Baltic Cruise- Day 8: Tallinn, Estonia- May 25, 2018

The forecast when we woke at 7:10 was 72 degrees. That seemed like a good temperature for the amount of walking we had planned. Out our door, we could see Estonia sweeping by. What a nice scene!

The three of us went to breakfast at 8:05 and then out to the pool to watch our approach to Estonia’s capital, Tallinn. The sky was a gorgeous blue and that boded well for us.

 Once again with a Rick Steves’ chapter, this time on Tallinn, in hand, we disembarked at 9:20. It was a cool 62 degrees, but we were quickly distracted by the things we saw. For example, at the end of the pier, there was huge pile of concrete shapes seemingly dumped along the shoreline. They were three-legged and had no obvious reason for their shape. 

 Signs that greeted us were in English, either a testament to the number of English-speaking visitors they get or it is just the second language they can count on. 

 

We walked through a building filled with souvenirs and an exchange. On the other side, we found booths up on a wooden platform on either side of the path. We stopped to look at some dolls that caught my eye. The woman there told us that she made them and that we would find that the items sold here were cheaper than what we’d find in town or in the building. She was right-I’d already noticed that the price of postcards was cheaper out here than inside. We made a mental note to leave plenty of time to shop here, when we came back.

We appreciated the handy bench with the welcome. It was perfect for a selfie to post on Facebook.

 It was a touch confusing following Rick’s directions to get to the Lower Town, but we found our way to the hill with the Fat Margaret Tower. The dandelions look just like at home, but, somehow, they were more photogenic. 

 Not seeing any other way to do it, we climbed the steps to reach the park at the top of the hill. Here, I was able to take a better picture of the cut arch sculpture that is a memorial to the 852 people who died in September, 1994, when the ferry Estonia sank in a storm on its way to Stockholm. Considering the number of ferries we’d already seen and would continue to see, this was sobering.

 Fat Margaret, by the way, is named that for its thick walls. We went around the side to the city gate that it had protected in days gone by.  The relief above the gate is from the 16^th century, when Sweden took Estonia from Germany. 

 On the other side of the gate is Pikk Street, or Long Street in English. In medieval times, this was the center for the merchants, leading, as it did, from the harbor, which was closer then, up into town. On some of the gables, you can still see cranes as in Amsterdam. These three buildings are nicknamed the “Three Sisters”. The elaborately carved doorway illustrates the wealth of the merchants back in the day.

 The first church we encountered was St. Olav’s, which, amazingly, is Baptist. It is the only Baptist church I have ever heard of in Europe. In 1492, the locals say, it had the tallest tower in the world. We did not go in. 

This nice looking building was once the local headquarters of the KGB! The next building is not as nice, but has a great lamp and shows its age.

 This marzipan shop was holding a class in shaping the tasty treat. Tallinn is known for its marzipan, but it is not a product that necessarily transport back home well. So, we just looked and admired. 

 The town could be like one back home with its variety of cuisines, if you didn’t look at the architecture, that is.

 The next building of interest was the attractive Brotherhood of the Black Heads, dating to 1440, when it was a German merchants club for single men. Once they married a local woman, they moved up to the more prestigious Great Guild. Until then, they fought fires and such, because, having no family, they were expendable! 

Further on, we found this cool Art Nouveau exterior of a building being renovated. We peered in the windows of the famous Maiasmook coffee shop, but didn’t partake.

At 10:35, we reached the Holy Ghost Church, which still has its 14^th century design, although the clock outside is from 1633. J did not wish to go in, but K and I paid 1,50 Euro each and made a brief visit. Along the balcony, were paintings from the life of Christ. There was a red and white flag to remind one that the area had been ruled by the Danes in the 13^th century and the flag was born in this town. In fact, Tallinn means “Danish Town”. The Danes sold it to German Teutonic Knights, who lost it to the Swedes, who lost it to the Russians, by the way.

 We went down tiny, charming Saiakang  (“White Bread”) lane to reach the town hall square (Raekoja Plats). When I zoomed in on the town hall, I discovered this dragon gargoyle. The square was busy with tourists and school groups. J thought the kids seemed to be on a scavenger hunt.

 

We found our way up to St. Nicholas Church. The 3,50 Euro entry fee was off-putting and time was marching on. So, even though a painting inside had been recommended, we continued down the street. 

 Many of the buildings had helpful signs in Estonian and English telling you what was significant about them, usually something architectural. I particularly liked these two. When we got back to the port later, I found a booth selling tiny ceramic houses. I picked up one I liked and turned it over. There was the word Tallinn followed by Rüutli. I said to my daughter, “Isn’t that the name of a street we were on?” The lady heard me and said, “You are very observant! It is and this house is on it.” Well, that sealed it; I bought it. Only in going through pictures to get ready for this blog, did I realize that my little building is the first of these two buildings. How cool is that?! What are the odds?

 To make it even more amazing, we weren’t supposed to go that far down the street. I realized that something seemed wrong and checked the map again. We were supposed to turn up a narrow lane before the church. So we backtracked and started our climb to the Upper Town. Soon, we were climbing an incredibly long flight of stairs that even went through a narrow passage. The climb was a bit tough for me, but J was a big help. 

At the top, we found the city walls and gardens. The view was wonderful and a welcome break. I saw a rather shy looking young woman selling paintings. I asked about smaller ones and she showed me some that she said were by her teacher. I asked for one that she did rather than her teacher and got a charming one for 10 Euros. She seemed pleased that I was interested in her work. She’d been painting for 2 years she told me.

Amazingly, there was still more uphill climbing to be done in order to reach the Russian Orthodox Cathedral. The Russians tore down a church and a statue of Luther to erect this cathedral facing the Estonian Parliament (pink building) and over the supposed grave of an Estonian hero. Rick Steves noted that 40% of city’s population is ethnic Russian. We did go in, since Russian Orthodox is not a church we are familiar with. It was lovely inside, but we weren’t allowed to photograph it.

