14 May 2019 -- Day 6 -- Tallinn, Estonia
We arrived in Tallinn, the Capital City, at 8:00am to chilly overcast skies, but by noon the sun came out and warmed things up a bit. The city has a real old world charm and is amazing in its rich history! It's also is the home of SKYPE. The Swedes claim it's their invention, but they hired a Estonian team to develop SKYPE and its software and program, so the Estonians say it's theirs!!
We walked around and toured this very old city that has a varied history of war and occupation by Swedes (twice), Russians, Germans, and Russia again, until gaining their independence in 1993 with the end of the Soviet Union. They actually have a walkway in the Lower City with an historical timeline embedded in the concrete walkway slab, even projecting their 100-year celebration yet to come.
If our guide was any example of the typical Estonian, they have a lot of optimism and hope for the future of their country. She was very enthusiastic and had a lot of nationalistic pride. And she was a great story teller, full of anecdotal fun facts.
Of course, Tallinn has their old churches from the Lutheran church, that was originally a Roman Catholic one until 1534 to the very ornate Russian Orthodox church on the hill, and the other one in the lower city.
One of the church spires, that was the tallest city structure at 150 meters, was actually used by the Russians to listen in on the Estonians and it was said that the Estonians could hear Russian on their radios talking to each other.
The Old City is divided into the Upper and Lower cities. The Wall of Hate lines the main narrow cobblestone street that connects the two. The merchants of the Lower CIty despised the Aristocracy that lived in the Upper City, and so the wall was erected and then gates added to isolate the two factions.
The views from the Upper City are very picturesque as you can see, and show the wall and towers that protected the city in the 14th century.
The Upper City was home to many aristocratic summer homes as typified by the gated palace below!
And yes, we were there and even got our picture taken with the bull in front of the Australian steakhouse!!
So as we set sail and have a sea day tomorrow, we bid a fond farewell to Tallinn! What a wonderful experience!!
We arrived in Tallinn, the Capital City, at 8:00am to chilly overcast skies, but by noon the sun came out and warmed things up a bit. The city has a real old world charm and is amazing in its rich history! It's also is the home of SKYPE. The Swedes claim it's their invention, but they hired a Estonian team to develop SKYPE and its software and program, so the Estonians say it's theirs!!
We walked around and toured this very old city that has a varied history of war and occupation by Swedes (twice), Russians, Germans, and Russia again, until gaining their independence in 1993 with the end of the Soviet Union. They actually have a walkway in the Lower City with an historical timeline embedded in the concrete walkway slab, even projecting their 100-year celebration yet to come.
If our guide was any example of the typical Estonian, they have a lot of optimism and hope for the future of their country. She was very enthusiastic and had a lot of nationalistic pride. And she was a great story teller, full of anecdotal fun facts.
Of course, Tallinn has their old churches from the Lutheran church, that was originally a Roman Catholic one until 1534 to the very ornate Russian Orthodox church on the hill, and the other one in the lower city.
One of the church spires, that was the tallest city structure at 150 meters, was actually used by the Russians to listen in on the Estonians and it was said that the Estonians could hear Russian on their radios talking to each other.
The Old City is divided into the Upper and Lower cities. The Wall of Hate lines the main narrow cobblestone street that connects the two. The merchants of the Lower CIty despised the Aristocracy that lived in the Upper City, and so the wall was erected and then gates added to isolate the two factions.
The views from the Upper City are very picturesque as you can see, and show the wall and towers that protected the city in the 14th century.
The Upper City was home to many aristocratic summer homes as typified by the gated palace below!
In the lower city we saw an apothecary dating to 1422 that is still in use today!! Our guide, Kaia, is in the shot as well!
The Lower City was protected with 2 main towers and a gate that kept the city closed to their enemies as we see below.
We also marveled at its narrow streets and unique archways and cobblestoned streets..
Ok, in my opinion, the best so far. :) I LOVE the photo of you and Robbi! Tallinn is SO picturesque, which is exactly why I've been so excited about this visit! The one photo taken from above (where were you when you took this??) looks like it came straight from a fairy tale movie set! And those cobblestone, stone wall- lined streets...sooo wonderful!
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