Exquisite Estonia

We were well rested after a full day at sea, and were ready to take on Tallin bright and early on Tuesday morning.  It is a city that B visits for work, so once again I did not have to do any legwork on sights to see because he was taking his turn as tour guide.

Estonia is an ancient city, with a storied history.  The short version follows:

Estonia's first settlers arrived somewhere about 5000 b.c.  By 1050 a.d., (a mere 6000 years after it was first settled), the fortress of Toompea was built in what is now known as Tallin.  In 1219, the Danish took it over and use it during the Crusades.  The year 1285 brought the the Germans, and a new name of Reval.  During the Protestant reformation, the German dominance was solidified and the city converted to Lutheranism.  And for almost 300 years, this is how things stayed.  Until 1561, when Reval became property of Sweden.  By 1710, Sweden capitulated to Russia and gave up its claims to Estonia.  Fast forward to 1918 and Reval's war of Independence, which they won in 1920 and Russia signed the Tartu Peace Treaty, effectively creating the Estonian Republic.  But that didn't last long, as Estonia was annexed back into Russia with the start of WWII, and then occupied by Nazi Germany from 1941-1944, only to be annexed into Russia again at the end of the war.  Finally, in 1991 an independent democratic Estonian state was re-established.

History lesson over.  On to the beauty...

We started our day entering the city through the old gates that protected the city from attack.  And immediately were confronted with the spire of St. Olaf's church.  Which, at one point in time, was the tallest building in the world.  And seeings as we have never met a church spire we won't climb, we promptly went in and climbed the dank narrow steps.  The views were well worth it - though I am not sure the anxiety it gave me was.  This had to be one of the craziest climbs we have done; but the views were definitely worth it.

 

They are standing on 4 narrow boards, that moved each time we stepped and that fencing leaned out just enough that I was sure we were all going to plummet to our death.  But I am also afraid of heights, so take that with a grain of salt.

We continued to walk around and somehow ended up outside of the walls.  So we ducked back in another entrance and followed the fortress walls until we hit the Alexander Nevsky Church.

Stenbock House - the official seat of the Government as seen from the old fortress walls.

The Russian Orthodox Church located right across the street from the Stenbock House (see caption above), is hard to miss.  It is the grandest and largest cathedral in Tallin.  Built just before the turn of the 20th century, the church was actually slated for demolition by the Estonian government in 1924 because the people saw it as a reminder of the Russian oppression they suffered.  We would have loved to go in, unfortunately it is under renovations at this time.

At this point it was just about lunch time and B knew just the place.  So we wandered past the old fortress of Toompea before heading to an out of the way spot for some traditional food and beer.  And to let the girls play in the park for a few minutes before heading into Old Town.

Old Towne as seen from a view towards St. Nicholas Church.

The Raeapteek - built in 1422 it is the oldest continuously running pharmacy in Europe.  Since it opened, it has always been located at this exact spot.

We wandered around a bit more, spent some time having a local beer and then wandered into another small church.  We just wanted to spend a bit of time soaking up the ambiance that is Tallin.  A very laid back, slow and easy living vibe.  It was infectious.

   
Finally, we had to make our way back to the ship as we did not want to miss the boat.  But when we hit the waterfront, and found we had a few minutes, we decided to stop and skip some stones.  Or maybe we should call it what it really was - throwing rocks.  But whatever you call it, the girls called it fun.  And I called it the perfect ending to another fabulous day.