster and a roasted beef fillet. The backbone of D’vine’s fare consists of classical Spanish tapas and wine. Over the past five years, it’s mastered this field to an exemplary level. The restaurant’s expert waiters will guide you through the menu to set up the perfect pairing between the vast choice of tapas (starting with simple delicacies like jamón serrano or grilled tiger prawns and finishing off with rabbit pâté on toast) and select French, Italian, Spanish whites and reds. As expected for a place that started off as a bar, the later the hour, the bigger the buzz at D’vine. Twice a month, when a tapas buffet is offered, the buzz gets to the level of a private party, together with a DJ and unforgettable atmosphere. Ten LVL will get you a ticket to an evening-long tasting extravaganza of the chef’s brilliant creations. Needless to say, once the dates are announced on D’vine’s Facebook page, the place gets booked in a flash. Radisson Blu Hotel Latvija, Elizabetes iela 55 Hours: Mon.–Thu. 12:00–23:00, Fri. 12:00–01:00, Sat. 12:00–24:00, Sun. closed (+371) 67772217 www.dvinebar.lv www.facebook.com/DvineBar

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ONE WAY

FOOD & DRINK Neiburgs restaurant, Riga Located about two minutes away from the monumental Dome Cathedral, Neiburgs presents something very monumental itself. A touch of Art Nouveau bourgeoisie combines with a rather bohemian atmosphere, all wrapped into the impeccable service of any well-run Western European restaurant – but in Eastern Europe. Atmospherewise, ‘intelligent’ is probably the word that suits this place the best. Neiburgs is a place with a history, located in a stately edifice that was constructed more than 100 years ago, during the building boom of the Art Nouveau period. Now a 55-room hotel, the place is still run by the same family. The fact that this business is family-sized works in favour of both the hotel and the restaurant. The head of the family, at least in the restaurant, is the brilliant young chef Tomass Godiņš, who mixes international influences with a heavy focus on local produce and inherited Latvian recipes. While the winter cold still bites, go for something filling. Seared duck foie gras with glazed pears, parsnip mash, cognac-steeped cherries and apple juice reduction would make a perfect warm-up dish, to be

followed by oven-roasted venison chop with carrot mash, Parmesan croquettes and sea-buckthorn. For a quick lunch, Neiburgs’ bouillabaisse has quite a reputation in town. Bon appétit! Jauniela 25/27 (+371) 67115544 www.neiburgs.com

Oven-roasted venison chop with carrot mash and Parmesan croquettes

Fried catfish fillet with mushroom risotto and deep-fried horseradish root

WINTER HOME ACCESSORIES COLLECTION

LIVE MUSIC ON WEEKENDS

airBaltic

Moscow Sheremetyevo Moscow Domodedovo Amsterdam

Prague

Budapest Venice*

RIJEKA Nice*

from June 6

HEVIZBALATON from May 4

Chisinau* Odessa* Simferopol*

Tashkent*

Bari*

OLBIA

Baku*

from May 4

Athens*

LARNACA

MALTA

from April 6

from May 11

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

Hurghada**

Sharm el-Sheikh**

Welcome aboard airBaltic! 78 airBaltic news / 80 Behind the scenes / 82 Booking classes / 83 Meals 84 BalticMiles / 88 Fleet / 89 Flight map / 92 Contacts

airBaltic / NEWS

etter online check-in B saves time and money

Group tickets for that special get-together The early months of the year are the perfect time to organize an incentive programme for your staff or to simply plan an unforgettable get-together with friends. Riga is an ideal venue for either with its great shopping, varied restaurants and limitless entertainment possibilities. airBaltic’s Group tickets are competitively priced, and come with a variety of special extras. Group tickets are applicable to 10 or more people, and each member of the group is entitled to one piece of hand baggage and one piece of checked-in luggage as part of the deal.

