Beautiful Medieval TallinnJul 31, 2009
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At the entrance to charming old town Tallinn, Estonia.
Former KGB headquarters.
Walking through old town Tallinn was like walking through a Disney movie set.
It is the most delightful, perfectly preserved medieval town I’ve ever seen!
I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it. Get there by foot, I mean. Everyone warned us to take a cab to the “Fat Margaret Tower”, which is the entrance into the old town closest to the cruiseport. We were warned about hills, steep stairs, cobblestone streets and on and on and on. And me, with my bum knees and still-sorta-healing-from-the-last-trip-ankle . . . well, y’know. Lotsa nice folks were concerned.
After getting off the ship and walking to where the cabs were, it seemed awfully silly to spend the $15 the cabdrivers were asking to take us to a spot that I could clearly see from where we were standing. It didn’t look all that far and it didn’t look all that difficult.
Well, it wasn’t! In fact, yours truly did just fine and was even occasionally in FRONT of our group . . . not always, but occasionally. We walked for an entire four hours without stopping . . . . up and down hills, up and down stairs, up and down cobblestone streets. The sites were so delightful that I hardly noticed the walk.
But, on the way back to the ship . . . . well, that’s another story. Oy, did my feet and ankles and legs and knees hurt like hell! My feet were on fire and the rest of me was screaming at whatever part of me would listen.
But it was worth it.
Most of what you’ll get from our four hours in Tallinn will be in the photos that I’ll post in a few days (yeah, I know . . . you’ve already heard that, haven’t you?). The reason, frankly, is because we didn’t really go INTO anything. Tallinn is mostly interesting for the fact that it really is a perfectly preserved medieval town. So, most of its attraction is in what you see and the photos you get of absolutely beautiful, charming buildings and streets.
The most interesting building we got to go into was a pharmacy that has operated continuously for over 500 years. It was originally established in the 15th century and is still operated as a pharmacy. There are parts of the interior and the ceiling that are original from the 15th century. Absolutely amazing! There are exhibits of items that were sold hundreds of years ago.
The Estonian people migrated to the windy shores of the Baltic from central Asia sometime in the 3rd millennium BC. Over the centuries, Estonia has been conquered repeatedly by other peoples. It started in 1193 when the Archbishop of Riga sent German knights on a crusade. By 1346 the Teutonic Knights ruled the entire eastern shore of the Baltic. You can easily see this German influence throughout the old town.
Over the centuries, the area was controlled by Danes, Germans and Swedes. The last conquest was by the Russians, culminating with a severe repression on the Estonians imposed by Stalin in 1945.
In 1991 Estonia finally regained its freedom and the population has worked hard to attract tourists from around the world.
We all really enjoyed our short visit to Tallinn and have tons of photos of this beautiful town.
Today is Bill’s birthday and we’ll be doing the usual embarrassing bit at dinner when the waiters gather round and sing Happy Birthday in their different accents. It should be fun!
Oh, and there’s a couple of things I forgot to tell you about last night and about St. Petersburg.
There were LOTS of weddings going on all over St. Petersburg! A beautiful sight. (Thanks for the reminder, Brenda!)
Our van passed an area where there were lots of people sunbathing. Spotted one gal sunbathing naked. Tried like hell to get a quick photo but the one I got is very fuzzy. The guys are VERY disappointed!
We finally found a friendly slot machine in the casino. This has NOT been a winning cruise but we did manage to get $50 ahead last night. Yippee!!
And, when we went to bed at 11:30 last night, it was still bright daylight outside. Are we ever glad we have an inside cabin!!
