Kalnciema, Riga, Latvia.

We caught a tram across the river and on the way went past the Latvian National Library (the library is a very unusual glass and steel structure which at first I did not like. However, its asymmetrical silhouette with gentle curves grew on me as it became more familiar) and what appears to be a railway museum before crossing a large park and entering the area of Kalnciema.

We had expected to find an area similar to Kalamaja in Tallinn, but, if Kalnciema is destined to be Riga’s Kalamaja, it has some way to go to compete with its rival in the Estonian capital. However, Kalnciema is full of interest. Some middle class and hip young things live in the area, but not in the number encountered in Kalamaja. Consequently, there are only a few facilities to meet the needs of upwardly mobile people and most housing is drab in appearance, no doubt just as housing had been in Kalamaja about five or ten years ago. While Kalamaja has about a dozen good places in which to eat and drink, Kalnciema has only two, Maja, which can be very expensive by local standards unless you opt for the excellent lunchtime menu, or Vinoga (more about Vinoga later). However, Kalnciema has a very good farmers’ market every Saturday where people sell excellent food a little different to that available at the Central Market, and craft items such as bells, glazed pottery, knitted clothing, wrought-iron candlesticks and carved wooden items for the home. But it was the food that interested us the most. We tried some home-made fruit wine before buying sausage filled with ostrich meat, a local interpretation of camembert cheese and, for the following day’s journey home, three different types of cake baked in someone’s home. Other people sold bread, smoked fish, smoked meat, pork sausage, freshly cooked pancakes, at least eight varieties of apple and many other tempting products.

Before making our purchases at the farmers’ market, we walked south-west along Kalnciema Iela until it turns into Lielirbes Iela and crosses the railway just south of Zasulauka station. We walked around the streets north-east of the flyover where there are a few properties older than the apartment blocks dating from the Soviet era. I had seen enough to know I would have to return later in the day, when Hilary was resting in the hotel.

We bought what we wanted from the market and walked south-west along the main road until arriving at Margrietas Iela, from where the number 2 tram took us to the Central Market along a route even more interesting than the one earlier that morning.

After buying two tickets for the trams, I set off for Kalnciema, the district we had visited that morning. I got off the tram where Maza Nometnu Iela merges with three other roads. A large brick-built market overlooks the busy intersection. I walked around the market hall, a smaller version of the Central Market in the city centre, and the stalls and shops in an outdoor section at the back. I also walked around the surrounding streets, which soon became residential with lots of wooden buildings. Among the wooden buildings is an enormous brick, stone and stucco structure with restrained art nouveau flourishes. It fulfils childcare and/or educational purposes.

I walked west along Maza Nomentu Iela, but turned to the south and north as interesting views opened up. I then went north along Margrietas Iela and under the flyover that marks the point at which Kalnciema Iela becomes Lielirbes Iela. I followed the tram lines to Zasulauka station where there are yet more interesting views, on this occasion dominated by the railway and distant industrial installations. Taken as a whole, the area is an endearing mixture of old wooden houses, some of which are built on a substantial scale, small parks, muddy open spaces, huts, sheds, garages, yards full of scrap metal and apartment blocks dating from the Soviet era. Shops, bars and cafes are few in number other than around the market on Maza Nomentu Iela, and there is only one restaurant, Vinoga, also on Maza Nomentu Iela. However, the restaurant and its menu looked very tempting. I recommended Vinoga to Hilary as the destination for our last big meal of the trip. The meal was not quite as foodie as some of the ones in Tallinn, but at least we ate and drank in a restaurant popular with local people.

Toompea and the Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.

Taken together, Toompea and the Old Town in Estonia’s remarkable capital city of Tallinn comprise one of the most beautiful urban environments I have ever encountered. Yes, they comprise one of the most beautiful urban environments I have ever encountered. Inevitably, therefore, Toompea and the Old Town are NOT particularly unusual destinations because people from all over the world undertake visits. This said, I justify the post for two reasons. First, it establishes a context for future posts about destinations in Tallinn that ARE unusual. Second, most of the photos below derive from or near Lai, Aida, Kooli and Laboratooriumi, streets in the Old Town which tourists rarely visit.

Bilbao and its immediate surroundings, the Basque Country, Spain.

You can tell that Bilbao and its immediate surroundings made quite an impression on me. However, it is time to say farewell with this, the fourth post devoted to the city and its riverside settlements leading to the sea to the north. Here are a few photos engaging with the conventional as well as the idiosyncratic. Photos embrace murals, churches, the river, Alhondhiga Bilbao, Areeta, the area close to Museo Guggenheim and the one-time fishing port of Algorta. It was difficult narrowing down the photos to about ten because there is so much to enjoy in one of Spain’s least Spanish urban and suburban areas. Not that there is anything wrong with things overtly, proudly and passionately Spanish (far from it, as earlier posts confirm); it is just that Bilbao is a little less ordinary. Despite all the pressures and aspirations that threaten to turn most large cities around the world into clones of one another, Bilbao has a distinctive appearance, character and personality. You love New York, Kolkata and Istanbul? So do I. Consequently, visit Bilbao!

