Oliver, Rob and I took a ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn for the weekend. Apart from feeling a bit sea sick on the ferry, it was a fine trip.
We spent a lot of our time in Tallinn simply wandering around. Although it feels like the walls of the old town are there to trap tourists inside it, we did not complain! The streets and buildings were beautiful and it was very interesting to learn about some of the history of the town.
On the Saturday we visited the Estonian History Museum which is one of the best museums we have been to on our trip. Different mediums were well integrated to provide the history of the country. (As opposed to other museums that only use digital methods of presentation for the sake of it.) It was incredible how they fit so much history into such a small space and yet presented it in a concise and interesting manner. There was a temporary exhibition on "Children and War". They used curtains to create little booths were you could listen to individual stories and recollections of Estonians caught in conflict.
In the afternoon Oliver found a nice spot at a cafe for lunch. Rob and I, so absorbed in the museum, almost missed the town walking tour we had planned to attend. We made it in time for the tour guide's introductions but had to content our empty stomachs with delicious roasted almonds from a street stall en route.
Our tour guide really knew her stuff and we learnt a lot from her. I found it especially interesting to find out about Estonia's struggles for independence. Unsurprisingly due to the geographical position of the country, Estonia has been under Danish, Swedish, German and Russian control. During the tour we learnt a little bit about the oppressive forces of the Nazis and the Soviets and the terrible consequences of war for Estonians. The methods the Estonians used to retain their language and what culture they could during these times were a fascination, as was hearing about the Singing Revolution.
The Russian orthodox cathedral was a city symbol so disliked by that Estonia actually planned to demolish it, except that they didn't have enough money to do so!
On quite another note, we found out Estonians invented Skype (but had to get the project financed elsewhere) and they lay claim to putting up the first Christmas tree. (However this is a battle of the Baltics with Latvia also purporting to have been the first).
We spent a lot of our time in Tallinn simply wandering around. Although it feels like the walls of the old town are there to trap tourists inside it, we did not complain! The streets and buildings were beautiful and it was very interesting to learn about some of the history of the town.
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| Town Market |
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| How will our budget last through Europe?! |
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| Walking in the steps of history |
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| We know that man! |
On the Saturday we visited the Estonian History Museum which is one of the best museums we have been to on our trip. Different mediums were well integrated to provide the history of the country. (As opposed to other museums that only use digital methods of presentation for the sake of it.) It was incredible how they fit so much history into such a small space and yet presented it in a concise and interesting manner. There was a temporary exhibition on "Children and War". They used curtains to create little booths were you could listen to individual stories and recollections of Estonians caught in conflict.
Our tour guide really knew her stuff and we learnt a lot from her. I found it especially interesting to find out about Estonia's struggles for independence. Unsurprisingly due to the geographical position of the country, Estonia has been under Danish, Swedish, German and Russian control. During the tour we learnt a little bit about the oppressive forces of the Nazis and the Soviets and the terrible consequences of war for Estonians. The methods the Estonians used to retain their language and what culture they could during these times were a fascination, as was hearing about the Singing Revolution.
The Russian orthodox cathedral was a city symbol so disliked by that Estonia actually planned to demolish it, except that they didn't have enough money to do so!
On quite another note, we found out Estonians invented Skype (but had to get the project financed elsewhere) and they lay claim to putting up the first Christmas tree. (However this is a battle of the Baltics with Latvia also purporting to have been the first).
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| The Russian church (it's a touchy subject) |
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| By the Viru gates |
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| Old Fat Margaret |
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| Kiek in de Kok - Peek in the Kitchen tower |
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| The "quiet" backstreets |
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| Walking outside the moat and city walls |
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| Tall Hermann by the now parliament - where the raising and lowering of the country flag is very ceremonial |
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| St Olaf's Church at dusk |
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| St Olaf's from another angle |
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