In Latvia and Estonia, friction of old and new creates music

Somewhere down there in the darkness, a runway has to exist.

The view from the Baltic Air commuter flight during the lingering summer twilight (which lasts until 11 p.m. in July) suggests that the ground is near. But where are the lights? The terminal? Once on the ground in the Latvian capital of Riga, only a dollhouse-size building off in the distance is seen on the flat terrain. How can there be so much open space in a micro-country?

This puzzling prelude to one of Europe's most storied capitals became typical over my 10 days in the Baltic republics of Latvia and Estonia, where cities are like avocados: mundane and crusty on the outside, rich and exotic on the inside - and all eerily uncrowded by northeastern U.S. standards.

These cities demand to be explored. About two-thirds of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, survived World War II, and the city is Old Europe at its most atmospheric with winding cobblestone streets, orange tile roofs, charmingly decrepit churches with steeples that seem to stagger, and, oddly enough, hills.

Most old European cities have the hills ground out of them. Not Tallinn, whose lovely hillsides overlook the harbor. On Friday nights, young people gather on them, drinking beer and laughing about the Finns arriving by ferry, only momentarily, to buy cheap Estonian vodka.

Riga is more posh - an art nouveau architectural showcase in an old city area whose fortress walls were surrounded by a still-extant moat - now a beautifully landscaped, swan-inhabited park. It survived the war better than Tallinn, at least in terms of buildings, which advertise themselves in vivid, Mediterranean colors.

Both are beach towns, Riga more than Tallinn, though Estonia was particularly popular among Russian aristocracy. Peter the Great's ornate summer palace - built as he was dying of syphilis - survives in pristine condition in Tallinn, surrounded by ornate gardens, and feels like a time-warp journey into Imperial Russia.

The best focus for Baltic excursions is cultural. Latvian and Estonian composers, conductors, and singers are the new classical superstars of the Western world, having honed their talents in superb local opera companies and symphony orchestras.