Setos are an autochthonous ethnic and linguistic minority in south-eastern Estonia and north-western Russia. They speak the Seto language and along with Orthodox Christianity, vernacular traditional folk religion is widely practiced and supported by Setos.
The Nordic cross is designed in a traditional Seto folk pattern. Red and white were also the dominant colours of the previous flag.
The Soviet Union made the eastern part of the historical Estonian region Setomaa component of the Leningrad Oblast. When Estonia became independent in 1991, the 15,000 Seto People were separated in two countries
In planning a trip through German-speaking Europe that I am hoping to take this December/January, I started thinking about other overland trips that I would like to take in future. I came up with three really exciting ones and thought I would post the theoretical itineraries here!
I’m not sure when- but I’ll definitely be taking one or more of these trips in the next few years.
This trip would be amazing! It combines ancient sites, Soviet era architecture, small modern cities, a beautiful coast, low lying mountains and more. For me it would be unique in that Eastern Europe is really one of the regions that I’m least familiar with- I speak none of the languages, only know the basic outline of political history, and am not aware of much of the culture. All of this would make it the perfect kind of travel- full of learning and experiencing new things.
The trip would start in St. Petersburg experiencing the iconic “Mother Russia” before heading west through the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) this fast developing though often forgotten part of Europe interesting combines Eastern and Western Europe with some Northern/Scandinavian flair - or so I gathered from my short weekend in Latvia in 2011. That brief encounter made me want to see more of the Baltics.
From there the route would go through Belarus and Ukraine. These two large countries were two of the more connected to the core of the USSR and still exist as more reserved (especially Belarus) than other parts of the former Soviet bloc. These two nations being so large would mean long hours going through country-side, hopefully stopping in small towns, seeing the rural life a bit, making new friends, who knows.
Next would be moving into the mountains of Moldova and Romania. Considering I love low lying mountains and hills, I think this would be a highlight! Plus Moldova is probably the most obscure of the countries on the list, so getting to know it a bit would be really exciting.
Once in Bucharest, the plan is to cut directly West through Belgrade and all the way to Zagreb in Croatia and even further to Ljubljana, Slovenia. These two capital cities are said to be somewhat unknown gems of Europe, with the latter being popular with cyclists and sharing some parts of Italian culture because of its proximity with Northern Italy.
The ride down the Croatian coast of the Adriatic sea will likely be the peak of beautiful landscape on the trip. At some point though I’d move inland first to visit the campus of the boarding school in Mostar that is part of the United World College movement that I attended. After crossing through the last bits of coast in Montenegro I’d move inland a second time, through Kosovo to Sophia, Bulgaria.
After Sophia I’ll be deep in old Greek territory, visiting Alexander the Great’s sites in Montenegro and then through another beautiful capital, Tirana, Albania. I will then leave the “Balkans” proper and head down through Greece to all the ancient ruins on the way to Athens!
Wow! I’m both exhausted and exhilarated from even writing about it! Definitely would be a whirlwind experience. Hope I will do it (or parts of it) soon!
Bonus Trip: South Pacific While talking with a friend we came up with three other long trips, and though I haven’t put much thought into them, I’m including one in each of the posts as a bonus trip. This idea is to island hop around the South Pacific- seeing Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Marshall Islands, and many more! I would be done ideally on a boat, though there are lots of small planes that go between the islands as well! Who knows!
Viks is made entirely from stainless steel tubes. We use the highest quality steel. All the crowns, dropouts and weldments are made from the same grade steel. The design is highly exclusive for Viks. There is no seat tube. Two identically shaped tube frames run alongside the entire frame. Joined at the head tube, seat tube and bottom bracket. The fork and handle bar is all in one piece making the Viks look extremely sleek and flowy from every point of view.
1. Who is behind “VIKS"?
Indrek “the style engineer“ Narusk, creator of Viks and a owner of the company Velonia Bicycles (http://www.velonia.com/). A passionate cyclist, amateur racer and a passionate engineer.
Kristo "the passion hunter“ Riimaa, sales and marketing, co-owner of Velonia Bicycles. Also an addicted cyclist and amateur racer.
2. How did your idea come up?
Indrek wanted to get a commuter bike for this season, but didn’t really fancy anything that was available in shops. As he is an engineer and has already in bicycle business, he thought why not build one. The initial idea was just to build on off cool looking urban commuter, but once the images started spreading the demand started growing. The shape and look of the frame was inspired by cafe racer style mororcycle. Steel was chosen as the material and „the less is more“principle was applied as much as possible. So from the initial, one bike idea “it has grown to a small business of custom looking minimalist singlespeed bicycles”.
3. Where are you based and why?
Tallinn, Estonia. Just because we live here and just because it’s about time Estonia had its own bicycle. The cycling culture over here has been developing rapidly over last couple of years and we hope to push it even more.
4. How is your workshop and organisation?
There is Indrek who does all the engineering and design and constantly thinks about new ideas and new ways of doing things. Then there is Kristo who makes sure the orders are coming in and customers happy. Then we have a part time welder and painter who help us make the frames with highest quality and finish. Indrek’s house is the main office and welders workshop the main factory. Keeping it simple and lean.
5. Any future project?
Lot of ideas on how to improve Viks (belt drive, Ti tubes, automatic gear hub etc) and lot of ideas on accessories for Viks. At Velonia we are also developing couple of products for the racing scene… It’s a constant work. We’ve always had a problem of having too many ideas and not enough working hands“.
