Finland ~ Wednesday trip to Tallinn, Estonia

April 17, 2019

In 1992, while visiting Finland, I had the chance to travel to the very old city of Tallinn.  They were only one year into their independence from Russia.  We took some kind of a bus tour through the old town as well as into the new, and had some free time to shop and explore before returning to the ferry.  Their money was freshly minted, but the economy poor.  Their small inventory in shops was well guarded.

Tower entrance to Old Town Tallinn, Estonia

On Wednesday, Ken (my current host) brought Anne, Anna and myself to the Helsinki harbor.  We boarded an early morning ferry for the 2 1/2 hour crossing to Tallinn.

On my previous trip the shops shelves were nearly bare and not many of them open for business.  Now they were on every corner, filled with interesting merchandise.  Many with hand knit sweaters, mittens, etc.  Others were filled wall to wall with linens.  Linen table cloths, runners, tea cozies and more.

The flower markets made bright splashes of color in the midst of so much stone.

One type of shop that I saw in multiple locations was selling Baltic Amber set in various styles of jewelry.   Since I know many people who have worn Baltic Amber necklaces on their babies to reduce the discomfort of teething, I couldn't resist asking the English speaking proprietor of one of the shops if she was familiar with the concept.  She was familiar with it but did not subscribe to the theory at all.  However, she was very convinced that wearing Baltic Amber near the throat, one could regulated the thyroid.

Every Baltic Amber shop had some kind of doll like this at the door.  I'm not sure of its significance.

Tallinn is referred to as, "An exceptionally complete and well preserved example of a medieval northern European trading city."  It's easy to see why it is described in that way as one makes their way up one narrow cobbled street and down the other.

Since we didn't take a tour and had a limited amount of time, we didn't try to figure out the history or significance of each building.  I'll post a few and hopefully remember the correct names.

 The only surviving Gothic Town Hall in northern Europe.  Built in 1402.

St. Nicholas's Church.  Bombed in WWII and restored in 1980s.  Functions now as a museum for religious art.

St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.  Russian Orthodox Church.  Established 1900.  I think it was in this church that we observed a funeral going on off to one side.  The handful of mourners didn't seem to bothered by the tourists walking around, nor the clamor of the picketers across the street at the castle.

Toomea Castle - I found confusing information on this.  Suggested it has been in use since 9th or 12th century.  Always been the seat of power and currently houses the Parliament of Estonia.  There was a protest of some sort going on out front.

Cathedral of St. Mary the Virgin, Estonia's main Lutheran Church.  Once served Tallinn's nobles.  Established before 1233.

Coats of Arms of the nobles that once attended the church.

Everywhere we looked in this ancient city there were interesting architectural details to catch the eye...the structures of the buildings themselves as well as lights, doors and doorways, door handles, hinges, etc.

View from town wall

Anne on the wall

We had my youngest niece along for the day.  She seemed quite content to be trundled along in the buggy over the very rough cobbles.  I know that her mom got quite a work out pushing her.  One place in particular that presented a challenge was one of two narrow steep alleys that unite the lower town from Toopea, the upper town.

Half rough, steep ramp and half stairway, connecting upper and lower town.

Ancient tombstones on the wall

Public restroom that I paid 20 cents to use.  It was surprisingly clean.

Since none of us felt confident in our selfie skills, we got a passerby to take our photo.

There were many areas that we were unable to explore due to time constraints and not wanting to pay for entrance tickets.

At 5:30 we took a taxi back to the harbor for our ride home.  As is common in many countries I've visited, he drove like a maniac, but with great skill.  The roads seem very confusing to me so I was grateful that he was doing the driving.  Unlike in a lot of cities though, there wasn't an excessive amount of honking and though there were a few close encounters, drivers seemed to watch out for each other. 

Once we had boarded the ferry for the 2 1/2 hour crossing back, we made our way to an upper floor on the bow of the boat where we had a nice view.  Then we took turns getting food from the restaurant on the floor below.  By 9:00 we had docked, disembarked and were on our way home.  The weather had been just perfect all day for three light layers that I took off and on throughout the day.