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Tallinn, Estonia
from outside the city walls From the bus we could see the change in landscape as we crossed from Latvia into Estonia. We literally drove around the former checkpoint border crossing and straight into Estonia. Almost immediately we began to notice that there is more money in this country. Even the farms and houses far from any major town were quaint and well-kept. Some of the small towns we drove though almost had a Scandinavian feel (the Fins in particular love to vacation in Estonia, only a ferry-ride away from their coast). There seems to be more economic stability here than in Latvia.
We arrived at the bus station around midnight and took a cab to our hotel. We stayed at a hotel adjacent to the train station. It would have been very convenient had we taken the train but we had read that Estonians are not too fond of the rail travel. As the rest of Europe embraces high speed Inter-city trains, the people of the Baltics prefer to travel by bus. Our hotel was nice - we are growing very accustomed to a no-frills room. With the Euro-Dollar conversion at its all-time worst, we try to be very careful about selecting a clean,
Tallinn, Estonia
view from outside city walls but simple and inexpensive hotel. European hotels don't seem to have the same accessories as American hotels anyway: Twin beds, no pool, no gym, no room service...you get the idea. We spend very little time in our hotel - we just want a clean place to sleep and a free breakfast 😊
We started our first day with a walk into Old Tallinn. Our hotel was across the street from the wall and we just had to cross the street and climb the hill into the town. We noticed that the cobblestone streets were even worse here!! They were basically chunks of rocks with no filling in between! Anyone who knows me and my history of tripping on my own 2 feet would enjoy watching me try to walk around town on these roads!! The Estonian language is most similiar to Finnish and so we had to start all over again learning to recognize words. We found that less people spoke English here than in Riga. We were expecting the opposite to be true, but we had a harder time in Tallinn than we had had in Riga. The other difference was the money. We had to exchange our
money again, this time for EEK's, which we liked to call EEEEEEEKS! Estonians call their country Eesti so the EE is from their abbreviation and the K is for Krone. We took turns calling them EEEEEEKS! and 'stoners.'
The Alexander Nevsky cathedral was really neat looking from the outside. I love the tall towers of the Russian archetecture. The inside, however, was a different story. The columns had what looked like barbershop stripes around them and there was gold everywhere. The inside was incredibly small. We were very surprised because it seemed to large and imposing from the street. I was disappointed with the interior; it was just gaudy.
We had lunch at the Beer House. It's the only brewery/restaurant in Estonia. I had honey beer, which I'd never heard of before. It was pretty good. Mainly we enjoyed the atmosphere and the traditional dress. We learned another cultural difference here: tipping is expected. In Western Europe, if you tip at all, it is just a few cents. Here, 10% tip was expected and interestingly enough, 20% was the maximum allowed.
We read in the guidebook about a cafe that has low, arching stone ceilings and is lit
only by candles. We went to see it and fell in love with the place! We had a table with a bench against the wall. It was lined with pillows and we could lay back and just watch the people coming and going. Romas ordered a Mochaccino but was pretty disappointed. Apparantly the little chocolate wrapped in foil on his saucer was not for eating! He ate the "mocha" part of his mochaccino and was left with just a cappuccino. We definitely learn things the hard way when it comes to cultural differences! The cafe was great though! We loved the atmosphere.
We visited the Museum of Occupation and Fight for Freedom. It was a small museum with tons of information packed inside. They had labeled exhibits with old military clothing, weapons, and propaganda, as well as antiques from the time period. They had 4 videos (in English) with interviews and first-hand accounts of the occupations by the Soviets, Nazis, and again by the Soviets (50 years of occupation). Each video was 30minutes long! It was a great way to learn the history and see pictures and video footage from the actual events. What struck me was the 'human chain'
that was formed throughout the Baltic states as a form of protest and show of solidarity. August 23, 1989 approximately two million people joined their hands to form an over 600 kilometer (373 mi) long human chain across the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). This original demonstration was organized to draw the world's attention to the common historical fate which these three countries suffered. It marked the 50th anniversary of August 23, 1939 when the Soviet Union and Germany in the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact divided spheres of interest in Eastern Europe which led to the occupation of these three states. There were pictures and descriptions of this chain; it was remarkable. They remained holding hands for 15 minutes. It was sad to see what the people in this country as well as Latvia and Lithuanian had suffered at the hands of the Nazis but especially the Soviets. By the end of WWII, one in ten Estonians lived abroad. The country lost over 280,000 to emigration, war, executions, and concentration camps. 19,000 more Estonias were executed after WWII when the Soviets immediately annexed the country. It's hard to imagine that only a few decades ago this country
was suffering greatly.
Tallinn has been chosen as the "City of Culture 2011." It is a recognized World Heritage site and has maintained the old city very well. The new buildings, hotels, skyscrapers have all been built outside of the city walls. There is a definite distinction between old and new.
For dinner, we ate at Olde Hansa. It is a restaurant set in Medieval times. The waiters dress in costume and the food is that which would have been served during the time period. Romas had boar and I had rabbit. It was really very good! Romas had honey beer, which was a million times better than the honey beer we'd had in the brewery. I had white spiced house wine and it too was delicious. For dessert we had Rose Pudding. The entire meal was delicious and despite the 'tourist trap'/'disneyland' feel, we had a great time. The city capitalizes on it's Medieval past with traditional dress and shops with iron pieces, candles, and hand-blown glass.
We took a City Bus tour on our second day. The old town itself is walkable within a day and we wanted to see more of the surrounding area.
The tour took us past the botanical gardens, TV tower, amphitheater. We also saw a cemetary that is kept 'natural' - the trees are left standing. It was weird to see the tombstones amid the forest, but it was really nice and quaint. Tallinn has applied for status of 'Green City' - 27% of the city is green, not including private residences. It has not yet been approved - the guide said Estonians like their cars too much! After decades of opression, I should think that freedom to drive any car you please would be too tempting.
We loved our visit to Estonia. I would love to come back and spend time on the beaches and islands (Estonia has over 1200 islands along its coast). The city does not have a tourist feel to it; it's very laidback and relaxing. I would love the opportunity to come back and spend more time here!
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