Payment options are very flexible. A group booking is secured immediately after reservation and kept until the deposit payment. The rest of the payment is required 30 days before departure. The names of passengers need to be confirmed no later than 48 hours before departure, giving you plenty of time to tweak your attendance list if needed. Group requests need to be submitted via www.airbaltic.com at least three working days before the travel date, or via all good travel agents.

airBaltic's online check-in system is better than ever thanks to a recent upgrade. Now you can check-in online from your computer or mobile up to one hour before departure. The improved system takes just two minutes to use and sends a boarding pass straight to your email account. Then it's up to you whether you print it out or simply open it on your mobile phone and head straight to security control. Online check-in not only saves your time and helps to avoid the airport queues but also saves you money as checking in at an airport costs EUR 10 (applies to all tickets booked after February 1, 2013). If you still prefer to check-in the traditional way, choosing airBaltic's Priority check-in service for an additional EUR 5 on top of the standard EUR 10 cost will enable you to use the exclusive Business class check-in desk for the speediest possible service.

airBaltic / NEWS

New attractive destinations coming this summer Larnaca, Cyprus, from April 6 Sun, white sand and the sparkling blue Mediterranean Sea. It’s hard to imagine a better place for a beach holiday. Cyprus offers a fascinating underwater world to discover for snorkellers and divers. However, if you’re more interested in history than in sand and surf, then you’re also in luck, as there are lots of ancient archaeological sites to visit. Cyprus has been nicknamed the island of Aphrodite or island of love, as it is the location of various myths surrounding the Greek goddess of love and beauty. This legendary background, along with the island’s inviting and relaxed atmosphere, draws many young couples to choose Cyrus as the place for celebrating their nuptials.

Heviz-Balaton, Hungary, from May 4 Nicknamed the Hungarian Sea, Lake Balaton is known for its silky green-yellow waters in the middle of Transdanubia. The 77-kilometre-long lake is one of Hungary’s most precious natural treasures and a popular resort, offering a wide range of thermal spas. The southern shores of the largest lake in Central Europe are ideal for small children because of the shallow water, while on the north shore the water gets deep much more quickly. Picturesque vineyards in the region produce an assortment of excellent wines that go very well with the delicious local food.

airBaltic will fly from Riga to Larnaca on Saturdays, with one-way ticket prices starting from 113 EUR.

airBaltic will fly from Riga to Balaton on Saturdays, with one-way ticket prices starting from 65 EUR.

airBaltic will fly from Riga to Malta on Saturdays, with one-way ticket prices starting from 85 EUR.

Malta, Marsaxlokk Port

Olbia, Sardinia, from May 4 Sardinia is known for its turquoise sea, white sandy beaches, mountain peaks, valleys of citrus groves, wine and tasty food. The island is a popular destination for boating, windsurfing, hiking, climbing and camping. And of course, one cannot fail to mention Sardinia’s simple yet tasty Italian cuisine, with seafood, pasta and lots of local delicacies for you to enjoy. airBaltic will fly from Riga to Olbia on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with one-way ticket prices starting from 105 EUR.

Balaton

Malta, from May 11 From its North African and Arabic influences (listen carefully to the local language) to its Sicilian-inspired cuisine, Malta is a microcosm of the Mediterranean. Its rich historical heritage beckons at practically every step, with unique prehistoric temples and various museums worth visiting. No holiday in Malta is complete without a visit to its beaches, which are not as large as on other islands, but no less charming. The numerous small coves that dot the shoreline are particularly charming.

Sardinia

Croatia

Rijeka, Croatia, from June 6 The clear blue waters of the Adriatic Sea make Croatia a beach lover’s paradise at the crossroads of Central Europe and the Balkans. The country boasts family beaches with gentle coves of pebbles or stones, well-hidden romantic sandy beaches, tidy town beaches and beach promenades for partying and having fun. Furthermore, Croatia offers a lot to discover for history buffs (with several sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List). Don’t forget to try out the local cuisine, which features many seafood specialties prepared in various ways, thanks to Greek, Italian and French influences. airBaltic will fly from Riga to Rijeka on Thursdays, with one-way ticket prices starting from 77 EUR.

