For more than six centuries, valiant entrepreneurs have crossed the volatile waters of the Baltic Sea in search of resources and opportunity. Led by the merchant guilds of Northern Germany who founded the Hanseatic League, they turned the cold, churning, brackish (salt and fresh) waters into common ground for wealth building.
Traversing the Baltic today touches on nine modern nations, and in the waterfront towns, small islands, and global ports of the region, the history and excitement of the Hanseatic economic area stands as frozen in time as the icicles generated by nearby Arctic air blasts.
It is on the Baltic Sea that a traveler remembers how resourceful humans can be. Faced with inclement weather, limited arable land, and the endless hostilities amongst themselves, and their European neighbors to the south, Baltic peoples carved out a home, traded for stability and independence, and maintained the hardy sensibility that today makes some of their economic choices the envy of the world.
In one circular voyage, beginning in Sweden and ending in Denmark, the echo of Hanseatic traders lingers in the sea-soaked walls of vibrant 21st century cities, and sleepy island villages where the global connection, once confined to their icy ramparts, now stretches to every corner of the world.
Stockholm, Sweden
In business, ‘Sweden’ means Volvo, Ikea and the music of 70s pop band, Abba. With twice as many people as either of its Scandinavian neighbors, the country carries disproportionate popular mind weight for its size.
From the minute you arrive in the capital Stockholm, the impact of water is embedded in the city’s structure. The city is built on 14 islands, connected by more than 50 bridges.
But turn away from the water, when you can, to find the quiet parks and organic food restaurants that form the safe neighborhoods within each district. Walking among the locals, there is limited concern for crime or hostility. Just blocks from the boat-filled waterfront, the residential areas seem untouched by garish tourism.
Open to external business for centuries, the city does not change for wandering foreigners. You see everyday Stockholm as it stands. At its heart are the winding narrow alleyways and worn cement walls of the medieval preserved inner city, Gamla Stan. Starting at the Royal Palace grounds, the visitor comes here to recall a glamorous past, and picture the vibrancy of the port area when Hanseatic traders dominated.
If the weather is unfavorable, the city is loaded with theme museums from the Nobel Prize Museum to one dedicated to Abba.
Each day it is the pace of Stockholm that traps the traveler between the Baltic wind and water, and celebrates appreciation for the ability to build a thriving business-oriented economy in inhospitable northern waters.
Visby, Gotland, Sweden
Floating approximately 125 miles (200 kilometers) south of Stockholm, off the coast of Sweden, is a Viking island, at the center of Baltic trade routes, and in modern times re-positioned for military defense. Ancient trading coins and other treasures have been found scattered all over the island, solidifying the island’s capital, Visby as a once dominant commercial city.
Today Visby is preserved as a UNESCO world heritage site. Still walled, cobblestoned and clattering against its history, the city is a postcard version of the booming business center it once supported.
The quaint red-roofed houses recall a Hanseatic village, and you can easily imagine the call to sea coming through the stonewalls in search of adventurers. There is no shortage of preserved churches, both functioning and in ruins, surrounded within short walking distances by shops and restaurants.
For a quiet break, the city’s botanical gardens provide a pleasant walk and quiet seat of peace, or you can stroll down to the beach boardwalk to press against the rushing sea, before moving on.
St. Petersburg, Russia
Lost to time behind unpainted aristocratic walls, unlit canal pathways, and the heavy hand of modern day politics, St. Petersburg is a city that should have more prestige than it has been given due. The definition of ‘imperial’ is in the plethora of ancient buildings, stunning architectural wonders, and the water traversing as street canals through its neighborhoods.
Your first glimpse of the city from the Baltic Sea is a bright blue dagger of a skyscraper aimed at the sky, and the future.
Depending on who you ask, if anyone will tell you, the building could be the empty headquarters for Russian gas giant, Gazprom. Staring at it, you can picture a futuristic business district, Lakhta Center, a kind of polarizing New York for the Baltics, that one day will be filled with busy entrepreneurs, managers and money. But today it’s just one building with nowhere to go. Far from the city center, and from any connection to the wealth being generated across Europe.
Glance in the other direction to find old St. Petersburg, the city of a masterful past. You have to move inland from the Baltic Sea along the Neva River, traversing skyscraper suburbs to arrive at an often overlooked history.
Russia is at once the grand imperial standard for all Europe. The largest country on the continent, the ethnic source for tens of millions of citizens, friend and foe through decades of physical and verbal warfare, all serving to leave gracious St. Petersburg, unloved by those who could treasure and respect it the most.
Home to over five million, Russia’s second largest city gets most of its attention from curious tourists, and it delivers. The visit from the harbor goes directly to the old palaces and into the heart of its raison d’être.
The contrast is overwhelming, and profound. One wonders where St. Petersburg would be if politics stepped aside for history, and treasure took a place ahead of atonement.
Tallinn, Estonia
Jutting out into the Baltic Sea from a tiny state next to Russia’s northern border, the capital of Estonia is a delightful throwback to the memories of its volatile past. One can imagine this is where the traders came to party, in the cobblestone streets of a bustling underground. The northernmost point on the Hanseatic trading path, Tallinn stood between Northern Europe and Russia.
