Estonia

Today we had a very start, as we were heading away from Finland and into Estonia for a day trip to that country and its capital Tallinn.   Without had booked out tickets online some two weeks ago, and we realised today that this shipping company is the one furthest away from our hotel.  So we took the number seven tram, just outside our hotel for a 20 minutes ride to the terminal. The ship took two hours to reach Tallinn, arriving at Estonia’s capital at 9.30 am.

After disembarking it took us a 15 minutes stroll to reach the old town of Tallinn. This part used to be a walled city and due to its exceptionally intact 13th century city plan, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. All in is one of the smallest capitals cities in Europe, with a population of around 360.000 people, whilst the population of Estonia is 1.300.000.

What is today Estonia and it capital Tallinn has an interesting history that became a pawn in the geopolitical games of its big neighbours, passing into Swedish hands in 1561 and then to Russia under Peter the Great in 1710.  It was eventually occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, only to be conquered by Nazi Germany (1941-44) and then retaken by the Soviets. In World War II, the city was quite extensively bombed by the Soviets, although luckily the medieval town remains. It was a surprise to us to know that this is a very young country, with Estonia becoming an independent county on Aug 20, 1991 with Tallinn becoming its capital once again.

Whilst all the streets seem ti lead to Raekoja plats, the city’s pulsing heart since markets began setting up here in the 11th century, we visited a number of places before reaching the city square. Our first stop was a visitor to a local Catholic Church, and the onto St Catherine’s a Dominican monastery founded in 1246. In its glory days it had its own brewery and hospital. Whilst today its no longer a church, its ruins includes the gloomy shell of the barren church – at times used for occasional recitals – and a peaceful cloister lined with carved tombstones. Many artists have their studios in this place.

Later in the morning we visited the city’s museum. This building used to be the home of a rich merchant. It has a terrific display of the history of the city across the centuries and with a focus on the development of the various guilds groups that gave rise to different professions and trades.

Great place to visit, easily taken a couple of hours to view the collections.

We then headed towards the main city square. One side is dominated by the Gothic town hall, while the rest is ringed by pretty pastel-coloured buildings dating from the 15th to 17th centuries. This is a great photogenic spot.

Another interesting place that we visited is the a pharmacy which sits on the side of the old town city town hall. Nobody’s too sure on the exact date it opened but by 1422 this pharmacy was already on to its third owner, making it the oldest continually operating pharmacy in Europe. This place is fascinating with the displays on exhibit.  It is still a fully fledged and operating pharmacy.

After lunch at a local Italian restaurant we decided to see and climbed part of the wall.  This was a great experience and I can say that the stone stairs are challenging to climb, so the thick cord which is used as a rail came in handy.  The walls are, some parts, 4.5 to 5 meters in thickness.  Great views from the top of these walls to the rest of the old and new town. We think this is certainly a must see place in Tallinn.

We continued our stroll in the cobbled streets of Tallinn, to see and admire its architecture, we saw many houses from the Middle Ages, and one that caught our eyes was a house from the renaissance time, with the name of House of the Brotherhood of Black Heads, which has been kept in great condition.

 We also visited the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox Church which is located opposite Estonia’s national parliament building. Afterwards continuing with the religious theme, we visited the Cathedral to of St Mary and Virgin, a medieval church that sits at Toompea hill, one of the highest points in the old town of Tallinn. 

Finally we visited two vantage point to get the views of the whole town – both new and old-.  We ended our visit to Tallinn, by having a great dinner at a restaurant by the side of the old town city square with a great view of the medieval city town hall building.

Please see more photos of today’s journey here

This was our quick 1 day visit to the city of Tallinn, and proved to be a great day in Estonia.