Exploring Tallinn's Old TownAug 12, 2008
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Old Town Street
North Gate - Port Entrance
View over Old Town - St. Olaf's
Raekoja Plats in Action!
DAY 30 - Tallinn, Estonia
Arriving at 6:30 local time was sweet. As in St. Petersburg, the place was completely deserted until about 10:00. We greatly enjoyed wandering around the narrow cobblestone streets, scoping out nice looking cafes, and exploring the nooks and crannies of the old Castle Walls. The central square (Raekoja Plats) was empty ... which was nice because at noon it was SWARMING with tourists! So we enjoyed having old town seemingly all to ourselves :)
After checking into our hostel, and dropping off our bags, we headed out to find a supermarket and some coffee. We quickly realized that while Euros are accepted, it is easier to have the Estonian Krooni in your wallet ... so we found a bank machine and exchanged the rest of our Russian Rubles.
Our morning-early afternoon walk took us all over the old town, and above it too. We were able to explore all of the major sites, plus some added tangeants as we went! It is a very friendly city for exploring quickly and easily. We enjoyed going to the top of the St. Olaf's church tower and getting an incredible view of the old town. The castle walls are really interesting too, and we mean to get on top and explore those later on this afternoon. It is a great city for exploration!
It was fun to go up to the Toompea Castle, which contains the Estonian government buildings, some great views, and the Canada Embassy ... we have some really amazing real estate here!
We enjoyed a nice croissant and coffee back at the main square, and some interesting Estonian music - banjo, saxophone, tuba, drums and trombone.
The downside today, and always as we gather, is that the place is absolutely over-run with tourists. Today there are FIVE cruise ships docked nearby, and tours jam up all of the main attractions and thoroughfares. That aspect is not fun at all, however there are many out of the way places that are just as interesting to wander around!
Tonight we are getting out of the main city and heading for the waterfront/beach 5km east of the city ...