Lamiako to Erandio, Bilbao, the Basque Country, Spain.

Any journey on the metro from the city centre to the riverside suburbs or small towns along the coast will reveal what remains of Bilbao’s once-enviable dependence on heavy industry, heavy industry which included shipbuilding, engineering and iron and steel manufacture. Much has been done in recent years to remove evidence of the abandoned rust-bucket industrial sites, but, between Lamiako in the north and Erandio in the south, enough survives to interest people with an affection for edgelands, sacrifice zones and similar rundown, marginal and shunned areas (see an earlier post entitled “Edgelands and Sacrifice Zones: Turkey, United Kingdom, etc.” for a description of what qualifies as an edgeland or sacrifice zone).

One overcast afternoon punctuated by heavy showers, I took the metro to Lamiako and walked south to Erandio, weaving back and forth to spend time beside the river, among old factories and on derelict plots of land. The drab housing nearby used to be lived in by the local industrial workers and their families. There was much to admire, even where landscaping has left sterile patches of open ground, open ground that will be developed once Spain’s current economic malaise is overcome.

San Francisco and La Vieja, Bilbao, the Basque Country, Spain.

Although Bilbao’s inner city districts of Casco Viejo, Indautxu, Abando and Iralabarri are overwhelmingly respectable in character, San Francisco and La Vieja, just to the south-east of the railway stations, are more edgy. San Francisco and La Vieja are more edgy because some alcoholics, drug dealers, drug addicts, pimps, prostitutes and petty criminals hang around in shadowy bars, cafes and night clubs or on street corners. But San Francisco and La Vieja are also vibrantly multiethnic areas where people from South America, Central America, North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe live because housing is cheaper than in other parts of the city. Shops, small supermarkets, cafes and restaurants, some of the latter alcohol-free with halal food for Muslims, meet the needs of people from about 50 countries. There are even barbers for men and hair salons for women so people can look just like they do “back home”. Some social and private sector housing is in a poor state, but the streets are full of vitality. Moreover, there are interesting buildings almost everywhere. Calle San Francisco, the main thoroughfare through both districts, is a must-see, but streets to the north and south also repay careful examination. Streets leading from Calle San Francisco to the river have some trendy shops, cafes, restaurants and businesses, the latter run by artists, musicians and photographers, as well as an excellent marisqueria (a bar-restaurant specialising in seafood) and one of Bilbao’s best wine shops. A few shops sell secondhand clothes and bric-a-brac, and it is not unusual to see men, usually African in origin, pushing old prams full of scrap metal and broken electrical items. Because San Francisco and La Vieja are two of Bilbao’s most interesting districts, I often returned to walk and take photos.

La Vieja more or less peters out once you arrive in the area immediately south of Puerta de San Anton, but the interesting architecture continues for a kilometre of so along the river’s west bank. Moreover, there are excellent views into the district of Atxuri on the far side of the river.

I walked south for over a kilometre until a large concrete bridge carried a wide road over what had become a deep valley, and entered another suburb of predominantly working class housing, in this case, housing in modern apartment blocks notable for their size and location beside the river. But what San Francisco, La Vieja and this more distant suburb confirmed is that Bilbao off the beaten track is endlessly fascinating. Moreover, it is in these more marginal areas of the city where you encounter some very dramatic murals.

Are areas of Bilbao such as San Francisco, La Vieja and the rundown riverside suburbs safe to walk in? The biggest problem I had was with a heavy dog, a pit bull in appearance, which charged up to me near the river, but it merely wanted to say hello. If careful where you point your camera (concentrate on the buildings, not some of the people), you will be fine.

Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Bradford, one of my favourite UK cities, is best known because of its large “Asian” population (although the “Asian” population of Bradford is overwhelmingly Pakistani in origin, over a hundred ethnic groups live in the city). In this post I allude fleetingly to the “Asian” dimension of the city, but also reveal that, in common with all great cities, Bradford is multi-faceted (which is why I enjoy every visit I make).

We drove to the Great Victoria Hotel in Bradford’s city centre, a large mid-Victorian building (the hotel was built in 1867, above all to meet the needs of railway passengers) opposite the crown court and next to the offices and printing presses of the Telegraph and Argus newspaper. We were directed to a very good corner room with en suite facilities and an adjoining sitting room, which meant we had what was really a small suite (but the cost was only £45 a night without breakfast). The afternoon was spent in the National Media Museum (which had recently been threatened with closure), Bradford Cathedral and Little Germany, the latter an area of narrow streets just to the side of the cathedral with remarkable commercial and industrial buildings that survived demolition in the 1960s and 1970s (the centre of Bradford is marred by wide through roads and large ugly office and commercial blocks dating from the 1960s to the 1980s). For our evening meal, we drove to the Three Singhs about 2 miles south of the city centre for a very good Punjabi meal in pleasant modern surroundings (the mango lassi was the best such lassi we have ever had in a restaurant). After dropping the car back at the hotel, we walked about ten minutes to the Sparrow, a “bier cafe” that was the Campaign for Real Ale’s Bradford pub of the year in 2012. The Sparrow had a selection of very good beers and patrons of diverse age and ethnicity, but the facilities were not conducive to a prolonged drinking session.

