Tallinn, Estonia

---

Our ship arrives in Tallinn the capital of Estonia. We bought a ticket for a shuttle ride into town but it is not far and we could have walked. We are let off at the walled city's gate. We met a woman handing out free maps to the city and she informs us of a free tour in english that starts in half an hour. We check out the main square and I buy a christmas ornament while we wait for the tour. Our guide is a college age girl who has grown up in Tallin. She is very knowleable about the history of Estonia and is open about the positives and negatives regarding the country's past. Estonia borders the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland. The official language is Estonian which is closely related to Finnish. The country has been inhabited since 6509 BC. At times they were taken over by Germans, Danish, Swiss and Russians. During WWII they were occupied by the Soviets then by the Nazis. In 1991 they became independent.

Our tour took us to upper and lower Old Town, the well to do lived in upper Old Town and everyone else lived in lower Old Town. The Old Town is well preserved, it was not bombed during WWII, only the outer wall was bombed. The town has cobblestone streets from the 14th century and the buildings are from the medieval period. Our guide informed us that Estonians do not now and have never practiced any religion. This is the first country we have visited that has never had a religion. There are still Russians living in Tallin and they all live in a section of town together, the Russians do not speak Estonian and the goverment provides schools with classes taught in Russian. The only church in town is a Russian church. You feel like you are back in the past except for all the tourist. The virgin tower (see pic) was were women were locked up if they did not wish to marry the man chosen by her parents. She would stay locked up until she agreed to marry.

During WWII the Nazis reviewed the records from WWI and rounded up anyone and their relatives who fought against Germany. Our tour guides grandma was sent to a camp. Our tour guide'a mother was born in the camp.

After the tour we went to the old fishing village with old wooden houses. There are industrial buildings here now turned into shops, restaurants and housing for the hip young Estonians. We had lunch here with the locals happy to lose the tourist crowd. We also walked in a park with a small river and green space.located outside the walled city. We enjoyed our day in Tallinn.

---