BALTIC OUTLOOK / FEBRUARY 2013 / 79

airBaltic / BEHIND THE SCENES

When a plane is a patient Oskars Zaļkalns, airBaltic Boeing 737 senior type engineer

TEXT BY IEVA NORA FIRERE PHOTO BY REINIS HOFMANIS, F64

If the engine is the heart of a plane, then engineers must be the cardiologists of aviation, even though their daily responsibilities more closely resemble those of a general practitioner – and of a historian You began your tenure at airBaltic as a technician, later moving up to become an engineer. Had this always been your dream job? My older brother worked at Aeroflot and some of my earliest childhood pictures are of me holding model planes. Technology has always attracted me, to such an extent that when I was a teenager my parents did not allow me to buy a motorized two wheel vehicle. They feared that I would get carried away and neglect my studies. Even so, I had a garage full of bicycles. In a couple of minutes, I could put together a new bike from various spare parts.

What about the classic little boys’ dream of becoming a pilot? Yes, I harboured such thoughts, but when I matured, I understood that piloting a large aircraft is similar to driving a passenger bus. Small planes interest me more.

Is Latvia a good place to grow up if you’re interested in aviation? The high level of the exact sciences in our schools could certainly be considered an advantage, but there

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is also a significant disadvantage – outdated technical equipment. For me, the real “school” took place in the hangars; first at RAF Avia, where I worked as a mechanic, then at the airfield for small aircraft in Ikšķile and then at airBaltic, where I’ve been employed for the past eight years.

How and by whom is the airBaltic fleet maintained? In Riga the airplanes receive only the most necessary maintenance, the so-called line maintenance or daily checks, service checks weekly checks, A-checks, replacement of wheels and brakes and small structural repairs. Also aircraft engines and landing gears are being changed in Riga when needed. Planes are similar to cars in the sense that they have to be serviced at set periods. However, unlike the case with cars, it is flight hours rather than kilometres that are counted. This form of maintenance service is called “C and D checks” in the airline service industry. Every 4,000 flight hours, each plane undergoes an extensive maintenance check that might take up anything from one week to two months. The most comprehensive procedure is a D check – that’s when a plane is

airBaltic / BEHIND THE SCENES

“undressed” to the very core and taken apart for inspection. This takes place every eight years. In our search for the best quality and price ratio, we’ve tried out dozens of Europe-based aircraft maintenance facilities, including in Ireland and Bulgaria. Currently, we have settled on MNG Technik in Turkey. Whenever one of our planes is at a service hangar abroad, be it a C or D check, the aircraft is accompanied by one of our engineers. Also, whenever airBaltic considers purchasing a used airplane to supplement its fleet, we go to the hangar to give the aircraft a thorough examination. Buying or even leasing an aircraft, especially if it’s not straight from the manufacturer, is a serious issue that involves passenger safety. That sounds like plenty of travelling, but I try to plan out my trips so that they are optimized and so that I don’t have to spend more than 100 days per year away from home.

airBaltic type engineers and technicians ne Q400 type O engineer

What is a typical work day like?

ne Fokker 50 type O engineer ne Boeing 757 O type engineer T hree Boeing 737 type engineers bout 80 A technicians

If an airplane undergoes an ideal maintenance programme and pilots don’t exceed operational limitations of the airplane then there should be no unexpected defects, except for those resulting from unforeseen events like hail strikes and bird strikes, which cause major headaches in the aviation industry. Birds usually hit either the jet engine, the wing or the fuselage. This creates a depression – in other words, a dent – which requires careful examination. We check out its dimensions and try to establish the extent of the damage. Sometimes we have to contact the manufacturer to establish if and how many times the aircraft can still carry passengers before undergoing repairs. If immediate repairs are required, then we are the ones who arrange the so-called ferry flight permit, which involves getting the empty plane to the closest maintenance hangar.