 

Up the street, we found a souvenir shop that, unfortunately, was below street level. I wanted pins, so down we went.

At 11:50, we reached the Dome Church. This town has a lot of churches for a place where few people go to church, by the way. Since it was the church of the German aristocracy, it has more than 100 coats of arms on the walls as memorials to the deceased. We chose not to pay the fee that allowed us to walk around at will, but just stayed in the free area.

 Our route went along Rahukohtu lane, where we found the Irish embassy, among others. Nice location, but driving up this hill in winter couldn’t be fun. 

We soon reached the Patkulli Viewpoint. What a beautiful view! When I zoomed, I even found the Koningsdam at the port. To the left of the terrace we were on was the huge Stenbock House, the seat of government and workplace of the Prime Minister. Did they have a view! I also found these lovely flowers growing in a window box up there. 

 We continued on to Kohtuotsa Viewpoint, which provided an interesting juxtaposition of the Old Town with Modern Tallinn in the distance. It was chillier here and windy. 

Since it was now 12:10, we started to look for someplace to eat.  Fifteen minutes later we opted for Domberg. They had seats inside, which I really wanted, in order to stay out of the sun. Service was very poor, perhaps because there were only two people working both the inside and the outside. K even had to ask for menus and then to order. I had a hard time finding something, partially because there was so much seafood on the list. I also didn’t want a lot and wanted something local, preferably sweet. So, I picked Estonian sweetbread soup topped with whipped cream. They didn’t have it. They didn’t have the next local item I picked, either. I wound up ordering the same thing J did, homemade sausages with stewed cabbage and potato for 12,90 Euros. It was good, but felt too German. K ordered Estonian potato salad with salmon and egg for 7,90 and a Saku Original 50cl beer for 4,80. He enjoyed both. J got Coke and I ordered Coke Zero. The thick dark bread was very hearty. I was ticked, when the receipt claimed that the tip was not included. That is not the way Europe works. Service was so poor, that we didn’t leave a tip in the tip jar at the register, when we left at 1:32.

 We followed Rick’s route downhill, back through the city hall square, which was still quite busy. We were not interested in going to the mall, so we did not follow his directions all the way to the end. Instead, before the Viru Gate, we turned left into Katariina Käik, St. Catherine’s Passage. We looked at the famous Sweater Wall, but living in Florida negates the need for wool. We found some craft shops along the way, but they were very expensive. That said, there is no lack of souvenir shops in this town. 

We came upon some very old tombstones affixed to the wall. They had been removed from the St. Catherine’s Church on the other side of the wall. It was dedicated to my patron saint, St. Catherine of Alexandria-and it was closed! I finally come upon a church dedicated to her and it is closed. This was most disappointing.

 We found our way back to Pikk Street and more or less retraced our steps to the port. We were at the craft booths there by 2:40 p.m. It’s been quite a while since I added a doll to my foreign doll collection, but I found a charming girl with blonde hair and a lovely dress for only 10 Euros. The area is famous for juniper and I bought a very nice box made of juniper with amber under glass in its lid from the wife of the man who made it for only 11 Euros. Postcards were a very reasonable 0,50 Euros each. I wandered over to a booth selling linens and found two cute 18” squares with fun Christmas designs, such as Santa and a moose, for only 3 Euros each. I couldn’t decide between them. I asked J for help and she said that at that price, I should buy both. I did! 

I already mentioned the cute ceramic house I bought at one of the booths. I found a booth that had caught my eye on the way in to town and bought a lovely stained glass house with “Tallinn” written on it for our travel garland at Christmas. At another booth, there were very nice hand-painted small wooden ball ornaments. “I am painting these,” the woman at the booth told me. They were only 3 Euros each! I bought several and got her to write “Tallinn” on the bottom of each.

In the building just after the booths, I bought a bar of chocolate with marzipan, since that is a thing the area is known for.

Shopping accomplished, we headed for the ship in the face of a major cold wind on the dock. In addition to the usual hot towel and flavored water offered by the crew under a tent on the dock, there was a welcome cup of hot chocolate, or, if you like that sort of thing, coffee.

We were back onboard at 3:40 and we checked the temperature, it was 67.8 degrees. I then checked my phone. We’d walked over 5 miles, a lot of it climbing, and most of it on cobblestones. No wonder my knees and hips were so angry with me! It’s a good thing I really liked Tallinn or this pain would really color the day’s memory. The shower I took felt good.

At dinner at 5:25, I decided to go with the vaguely Russian theme the menu offered. To start, I had the small, but delicious double baked cheese soufflé. J chose leek and scallion soup and K had citrus seafood broth. Both were quite satisfied with their choices.

 For my main course, I had the chicken Kiev, which, granted, is named for a place in Ukraine. It was very moist and had some spinach in it. J went for another European location, choosing English roast beef with Yorkshire pudding. We’d never seen Yorkshire pudding that big before, but the beef was good. K had rustic lasagna, choosing to go to southern Europe, obviously. It was very good. 

Strawberries Pavlova was my desert choice and the plating was lovely. The flavor was wonderful. J had an interesting pear frangipane tart. K had another crisp, this time a mixed berries crisp, and it was terrific.

 After dinner we went to the Queen’s Lounge at 7 to secure seats for the 7:15 Russian Traditions and Art presentation. I wish I could say that I was fully awake for that, but I cannot. 

Tomorrow would be an early day, so we were back in our cabins just after 8. 

K and I watched a movie after getting  our bags ready and making sure I had the excursion tickets. A couple of hours later, we had this lovely sky from our veranda.