Tallinn, Estonia

We were immediately charmed by Tallinn, our entry port into Estonia and the Baltic countries. It's a city  about the size of Greater Victoria and is wonderfully diverse- Old Town dates back to at least 1154 and is surrounded by leafy neighbourhoods of predominantly wooden houses and modern architecture, too.

We checked in to our hotel and then set out to walk through the adjoining park to the upper town.

     

We wanted to take in the Bastion Passages, underground tunnels that formed a part of the fortification of the castle in Tallinn. They date back to the late 17th century and primarily served to shelter troops  defending the city and to conceal the movement ofthese troops from one structure to another.

The main building material is limestone. The passages are about 1.5 to 2.5 meters wide and 2.5 to 3 meters high.

Through the years, the passages have been used for many purposes: often for storage space, for air raid shelter, for nuclear fall out shelter, for &punks& hiding from the Soviets, and squats for the homeless.

Renovation (and eviction) began in 2004 for public (touristic) access.

On the advice of the hotel receptionist, we left Old Town to venture into a former warehouse area, now a "hipster" area full of cafes with patios. We opted not to eat Indian, Mexican, nor Asian fusion cuisine, finally settling on a place with a good beer and cider menu. The food was also very good!

The next day was a long one- we had an eight hour tour of Lahemaa National Park just to the northeast of Tallinn. Our guide was Gregor, an art history PhD student. The Estonian government provides free education to all Estonians, from preschool to university and graduate school. He told us he also receives a paycheque from the government while he is studying, equivalent to the average Estonian monthly salary. This is a good remnant from the former Soviet Socialists. (Estonia has a long a complicated history with its neighbours- the most recent occupation was by the Soviets, who actually only completely left in 1994.)

Our tour began with a stop beside the highway to see a burial site of the ancient Estonians. This part of the country is dominated by limestone, and the burial markers were constructed using this material. Actually, the markers were moved to the current site a few meters away from the highway, as it was originally located just where the highway now runs.

Our next stop was a walk through the bog. It was much better than that sounds- there is a well-maintained boardwalk and the area is beautiful. We had a perfect day- about 22 C, with a tiny breeze. We didn't see any swimmers in the bog ponds, but Gregor showed us one pond where he and his family come to swim and picnic. I would have brought my bathing suit if I had known!

We toured through a former manor house. Such manors were in power during the Germanic occupation and were ususally comprised of a large manor house built on a hill so the owners could look over their lands and villages and fields where the serfs toiled.

This particular manor house displays the way the homes were set up and it has a museum of forests upstairs as well. Trees are holy to the Estonians; when serfdom was abolished, most people did not have last names, so took on the names of trees for their surnames. The type of tree was symbolic- oaks for strength, etc.

Finally, we went to a fisherman's village

and then to the captains' village of Kasmu, where  an eccentcric fellow and his wife have created a museum in the former captains' school. It is crammed with anything and everything that he can find that has a historical significance, from felted boots to harpoons. Every surface in every room is covered. Even their private kitchen, dining rooms, and living room are on display, to show how the captains and their families lived.

a remnant of the Soviet era at the Captains' Village

Our final day in Tallinn was equally busy. The morning was spent doing a walking tour of Old Town, seeing the historical churches and town square with the world's oldest functioning pharmacy. 

 

 

 

Old Town is also the location of Toompea Castle which houses Estonia's parliament, the most accessible in the world- there were just two very young guards at the main door.

We stopped for lunch at Poets' Corner, at Pegasus, a wonderful cafe with a rich history of being the cafe of choice for the literary society, serving as a meeting place for writers, artists, academics, actors, etc. It also serves very good coffee and perhaps the best bread I've ever had.

The afternoon was spent seeing the sights of Tallinn outside Old Town. We stopped at Kadriorg Park with the baroque palace built by Peter I. It is usually the home of the Estonian President, although the current president- a woman!- does not reside there. (Estonia's president functions much the same as our Governor-General; the parliament and its prime minister actually govern the country.)

a driverless shuttle bus!

We went to the Pirita disctrict to see the 1980s Olympics marina. Although the Olympics were held in  Moscow, there was no harbour so Tallinn, as part of "annexed Russia" was chosen. Here there is also an outstanding maritime museum, complete with the world's largest freestanding concrete dome, a full-size submarine, and tremendous interactive displays.

The only church built in Estonia during the Soviet era- for the Olympians.

(The Olympic reference reminds me of a story our driver in Helsinki told us as she drove us to the ferry. She told us that after Canada beat Finland in 2016 to win the World Hockey Championships, Finns did not use the "f word"- they used "Canada!" instead.)

Finally, we stopped by St. Briget's Convent. Construction began in 1400 and it housed both nuns and priests. Today, nuns live in a new building and operate a hotel.

After all these sights, we set off for Parnu, a seaside resort two hours away. We checked in to the Estonia Resort and Wellness Center, enjoyed a wonderful meal, and then headed to the spa.

The spa area has multiple sauna rooms (traditional, steam, aroma, joy (for families with young children, we think), infrared, and salt), a large pool with swim up bar, and numerous hot tubs of varying temperatures. Our wristbands gave us access to the spa area and also operated the lockers in the change room. (If you forgot your locker number, there was a scanning machine to help you.)

Again, we slept very well!