The cultural heart of Estonia was an important trading center, and the preserved old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Inside the city walls is a functioning medieval city supported by bars, restaurants and cafes.
Estonians have fought invader after invader to maintain their language, culture and dignified hostility to a threatening world. But in Tallinn’s streets, the past gives way to lively bars and restaurants flanking familiar tales of struggle and loss. The Estonians will joke about their lack of trust, or in fact interest, in others, but they are serious about connecting to a European economy in a global world.
Today’s Estonians are bustling entrepreneurs including the founders of Skype who make the city also a high technology hub. The digital pedigree holds limited sway on the old city’s streets. The walls reflect back the pre-industrial climb away from a dozen enemies to a vaunted independence still to be defined.
Yes, you come for the party, and you stay to be surprised.
Bornholm, Denmark
On its west, just before the Baltic Sea narrows into the local waters of Sweden, Denmark and Germany, a last strategic island sits at the center. Bornholm, Danish territory that is physically closer to Sweden or Poland, stands as the front-facing view into the Baltic for a nation that has a longer border on the North Sea.
The site at Hammershus, the ruins of a medieval fortress is a reminder that Bornholm’s place was defined by military conflict, while trade worked around it. Today, the delightful streets of the biggest town, Rønne and surrounding areas highlight the locals skills in skilled crafts like glass-blowing. The island also supports vibrant agriculture.
Bornholm is a quieter more peaceful retreat than the triumphant trading cities on today’s Baltic Sea coast. This was the line of defense that settles now around churches, shops and restaurants.
Considered Denmark’s ‘sunshine’ island, this is where the traveler ventures to have an outdoor-vacation – hiking, cycling, running on the beach, kayaking in the sea – and enjoying every minute of being away from it all.
Copenhagen, Denmark
If you must, run down to the harbor, take your picture of The Little Mermaid, Den lille Havfrue, and then move on to see Copenhagen. The capital of Denmark has a statue that millions have stopped to photograph, and a handful have chosen to vandalize, since it was first erected in 1913.
Perhaps its the longevity of her bronze mermaid to human pose that attracts the cameras, or the fairy tale that inspired its existence, but if you have ever wondered about why people do what they do, how people can be predictable and conformist, and the timeless appeal of symbolism, stop and watch tourists take pictures of The Little Mermaid.
Any entrepreneur can appreciate the potential in such ritualistic devotion, and seek to understand the appeal and how to emulate it.
However once you manage to turn your back on the posing lady, you find yourself in a jostling city of around a million people, more than 60% of whom bicycle as if traversing the fields in the English countryside.
This is a modern country, but one that has made a commitment to pursuing a healthier, environmentally friendly lifestyle. The bikepaths are everywhere, along the major streets, out into the suburbs, anywhere you want to go. Less than ten percent of the population drives to work or school.
But the tranquil cyclists hide a surprisingly compact and crowded old town shopping district. The streets of Copenhagen around the Nyhavn harbor area are much busier than expected. There is a narrow crowdedness that encircles the canal on both sides, as the neighborhood is next to Kongens Nytorv leads to one end of the Stroget pedestrian promenade area.
Activity is a little less hectic on the palace grounds of the world’s oldest monarchy, or along the beaches and in the parks. All are safe walking areas with no conflict from crowds.
The Danish people are often considered the happiest in the world. The acknowledgement perhaps comes from having free education, healthcare, and a functioning, efficient bureaucracy, removing those tedious worries would lighten anyone’s load.
But you get no outward sign of this national contentment. People are not blindly smiling at you or dancing down the street. Instead the efficiency is reflected in the cleanliness, function, and security, as you stroll through the neighborhoods. There is zero sense that someone will bother you, for any reason, which makes for both isolation and satisfaction depending on the kind of person you are.
This is the land of Lego, using surprising creativity to lock solid pieces together to make delightful new structures. The Danish make their money from agriculture, tourism and North Sea Oil. Colonialists and occupiers in India, the Caribbean and the Arctic, slave-traders along the African coast, and participants in many European conflicts for territory, influence and control, the Danes today maintain a stellar reputation for being inoffensive and unthreatening.
Perhaps, again it’s that productive, persistent style. The kind of people who bicycle in any weather take life as it’s presented and move forward. Just watch the cyclists to understand, especially in the rain. There is no point in stopping, complaining or backtracking, the system has been established and must carry on.
The Baltic Sea region
Today’s northern trading routes are as dynamic as the past, but no longer contained within those nations who forged commercial ties to fuel their expansion and growth. Today’s Baltic states are all global, reaching far beyond their inland sea to reflect their impact on the world.
Entrepreneurs will find vibrant, educated, stable people ready to continue the centuries old trading traditions that built the region. Modern city streets are familiar, but the medieval old towns are unique and singular in their stored history and appeal.
When you embrace the region as part of your global neighborhood, you will feel particularly tied to the explorers and traders who went before and built the connections needed to ensure a united and jointly prosperous world.
