AngellTravels: Tallinn, Estonia

It is Saturday, May 17 and we are in Tallinn, Estonia

The seas have been unbelievably calm on this cruise

Entering the harbor in Tallinn

Always nice to have the locals greet us with music

With every port we go to, we hear we are the largest ship
to ever dock there.

Among medieval cities, there’s none nearly as well-preserved as Tallinn. Its mostly intact city wall includes 26 watchtowers, each topped by a pointy red roof. Tallinn’s Nordic Lutheran culture and language connect it with Scandinavia, but two centuries of tsarist Russian rule and 45 years as part of the Soviet Union have blended in a distinctly Russian flavor.

We have tours throughout the Baltic with the company, Alla Tours. This is a tour company headquartered in St. Petersburg, Russia, which offers tours in other Baltic cities as well. By booking multi-cities, we obtained discounts on the prices. Today is our second Alla Tour, the first being back in Copenhagen on May 12. Our guide is Karina and we started our tour with a bus ride from the port to the Old city of Tallinn. No audio earphones were given so hearing the soft-spoken Karina among all the other tour groups around us is difficult.

Follow the "Alla Tours" sign

We exit the bus at Tall Herman Tower and begin our walking tour on the top of Toompea Hill. It is considered to be the birthplace of Tallinn and is the highest point in Old Town.

This tallest tower of the castle wall is a powerful symbol here. For 50 years, while Estonian flags were hidden in cellars, the Soviet flag flew from Tall Herman. As the USSR was unraveling, Estonians proudly and defiantly replaced the red Soviet flag here with their own black, white, and blue flag.

The pink palace is an 18th century Russian addition onto the medieval Toompea Castle. Today it is the Estonian Parliament building.

Next we visited the magnificent Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, filled with golden icons and mosaics. This is the largest and most ornate cathedral in Estonia. It was built in 1885 during the Russian domination. Because of this, the Estonian people never liked it and in 1924 it was almost torn down. We were able to go inside but no photos were allowed. This gave us a little taste of what the churches will be like in St. Petersburg.

We stopped at an overlook for a picturesque panorama of the Lower Town with its tall gothic spires and the red tiled roofs.

Amber is starting to show up in all the stores. The Baltic region has the largest known deposit of amber dating back 44 million years ago. And now it (authentic and fake) has turned into jewelry.

We continued on Tallinn's medieval cobblestone streets to visit the Gothic Dome Church, also known as St. Mary's Cathedral. Estonia is mostly Lutheran, but few Tallinners go to church. Most churches double as concert venues or museums, but this one is still used for worship. It was built in the 13th century during Danish rule and then rebuilt after a 1684 fire. Once the church of Tallinn’s wealthy German-speaking aristocracy, the walls inside are lined with more than a hundred family crests and coats of arms carved by local masters as memorials to the deceased.

We descend to the Lower town along the Pikk Jalg (Long Leg) street. It is a steep walk on cobblestones.

Many artists set up their artwork on the wall in hopes of a sale.

We have a short stop the Holy Spirit Church, a landmark in Estonian history. The first written record of the Estonian language was written in this church.

On our way we view the Great Guild House, once the epitome of wealth. In Tallinn the German big shots were part of the Great Guild. The interior now houses a museum.

Town Hall square was the marketplace through the centuries. Once, it held criminals chained to pillories for public humiliation and knights showing off in chivalrous tournaments.

The Raeapteek Pharmacy dates from 1422. It has weird concoctions inside and will still sell you what you think you may need.

Katarina’s Gateway – the handicraft street holding medieval guild traditions. We stepped into a glass store and watched a glassblower at work.

Katarina's Gateway

Then it was on to the old wall, called the "Sweater Wall", where local women sell their knitwear.

Sweater Wall

After the tour finished, we wandered Old Tallinn on own, first stopping by a restaurant so Terry could sample a local beer.

Our waiters

Our receipt--currency in Estonia is the Euro

We then backtracked through the town to follow Rick Steves’ self-guided walk and see some things we missed with our tour.

Fat Margaret Tower (so-called for its thick walls) guarded the entry gate of the town in medieval times.

The Gate to enter the Old Town

Just inside the gate these buildings nicknamed “Three Sisters” are textbook examples of a merchant home/warehouse/office from the 15th century Hanseatic Golden Age.

The merchants were a wealthy class. This carved door evokes the wealth of Tallinn's merchant class.

Pikk Street was the medieval merchants’ main drag, leading from the harbor up into town. It is lined with interesting buildings. Some were used as the local headquarters of the KGB, while Estonia was under Soviet rule. Locals knew that the road of suffering started here, as Tallinn’s troublemakers were sent to Siberian gulags.