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Published: April 28th 2005
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For any city to be compared favourably to Prague must be complementary. However Estonia's delightful capital falls short in two areas; there is no view as spectacularly romantic as the nighttime vista of the Prague Castle and Charles Bridge - the most beautiful view in any European city I have visited.; tthe other area in which Tallin appears lacking is the atmospheric smoking dungeon bars full of old and ond-style locals, drinking beer and eating plates of meat and lard. In contrast Tallin is almost too cool, too chic, maybe perhaps a little too Scandinavian ?
The medieval old town, in which we stayed, is World Heritage listed and comprises winding cobbled streets, spired churches, hidden courtyards and the impressive Russian orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral atop the Tomppea Hill. the original castle fortess where Tallin was founded by the Nights of the Sword in 1229. There is not much to do other than gently promenade, pausing occasionally to visit a trendy cafe, or an 'art museum', selling expensive but rather original and tasteful 'objets' that would grace anyones home.
The difference in latitude was immediately noticeable with a mid-afternoon temperature of 4 degrees celcius under a sunny cloudless sky.
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Toompea
Russian Orthodox cathedral completed in 1900 named after the Russian duke who attacked Estonia in the 13th Century. After a brief wander around the small town centre, we returned to our hostel to don gloves, hats and duvet jackets and joined the weekending Scandinavians in the main square, attempting to suck out what rays of warmth there were on offer. The contrast with Africaq was immense - Idon't think we saw the sun in our three weeks in springtime Britain, so the juxtaposition was more immediate. The sun in Africa is deadly. I rememberi n Zanzibar Stone Town I couldn't physically bear the intensity of the heat at sunset. Lying in a Mokoro at midday in the Okavango delta the casing of my camera became so hot frying eggs and bacon became a distinct possibility. How different life is here, with thick fur coats and hats very much the order of the day.
The other very noticeable thing was how was ow few people there are. Apparently Estonia is quite low
in the population density stakes and even though a hefty portion of the population live in Tallin, they weren't immediately evident. This was particulary noticeable on Saturday night. We had been led to believe our bar crawl would be endangered by hordes of drunken British stag
parties and inebriated Finish yobs, but no such thing. We avoided the Irish Bars where I guess most of the action was happening and so most place, from the homage to the Irish snug to super-ice-cool seemed largely quiet and empty. Kim rehearsed a staged dressing down of a stag party in case we should meet one - "you lot are a disgrace to the Queen"etc -but in fact the only utterly disgraceful behaviour we saw from a British stag party was in the Bavarian-style "Beer House"where a group of fifteen or so T-shirted crew-cut lads got up and left a table full of half-emptied steins - nearly two gallons of prime Bavarian lager. I'm afraid I fell to muttering something about the "youth of today". Even the strip club above our room seemed deathly quiet on our return at midnight - thankfully.
Next morning we headed out of the old town, in search of the 'real' Tallin, as well as looking for evidence of a two-tier pricing system. We found neither, the prices at the grottiest looking restaurant only a shade below those in the centre of the old town. In fact prices on the whole were distinctly
British, 2 gbp for a beer, 7 gbp upwards for a main course - or maybe the prices maybe more accurately described as 'competitively Scandinavian', reflecting the primary tourist source. At the main Port we found a busy tourist market and with Helsinki only a short ferry ride away the idea of day-tripping to Tallin for a bit of shopping and a few cheap beers must be quite appealing.
With our departure for St Petersburg imminent we spent a long time pondering the huge difference there can be between two neighbouring nations. The last data I saw, ableit now dated, suggested that the average ( most common ) Russian was economically worse off than under Soviet Rule, whereas in Tallin we struggled to see evidence of real poverty - in fact the opposite - displayes of wealth were everywhere. Sure, we watched impressed as the plain-clothes tourist police discretely arrested a drugged up youth hawking pills to our fellow drinkers in the square, but that could, and does, happen anywhere. What has been the source of this apparent economic miracle? Downtown the huge glass edifices of the main Scandinavian brands stand gouard over the Disney-like old-town, suggesting perhaps that
Estonia is a form of economic colony of the Baltic giants, but this doesn't seem to have done much harm.
We didn't get the chance to discuss this with any Estonians, but when we visited the Museum of the Occupation the fact that Estonian's felt better off without the Soviets was spelled out loud and clear. Estonia was first occupied by Russia in 1940-41 as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. The Germans then invaded for most of the rest of the war, until they were kicked out by the Russians in 1945. The Russians then stayed until 1991, the year many Estonians feel the second world war ended for them. More poignant perhaps than the exhibits were the six thick black volumes for sale at the counter which lists details of every known Estonian that was executed or deported to the Gulags in that long period. A bought a small booklet summarising much of this, describing how the Soviet administrative apparatus took over this small country. An interesting comment on the wording of 'constitution' (I don't know the correct term for it) notes that reading it one would gain impression of an open and democratic legal process, but
in fact every paragraph contained the phrase 'except in special circumstances' and in fact these special circumstances were the norm. Doesn't matter whether you live in the East or the West, the same tricks are used everywhere.
So, in summary, if you are an incurable romantic, a last-chance bachelor about to be cured, or a house proud collector of the stylish and unusal, then Estonia Air flys regularly from most North European cities including London and Manchester, making Tallin a great choice for a long weekend break - just make sure you bring your best clothes.
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Cumberland Sausage
Kim Buckley and Richard Baxter
Lena Sepp
A woman called Lena Sepp, presumably Estonian, added the following comment "Absurd Commentary Do not understand why you start your commentary with a comparison to Prague. Complete waste of time." She ended it with by calling me an Estonian swearword which, incidentally, is a legitimate abbreviation of my name. Anyway, I deleted it. If anyone is going to swear on this site it is going to be me.