The following morning, we had coffee in our room and shared a banana and what remained of an excellent Yorkshire curd tart bought the day before in Saltaire. We then went to a shop called Living Islam. Hilary wanted to buy some scarves and I wanted some gifts for a Kurdish family in south-east Turkey that had looked after me one day in August. Next, we popped into a bakery run by a young Iraqi Kurd who had been in the UK for eight years. We bought eight plain nans for £2 and a few other edible treats, one being a jar of quince jam from Iran. We then spent about three hours with J. and N., a couple we had known for five years (J. was Afghan in origin and N. was Pakistani). As usual, N. had prepared a wonderful Pakistani meal, a meal which ended with warm gulab jamun and pistachio ice cream. Our final ports of call were Bombay Stores (for Hilary’s seventh scarf of the day) and a nearby enormous halal supermarket. The supermarket was extremely busy, but we came away with over £60 of edible treats (I can taste the kulfi, pomegranates, Turkish white cheese and Saudi Arabian tahini as I write).

Murals, Texas and Louisiana, USA.

Murals are found in American settlements of every size, from the smallest to the largest. They exist in deprived as well as wealthy settlements, and are the products of almost every ethnic group that possesses American citizenship. Murals may recall the history, achievements, torments or aspirations of a people or a place. They may recall a single remarkable individual or a characteristic or stereotypical dimension of a community’s day-to-day existence. They may highlight injustice, hope, forgiveness, pride or exceptional human endeavour. They may aspire to bring together once-fragmented communities that want to put real or imaginary grievances behind them, or be a work of art with no obvious message, a work of art conceived by an individual or a group.

The following photos show murals in the Texas settlements of Del Rio, El Paso, Houston, Independence, Lufkin and Pilot Point. The seventh photo is of Shreveport in Louisiana.

Gateshead and Felling, North-East England.

Some people in the UK (and even people in nearby Newcastle-upon-Tyne) insist that the whole of Gateshead is an edgeland or sacrifice zone. This is most unfair, but there have been times in the recent past when parts of the metropolitan borough have resembled such shunned and marginalised places (see an earlier post entitled “Edgelands and Sacrifice Zones: Turkey, United Kingdom, etc.” for a description of what qualifies as an edgeland or sacrifice zone). As those of you who know the area will realise, the photos I share below, although taken no longer than four years ago, reflect a world that no longer exists. Cosmetic tidying up and more substantial redevelopment are slowly transforming the town. Whether all the changes are beneficial is hotly disputed by many local people, perhaps especially in relation to the iconic multi-storey car park brought to international fame/notoriety by “Get Carter”, a film released in 1971 (the 1971 version of “Get Carter” is not to be mistaken for the 2000 version set largely in Seattle. The 1971 version of the film is an embarrassment, but the latter is even worse).

All the photos below were taken in the centre of Gateshead or in nearby Felling (Felling is a part of the metropolitan borough of Gateshead accessible via the excellent Metro system). The photo of the Gateshead bank of the River Tyne was taken from the iconic High Level Bridge connecting Gateshead with Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Murcia, Spain.

The city of Murcia in south-east Spain deserves to be much better known, but it is in competition with nearby costas, Alacant/Alicante and, above all, Granada. For this reason, most people by-pass Murcia for more famous destinations. This is a pity. The city has a wonderful cathedral; a compact but lively old quarter; a river overlooked by attractive buildings; interesting shopping opportunities that defy the chains and multinationals; pretty squares with tempting bars, cafes and restaurants; and plenty of things a little less ordinary to tempt visitors into the surrounding suburbs. Excellent train and bus services connect with the surrounding towns and villages, perhaps the best of the larger settlements being Jumilla, Lorca and Caravaca de la Cruz. Have a week in Murcia with day trips to the aforementioned destinations and your time will be well spent. Just off the main square, the square with the west facade of the cathedral at one end, is one of the best tapas bars in southern Spain.

Wroclaw, Poznan and Lodz, Poland.

A few years ago, we spent a wonderful month travelling around Poland. We visited most major population centres and some much smaller ones, in almost every case utilising Poland’s excellent rail network. It soon became apparent that destinations such as Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Tarnow, Lublin and Czestochowa benefit from a significant number of visitors, but cities such as Wroclaw, Poznan and Lodz are far less popular (despite having lots to see and do). Here are a few photos to encourage you to engage with the gritty delights of these fascinating cities. The first few photos and the last one are of Wroclaw, the next few are of Poznan (the Poznan photos include the steam locomotive), and the last few are of Lodz (note the wonderful mosaic decorating the ceiling of a tomb in the Jewish cemetery, and the tomb that resembles an Orthodox church in the city’s main Christian cemetery).