Blogs from Estonia, Europe - page 9

Geo: 59.4392, 24.7586Traveling from Gdansk, Poland to Tallin, Estonia... read more

Geo: 59.4392, 24.7586With the red skies of the previous day's sunset, I'd assumed "red skies at night, sailors' delight" would hold true, and we'd have nice weather this morning. Instead, we opened our curtains to heavy fog and a steady rain as we slowly approached the port of Tallinn in Estonia. K and I had been to Tallinn back in 1987, a whopping 29 years ago. Sigh. We were there, however, by accident. As part of our visit to the Soviet Union as part of a class back at American, we were flying from Tbilisi, Georgia to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in January 1987. Our Aeroflot plane was diverted to Tallinn, however, by ice fog in Leningrad. It was a very surreal experience, as our tour director shared very little information with us. I recall they ... read more

Geo: 59.4392, 24.7586After a cloudy start the sun finally came out and then went in again as a huge Celebrity ship came alongside- appropriately called Celebrity Eclipse!We missed the shuttle bus but it is only a 15 min walk to the centre of the old town through a medieval city gate. We have been to Talinn before but for the life of us could not remember it and no where we saw looked familiar. I love marzipan so we bought some at a little shop which also has a marzipan museum with lots of cartoon figures made of marzipan - very cute.The old town itself has cobbled streets lined with Germanic looking buildings, several churches and towers and lots of bars and restaurants and tourist shops. Do not bother getting the city tour bus as it ... read more

Geo: 59.4392, 24.7586This morning we get to sleep in a little later as our ship won't dock in Tallinn, Estonia until 10am. We have no planned tour other than to walk around the old town. Tallinn is the capital and largest city in Estonia. Tallinn's Old Town is one of the best preserved and intact medieval cities in Europe and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This sounds good and after breakfast, we head out from the ship toward town. The ship is here for only 6 hours, a short time for such an interesting site. We ask about a shuttle to old town but the tour guide says it's unnecessary because it's only 15 minutes away. We've heard that 15 minute story before. In Karen footsteps, that's about an hour or more. There's ... read more

Narva is the closest Estonian town to St. Petersburg so it was quite natural that I decided to visit it. The tickets were a bit expensive despite the very short distance, mere 150 kilometers, covered within about 2 hours and a half on SimpleExpress bus. Narva is the largest Russian-speaking Estonian town, very important in the development of relations between the two countries. Its official date of founding is the construction of Narva Castle in 1223. Narva was seized by Russian troops in 1558, when Ivan the Terrible wanted to make Narva a major port on the Baltic Sea. It was Ivan the Terrible who built the Ivangorod Fortress opposite Narva. Soon Sweden and Russia started a war and the Swedes managed to capture it. Peter the Great took Narva in 1704. I think after that ... read more