Baltic Sea Cruises

Top tips

Dos. In the Baltic countries, whether it's Estonia, Lithuania or Latvia, people represent numbers using only the fingers and not the thumb. "One" is indicated with the index finger, "two" with the middle finger, etc.
Don'ts. In Russia and the Baltic countries, shaking hands with one person on one side of a porch and the other person on the other side is said to bring bad luck, as does the act of remaining standing in a doorway. Both parties must be on the same side of the entrance when greeting each other. In Finland, people never interrupt each other: each person speaks in turn.

Essential phrases

Gastronomy

Inhabitants of the Nordic countries, from Canada to Finland, are particularly fond of a small berry that grows in peat bogs close to marshes, especially in Lapland: the cloudberry, or lakka. These small yellow fruits picked in summer and rich in vitamin C are preserved for winter and used to make delicious tarts, jams, cordials and liqueurs.

Myths & legends

Amber, treasure of the Baltic Sea, has inspired many legends. According to traditional stories and tales, these translucent pearls of pine resin symbolise the tears of Jūratė, goddess of the mermaids and fiancée of Potrimpo, god of the sea, and the shards of her underwater amber palace. The goddess incurred the wrath of the gods by falling for the charms of the brave fisherman Kastytis, and to punish her, Perkūnas, the god of thunder and the sky, killed her lover and struck down her palace and Potrimpo chained her to the ruins forever.

In the spotlight

Estonia is one of the most digitally cutting edge countries in the world and also the birthplace of Skype. It even sometimes referred to as E-stonia, which is the nickname that's been given to this little nation that has become a paradise for startups. Having e-resident status in Estonia allows digital entrepreneurs from anywhere in the world to domicile their companies in the country and enjoy the benefits of both an advantageous tax system and access to the European market, all managed remotely. With the exception of marriages, divorces and property purchases, all administrative processes in the country are carried out online and more than 90 percent of the population have electronic ID cards.

Culture

Books. In The Man Who Spoke Snakish (Grove Press Atlantic, 2015), winner of the French prix de l'imaginaire 2014 in the foreign novel category, the Estonian author Andrus Kivirähk evokes the world of the ancestors and casts a discerning eye over the present by immersing the reader in a phantasmagorical universe populated with mythical creatures and featuring dialogues between humans and animals.

Music. The kantele, a kind of traditional five-stringed zither and a national symbol in Finland, though it's also found in Russia and the Baltic countries too, was once used to accompany both the songs of bards and poets and traditional folk dancing. The delicate sounds of this sacred instrument served to intensify the romanticism of the national narrative in the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. The repertoire associated with it has broadened and expanded since its introduction into the school and conservatory curriculums in the 1970s and 80s.

Film. Actor, director and producer Aki Kaurismäki is one of the iconic figures of European arthouse cinema. Influenced by the French New Wave and cinema burlesque, this Finnish artist uses depictions of marginalised or quirky and off-the-wall characters in his films to paint a poetic and melancholic picture of fragile societies. He has shot several films in France, including La Vie de Bohème (1992) and Le Havre (2011). The Man Without a Past (2002) and The Other Side of Hope (2017) were respectively awarded a Grand Prix at Cannes and a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.