Tallinn, Estonia

Today we visited Tallinn, Estonia. This was one of the more anticipated visits on the tour, and we were fortunate to have a sunny day with little wind, a comfortable 20 degrees.

We got our first glimpse of the city from our balcony as we approached port, although this was brief as the ship then rotated 180 degrees to back into the wharf.

When visiting Tallinn for one day like we are, the destination is the medieval Old Town, which has buildings dating back to the 1400's and earlier. We had booked a guided walking tour for today. Our guide, Maria, was a local Estonian, very passionate about her country and local history. Again most of the history centred on the effect the Russians have had on Estonia over the years. Given the relatively recent independance of Estonia, there was plenty for our guide to talk about and show us.

The old town is on a hill, so we were driven to the top where the walking tour commenced, starting with the Parliament buildings, the Russian Orthodox Church, The Estonian Church, and meandering around the streets to some spectacular viewpoints looking over the lower part of the town. Up top, the streets were relatively quiet, with few shops and restaurants, and seemed to be more everyday life going on.

Once we headed down, we found the streets got much busier. More people around, loads of cafes and restaurants, souviner shops, local clothing shops, etc. Our tour guide was kind enough to point out the souviner shops containing genuine Estonian made products, not cheap mass produced rubbish that most were peddling.

Once the tour was over, we had a couple of hours free time, before we would be given a ride back to the ship. A good opportunity to grab in some lunch at a local bakery, and then have a look at some of the beautiful products on offer in the stores.

I decided I wanted to walk up the remaining portion of the town wall. This was a cheap 3 euro entry fee and it wasn't busy up there. Helen looked at more local arts and crafts while I went up there.

Once we got to the meeting point for our ride back, I went to return to the ship on foot, which was about 1-2km walk away. Helen waited for the ride back, which was delayed apparently due to a road accident causing delays.

Outside the Old Town, the city was quite nice, very green and clean, but with the usual things you would expect including cars, roads, trams etc.

On the watefront I encountered a concrete monstrosity that was very long, and high, requiring lots of stairs climbing. It was completely derilect with graffity everywhere, broken windows, rusty steel, broken lights, and weeds growing everywhere. I have no idea what this place is (or once was) and will need to look into it out of curiosity.

I returned to the ship about an hour before departure. By now a stiff sea breeze was blowing and I was glad to get back on board nice and cosy. Home sweet home!