Our mechanics work wonders. Usually they handle the repairs themselves and we jump in only if they’re unable to rectify the situation. For example, despite having been dismantled and cleaned, a water faucet in the kitchen at the tail-end of a plane gets clogged again. That doesn’t affect the safety of a flight, but does slow down the pace of service to the passengers. Before dismantling the faucet a second time, we engineers pore through its history, research service letters and bulletins. As it turns out, this is the only plane in the fleet with such a problem. Before being bought by airBaltic, it flew in Brazil. As the result of previously different water being used and insufficient maintenance in South America, we’ve received a water tank with a “legacy” – an otherwise harmless contaminant that calcifies water. We then resolve the situation.

What do you mean by poring through a plane’s history? I mean it in a literal sense. We have two archive facilities that encompass many cubic metres of space. These are full to the brim with boxes of documents – some 4060 large boxes for each airplane. The most recent history, with regard to a plane since it has been in the airBaltic fleet, has been entered electronically. At first, we “scour” through our own memories, as each engineer amasses a substantial amount of knowledge over the years. However, one cannot rely exclusively on that.

Now that you are spending most of your time doing office work, do you ever long for the daily grind of a technician’s job, where you must roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty? I have plenty of hobbies that involve tinkering and getting my hands dirty. Still, I haven’t completely rejected the idea of putting together my own aircraft. I’d like to fly like John Travolta (smiles), who, by the way, I met at the Shannon hangars in Ireland. I was examining a potential aircraft for airBaltic, while Travolta had taken one of his private planes for a maintenance check. BO

Latvia +371 67207121 I Lithuania +370 52395636 I Estonia +372 6058148 I International +49 1805 23 22 22

Sixt – a perfect ride to perfect skiing holidays in Alps. (Rent at sixt.lv, sixt.ee or sixt.lt and earn 500 Baltic Miles with every car rental)

sx08065_AZ_AirBaltic.indd 2

22.01.2013 16:45:19

airBaltic / BOOKING CLASSES

A class

to suit your needs Each passenger is unique and each has different demands. In order to help you better design a trip that suits your individual needs, we are now offering five different ticket types on airBaltic flights. Compare the travel conditions and services offered and choose the class that suits you best.

Business Flex Name change

Business

Economy Flex

Economy

Basic

EUR 35 per ticket

Travel date/time change

EUR 50 per direction

Cancellation with refund

EUR 100 per direction

Advance seat reservation

from EUR 3

1 piece

1 piece, 20 kg

EUR 30 per piece per direction if purchased at www.airbaltic.com

EUR 10

Business lounge

EUR 36 access to lounge in Riga Airport

Meals and drinks

from 9 EUR for hot meal, preorder or buy on board

Economy cabin

from EUR 50

5 Points for each EUR spent

1 Point for each EUR spent

Hand baggage Checked-in baggage

Sports equipment

2 pieces

3 pieces, 30 kg total

1 piece

Airport check-in

EUR 19,99 per piece per direction if purchased together with flight ticket at www.airbaltic.com

Security Fast track

International press Seating

Front cabin

Free seat next to you BalticMiles Points earned from ticket purchase Available free of charge

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10 Points for each EUR spent

Not available

airBaltic / MEALS

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

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 – including soft drinks, juices, wine, champagne, beer, coffee and tea.

Pre-order meals

If you wish to enjoy a gourmet meal or have special dietary requirements, then take a look at our special pre-order menu, which features vegetarian meals, gluten- and lactose-free meals and Latvian cuisine, as well as à la carte and kid’s dishes. By ordering meal before your flight you will save money and will be served first on board. You can pre-order your meal while you book your flight ticket or anytime later, up to 24 hours before departure, under the Manage booking section at www.airbaltic.com.

airBaltic / BalticMiles

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

register.balticmiles.com and get 50 bonus Points. Keep earning Points for everyday things like travelling, shopping, eating out and having fun and spend them on flights and other great rewards – that easy! BalticMiles is the airBaltic frequent flyer programme and the leading multipartner loyalty programme in the Nordics.

