Turaida, Kuldige

1) Turaida Castle was built in the 13th century. It commands a fine view over the lovely rolling hills. 2) A street in the sleepy town of Kuldige. August 3. I am driven to Riga where my older cousin Talis lives. On the way we stop in the charming little town of Kuldige (German: Goldingen). The Germans were a presence here for centuries and lorded it over the locals. They were the landowners. The Germans were resented but they were also admired. They brought German culture to the Baltic region and established cultural institutions like the Riga Opera. Richard Wagner was an assistant conductor there in his early years. It was on the sea journey from Riga (on his way to Paris to escape creditors) that he came up with the idea for the opera "Fliegende Holländer". The story of the opera, an old north European legend, was eventually set off the coast of Norway. [During my student years in Germany I once met a woman who was Baltisch Deutsch, one of the community of Germans who had lived in the Baltic states for centuries. She told me that in order to attend university in Tallinn before the Second World War she had to master the Estonian language -- which she did. (Related to Finnish and Hungarian, it is one of the most difficult languages to learn.) The Russians permitted use of Baltic languages only through middle school. If you wanted to study at university in Latvia, Estonia or Lithuania it was in Russian only. In that way people were forced to learn the language of the occupiers. It was their intention to russianize the local populations and eradicate the pesky nationalities.]