They are often mentioned in one breath, 'the Baltic states'. Geographically and historically they have indeed quite a lot in common, having undergone Scandinavian, German, Polish and Russian influences, having been stripped of their independence by the Soviet Union and having veered towards integration in Western Europe as soon as the power of their Soviet occupants fell apart in 1991. Still, the Baltic states are quite different from each another, culturally, linguistically and in many other ways. Estonian language, closely related to Finnish, has no common ground with Latvian, for instance. For most visitors, and that includes me, it does not make much of a difference, as English is fortunately well known by the post-Soviet generations. In this report we visit the capital cities of two of the three Baltic states, Tallinn in Estonia and Riga in Latvia, both with a fascinating medieval past in the Hanseatic League, both closely connected to the turbulent history of competing nations on the shores of the Baltic Sea, from Denmark to Russia, both treasures of architecture in a welcoming and fascinating environment.