0349 Exploring Medieval Tallinn

6^th-7^th Sept 2015

Wow – What an amazing place !

Next morning we caught a Hop on – Hop off tour bus just 100 metres from our campsite, and spent the next couple of hours having a guided tour around Tallinn.  The city is an interesting mix of (very) old and new and Soviet and Western, and it provides a fascinating mix that is so very different from most other places.  There are some buildings that were built especially for Soviet imported workers, at a time when many Estonians didn’t have a place to live. Now there are many free concerts and shows in parks all over town, and when the sun is out, the people of Tallinn come out in force to enjoy the warmth.  Of course, there are also many Finnish people here, both resident and visiting, as it is much cheaper here, and many people come across for a day or a weekend to do their shopping.

After we had been on the tour bus for a while, hunger pangs struck, so we got off and wandered back into the delightful lower old part of the city.  We passed some 14^th and 15^th century tombstones that are now displayed on the walls of one of the old lanes, and have a lot of history behind them.  We then continued up through the town into the Town Hall square – the place that has been the heart of Tallinn life since markets began to be held here in the 11^th century.  It is ringed by pastel coloured buildings from the 15^th – 17^th century, and is

dominated by the Gothic Town Hall.  This was completed in 1404, and is the only surviving

gothic town hall in northern Europe.  We found a little medieval style restaurant in a cellar down below the Town Hall, and sat in semi darkness (like you would have in medieval times, with only candles and small windows for light), at rustic tables and benches, and enjoyed elk soup, a pint of ale in an earthen cup, and some (for want of a better description) small pasties. And it was delicious, and very cheap (especially after Scandinavia !!) – In fact, we had to go back for seconds of the little pasties ! 

After lunch, we wandered out through the square and up to the Museum of Occupation.  The entrance to this is a kind of sculpture with many abandoned "suitcases" lying around the pathways and inside, indicating the forced movements of so many people out of the country, and the massive hardships and horrors of 5 decades of occupation under both the Nazis and then the Soviets.  The displays are extremely well done, and bring home everything, and at the end the joy of freedom.  It is a very moving museum.

After some time in the museum, we wandered down through town, and in Freedom Square (from the 1918 – 1920 War of Independence) found a big (and again free) concert just getting started for Sunday evening.  It is a real pleasure to wander round Tallinn, and just absorb the vibrancy of the people everywhere. 

Eventually we caught our bus back to our camp site, where we ended up on a relatively warm evening sitting with other camp site people we had met – Chris and Werner from Germany, and Dominique and Monika from Belgium.   It was just one of those great evenings of international chat that can be so much fun – We thoroughly enjoyed their company and hope to bump into them again on our travels.

Then it was time to turn in for some sleep at the end of a long day !!

The next morning we decided to spend a little more time in Tallinn before heading south , as we realised there was still other areas we had not seen yesterday, in particular the upper part of the old town, or Toompea as it is known. This upper part of town where the nobility lived overlooked the lower part of town where the merchants lived, and is built and designed accordingly.  So after packing up camp, we said our farewells to our camp site friends, and set off into town, bumping into some other road friends on a Moto Guzzi and sidecar we had originally met in Nordkapp, and then again in Helsinki.  We parked at the bottom of the city hill, and then walked up into Toompea.  We arrived in a main square with the imposing Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Cathedral on one side, and the Government buildings on the other side.  

We set off to explore, and it really is quite something, all inside the walls of this old city.  There are lookouts over the old city which gives one a good idea of how it all worked in the old days !  Eventually, as we wandered around, big black clouds came over and it started to pour.  We took shelter for a while, but it was obviously going to last for a while, so we set off back down the hill, and got rather wet  (forgot the brolly !).  When we got back to the car park we found a little cafe and decided to have a cup of coffee and some lunch while we dried out and warmed up a little before setting off south towards Riga.  By the time we left Riga, we still felt we could easily have spent a few more days in this fascinating city, but had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  Would definitely come back here for another visit if all the stars aligned !!

Pics are here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0349TallinnEstonia?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfh9oCP4LjzgwE