Fly airBaltic and earn

Membership levels

10 Points for each EUR spent on a Business Class ticket

Basic

5 Points for each EUR spent on an Economy Class ticket

VIP

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.

Executive

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. Earn 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

BALTIC OUTLOOK / FEBRUARY 2013 / 85

airBaltic / BalticMiles

Philips Sonicare DiamondClean

Earn 1000 Points

for each Philips Sonicare DiamondClean toothbrush purchase

Philips Sonicare DiamondClean sonic toothbrush – for a brilliant smile every day! Enjoy consistently hygienist-clean teeth and a gadget that will make you want to return to your bathroom more often. Buy Philips Sonicare DiamondClean at all Euronics stores in Latvia, at ELKOR Plaza or ELKOR Spice Home, find a code on each package, enter it online at fastpoints. balticmiles.com/en and earn 1000 Points for each purchase!

Great to spend There are more than 3000 rewards to choose from the shop.balticmiles.com and more than 40 000 digital records in BalticMiles Music shop.

Pietag Pearl Necklace & Bracelet

13 408 Points

Xsports Experts in skis and snowboard, Xsports will provide you with all equipment you may need – buy, rent or repair – as well as professional advice. In the summer Xsports is the place to find everything for cycling – bicycles and accessories for leisure and professional riding.

Elizabeth Arden TRUE LOVE EDT 100ml

11 721 Points

Earn 10 Points for each LVL spent

PointsHound.com ew

The more you book, the more you earn! PointsHound is the place to find great rates on over 100 000 hotels worldwide. Enjoy great deals in Europe, including popular airBaltic destinations such as Barcelona, Paris, and Moscow.

Earn up to 15 Points

13 978 Points

Esprit Cuddly Teddy Bear

for each EUR spent

Sprüngli Gold Heart

6 688 Points

Alanga Located in a quiet side street in the otherwise lively centre of Palanga, hotel Alanga offers 47 modern rooms, a 90-seat restaurant, a 60-seat conference hall, a gym and sauna for your health and lovely customer service for anything else you may require.

Sony Xperia™ Tablet S Wi-Fi, 32GB

98 308 Points

Earn 1 Point

for each LTL spent All the prices displayed include shipping costs to Latvia. Prices and availability of rewards are subject to change and may vary by delivery country.

86 / AIRBALTIC.COM

airBaltic / BalticMiles

Publicity photo

BalticMiles’ latest lucky winner

Ilona Līce, Member of the RIX Board, Kristīne Liepiņa, Ersan Arcan, Managing Director of ATU Duty Free, Gabi Kool, CEO of BalticMiles

Just

before a flight from Riga to Oslo, Kristīne Liepiņa entered ATU Duty Free shop in Riga International Airport to do some family Christmas shopping. The shop is a BalticMiles partner and Kristīne became its 11,111th BalticMiles customer, winning 11,111 bonus Points in the process. She will now be able to redeem her Points for a round trip flight in either the Scandinavian, Baltic, Central or Eastern European region, along with additional great rewards from the BalticMiles Shop, BalticMiles Music Shop and partners.

“A saleswoman asked me if I wanted to fill out an application form for a BalticMiles card,” recounts Kristīne. “At first I said no, but after a brief pause I changed my mind and filled out the form. Once I handed it in, another woman came up to me and asked me if I was willing to answer a couple of questions. Then she told me that I had just won 11,111 BalticMiles Points. I was really surprised and still can’t believe my stroke of luck!” BalticMiles’ CEO Gabi Kool is grateful to ATU Duty Free for coming up with this initiative. “I hope that BalticMiles successful partnership with ATU Duty Free provides even more motivating privileges to our customers, and thank ATU Duty Free for further enhancing Riga’s position as the leading airport hub between Eastern and Western Europe”. Kristīne filled out the winning application form on December 20, shortly before flying to Norway, where her mother and brother live, and where she spent the Christmas holidays. “I bought a bottle of Riga Black Balsam for my mother at the duty free shop. I always buy something there whenever I fly out from Riga,” says Kristīne. “I’m not quite sure where I’m going to fly with my newly won Points, but I really like sunny cities like Barcelona and Simferopol. I’ve already been to Simferopol and would definitely like to return there. Or I might continue to earn more Points for a flight to an even more southern and sunny destination by the sea!”

