Estonia

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Estonia - Tallinn
Tallinn has the most picturesque old town we’ve seen so far. Like a lot of old towns, the modern city of Tallinn has grown around it, making it pretty much the centre. But not many people live there, and there are hardly any modern shops. It just seems to function as the main tourist attraction. Almost everyone working there is in costume, selling traditional Estonian stuff. Normally we hate this sort of thing, but for some reason it worked really well and it was a lovely, quaint place.

Saaremaa
This is an Estonian island. We went here because there was supposed to be some cool WWII remains here. Also because they have a reputation for producing good beer and good bread. When we got there we discovered you needed to hire a car to get to the WWII stuff, so we were stuck with beer, bread and a castle.

Pärun
Selene wanted to go here as it was described as Estonia’s leading seaside resort. We discovered that Estonians idea of a great seaside resort is quite different to ours. It was still a really pretty town with tree lined streets, and that coastal town feel.

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Photos

Old Estonia
A corner of the old town

Tallinn's Old Town City Walls
Some of the towers of the old town wall - love this photo

Climbing Oleviste Church
Slemur climbing the stairs of Oleviste Church. Not the safest thing we’ve ever done - these stairs were the entrance and exit so meeting someone coming the other way was tough, especially when it turned into a spiral staircase later on.

On Top ofOleviste Church
But it was worth it for the views at the top

The Upper Town - Tallinn
The old town literarily has an upper and lower part. Did the clergymen live in the upper and noble men in the lower? Pretty cool to see it so clearly separated.

The City Walls and Towers
View of the town wall and towers in earlier photos

Upper and Lower Town
Another one showing the upper and lower towns that make up The Old Town

Oleviste Church
This is what we climbed - Oleviste Church. It was bloody huge!

Room with a View
This was taken from inside one of the towers. Shame about the cranes in the background

Raekoja Plats
Raekoja Plats - the town hall square. The centre of the old town. Heaps of nice looking but expensive cafes here. The garlic restaurant was off this square, yum

Ahhhh
Photo which I saw in a tourist brochure and had to copy

Kadriorg Palace, Still in Tallinn
The entrance to Kadriorg Palace. The palace and the surrounding park were designed for Peter the Great for his wife as their summer palace

Kadriorg Palace the Front
The actual palace. While it’s a summer shack compared to the Winter Palace in St Pete, it’s still pretty nice.

Kadriorg Palace the Gardens
Nice gardens too

Raekoja Plats From the Town Hall
Tallinn had a lot of tall things for you to climb. This is the view from the top of the town hall tower. This place is so quaint

Tallinn's Roof Line From the Town Hall
Rooftops of Tallinn’s old town. The classic Russian onion dome church in the background

Communist Stuff is Common Here
Kman checking out some Communist statues. When the Soviet empire collapsed, Estonia had all these statues hanging around, a few of them are in the basement of the Museum of Occupation. In Lithuania, they have a communist theme park

Saaremaa
The castle. It was still in pretty good nick. This isn’t the best photo. The island Saaremaa is quite rural, but nice

Estonian Beer
Saarmaa beer. Yes, a 10% beer.

Pärun
Kman strolling down a tree lined street. It is a pretty town.

Pärun's finest beach
The ‘beach’. There are changing booths, seats, play equipment, garbage bins and several lifesaver towers. The lifesaver towers are the more baffling, the water was so shallow you’d struggle to get wet let alone drown

Kman
Kman enjoying the beach atmosphere.

Sleumr
Slemur is too