Medieval Maidens

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A fast ferry ride away from Helsinki is Tallinn. Capital of Estonia. The city has two faces. Move away from the city center and you see concrete blocks of houses, old Soviet style. Stay in the old town, and you find yourself in a medieval city. I prefer the latter, so frolic around on the cobble stoned streets along the old city wall.

On the top of a hill stands the Alexandr Nevsky cathedral. It’s magnificent. The hike up is worth it. But, after all it’s just a building, and my time is limited. So I head back down to the old narrow streets and squares. The summery weather probably helps, but it’s difficult not to like the place.

On one of the small and crowded squares two teenage girls dressed in medieval clothes are standing by a medieval wagon, selling some sort of food. It fits perfectly into the atmosphere. This is the way it could have looked like 500 or 1000 years ago. With the difference that these girls speak English and pose happily for tourists taking their picture. Admittedly, I’m one of these tourists. So cute. So friendly. So innocent. So overpriced is probably the stuff that they sell. But their friendly faces do sell. Maybe not the food on their little wooden wagon, but definitely does good markething for their city. A nice city.

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