airBaltic / FLEET NEWS

Boeing 737-300 Number of seats 142/144/146 Max take-off weight 63 metric tons Max payload 14.2 metric tons

Boeing 737-500 Number of seats 120 Max take-off weight 58 metric tons Max payload 13.5 metric tons Length 29.79 m

Length 32.18 m

Wing span 28.9 m

Wing span 31.22 m

Cruising speed 800 km/h

Cruising speed 800 km/h Commercial range 3500 km

Commercial range 3500 km

Fuel consumption 3000 l/h

Engine CFM56-3C-1

Q400 NextGen 76 29.6 metric tons 8.6 metric tons

Fokker 50 Number of seats 46/50/52 Max take-off weight 20.8 metric tons Max payload 4.9 metric tons

32.83 m

Length 25.3 m

28.42 m

Wing span 29.0 m

667 km/h

Cruising speed 520 km/h

2084 km

Commercial range 1300 km

1074 l/h

Fuel consumption 800 l/h

P&W 150A

airBaltic codeshare partners

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Engine CFM56-3

Engine P&W 125 B

Kittila

Rovaniemi

Lulea

Kuusamo Oulu

Skelleftea

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

Kristiansund

Kuopio

Vaasa

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*

Vigo

Burgas

Olbia

Madrid

Pescara Naples

Menorca Valencia

Ibiza

Bari* Brindisi

Palma de Mallorca

Alicante Seville

Granada

Athens*

Malaga

Antalya

Malta

Santa Cruz de Tenerife Las Palmas

Heraklion

Larnaca Beirut

Casablanca

Amma

Doha

Sharm el-Sheik Hurghada**

Arkhangelsk

Dnipropetrovsk Donetsk

Simferopol* Almaty

Tashkent*

Yerevan

Dushanbe

naca

Baku*

Beirut

Amman

Sharm el-Sheikh**

Tromso

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

Kittila

Rovaniemi Kuusamo

Lulea

Oulu

Skelleftea

Umea Kristiansund

Kuopio

Vaasa

Sundsvall

Borlange

Tartu Visby Gothenburg

Oskarshamn

Halmstad

Kristianstad

Tashkent*

Westerland Gdansk

Baku*

Dublin Hanover

Dresden Prague

Cologne/Bonn

Donetsk Dnipropetrovsk

Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;viv

Saarbrucken Karlsruhe/ Baden Baden

Simferopol*

Ivano Frankivsk

Budapest Geneva

Chisinau*

Heviz-Balaton

Odessa*

Venice* Trieste Rijeka Belgrade Santander

La Coruna Vigo

Bilbao

Bucharest

Nice*

Oviedo

Burgas

Olbia

Madrid Valencia

Ibiza

Pescara Naples

Bari* Brindisi

Menorca Palma de Mallorca

Alicante Seville

Granada Malaga

Athens* Malta

Sharm el-Sheikh** Larnaca Hurghada**

Antalya

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

Airport Ticket Offices

Country/City Ticket offices

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

RUSSIA

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

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

Hungary

BELARUS Minsk airBaltic Belarus 19 Pobeditelei Av., 6 ☎ +375 172269043 tat@airbaltic.com

Country/City Ticket offices

Munich

Airport Minsk 2 3rd floor Airport Ticket Office airBaltic ☎ +375 172792568, ☎ +44 7792568

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

Budapest Airport Airport Ticket Office Celebi Ground Handling Hungary

Moscow airBaltic Russia 28 Tverskaya Str., Building 2 Business Center “Amerop” 125009 Moscow ☎ +7 (495) 2217213 moscow@airbaltic.com

International Airport Sheremetjevo Terminal E Airport Ticket Office DAVS ☎ +7 (495) 9564661

St.Petersburg airBaltic Bolshaya Morskaya Str. 53/8 190000 St.Petersburg ☎ +7 (812) 5700597 F: +7 (812) 5718654 zam@airbaltic.com

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

Kaliningrad

Airport Khrabrovo Airport Ticket Office airBaltic / Aviapartner

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

Barcelona ISRAEL

Vaclav Havel Prague Airport Terminal T2 Airport Ticket Office Air Dispatch s.r.o. ☎ +420 220117540

Milan

Linate Airport Airport Ticket Office A.R.E. SrL

Rome

Leonardo de Vinci – Fiumicino Airport Terminal 3, Departure Hall Airport Ticket Office A.R.E SRL

DENMARK Copenhagen

Billund

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

Airport Copenhagen International Terminal 3 Departure Hall Airport Ticket Office SAS Billund Airport Departure Hall Airport Ticket Office ☎ +45 76505205

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

FINLAND Helsinki

Helsinki-Vantaa Airport Terminal 1 Airport Ticket Office airBaltic / Havas

Lappeenranta

Lappeenranta Airport

Tampere

Airport Tampere-Pirkkala Airport Ticket Office Airpro OY

Turku

Airport Turku Airport Ticket Office Airpro OY

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

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

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

Riga International Airport Main Terminal Airport Ticket Office airBaltic / Havas

LITHUANIA 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

Kaunas Airport Airport Ticket Office Litcargus ☎ +370 37750195

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

Amsterdam

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

Frankfurt

Airport Frankfurt Airport Ticket Office AHS Terminal 2, Hall E, Desk 939 ☎ +49 69 690 61465

Hamburg

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

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

NORWAY 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

Warsaw Airport Airport Ticket Office BGS

If there is no local ticket office phone number indicated and you would like to contact airBaltic reservations, please call ☎ +371 67006006. 92 / AIRBALTIC.COM

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

Istanbul Airmark Gumussuyu Is Merkezi No:11/4, TR-34437 Taksim ☎ + 90 212 444 1472 F: + 90 212 245 4486 BTreservations@air-mark.com

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

Airport Istanbul Ataturk Airport Ticket Office AirMark International Terminal, Departure Floor ☎ +90 212 5797951

UKRAINE Kiev airBaltic Ukraine 52 Bohdana Khmelnytshkoho Str. 01030 Kiev ☎ +380 442382649/68 kiev@airbaltic.com

Airport Borispol Terminal D Airport Ticket Office Swissport Ukraine LL ☎ +380 445 916 902

UNITED KINGDOM London

USA Chisinau Airport Airport Ticket Office Moldavian Airlines Departure Hall ☎ +373 22525506

NETHERLANDS Airport Tbilisi Airport Ticket Office Discovery Ltd ☎ +995 32433155 ☎ +995 32433188

Stockholm Arlanda Airport Airport Ticket Ofiice airBaltic / Havas International Terminal 5 ☎ +46 (0)8 797 93 23

TURKEY

MOLDOVA

Paris

Stockholm

LATVIA

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

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

SWEDEN

ITALY

Czech Republic Prague

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

International Airport Domodedovo Airport Ticket Office DAVS Ticketing counters no: 177, 185

SPAIN

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

Airport Ticket Offices

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 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

Airport Gatwick Airport Ticket Office Skybreak Terminal S

Welcome to the LIDO Centre! Restaurant   

Delicious meals Cold delicatessen buﬀet Live music

Reservation: + 371 67700000

Bistro · Pub   

500 diﬀerent types of Latvian and international dishes Lido brewery Live music

Skating rink

Open daily 11-24

Krasta street 76, Riga, Latvia · Phone +371 67504420 · www.lido.lv