Tallinn - It's evil...that's medieval!!!

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At 4pm on the dot, the MSC drew its anchor and once out of the port took a 316 route towards the town of Tallinn, Estonia. No we had no idea what this meant as well!! I suppose one of the navigation crew has to make it look like it's all very techie; too technical for us mere mortals.

We decided to venture in to the Teatro dell'Opera after dinner for the 11:00pm performance of 'A Touch of Classics' featuring 'the Grace Strings'. When I saw the original advertisement, the font used was some sort of Italian Cursive and I misread it as ‘ The Greco strings' I had visions of the 30 stone super heavyweights sitting on the stage in their red or blue wrestling costume holding a very dainty violin!!

We took our usual route through the photo gallery to look at the latest mug shots taken in Riga. Roisin spotted a very chic looking Ron ‘This town ain't big enough for the both of us' Mael from 70s rock band Sparks. The best I could come up with was, if you squinted hard enough, Fred Dibner with a touch of the John Majors!!

We were surprised to notice that the sun was still visible at 10:35pm. It was very low but nevertheless there was still light in the sky. It has been getting darker later since we left Copenhagen as we have constantly been heading north. We will continue to do so until we reach St. Petersburg, the day after tomorrow.

In the Teatro, the Grace strings had brought along some friends from the woodwinds. I could see a clarinet, a flute, bassoon and an oboe. They had taken their places and the oboe sounded ‘the note'.

‘Did you know,' I asked, ‘that an orchestra always tunes up to the oboe?'

'Oh, I thought it was the violin', replied Roisin.

‘No. The oboe. In fact it's a B flat oboe to be precise'

‘What a big fat hobo??!!' exclaimed Roisin as we both burst out laughing.

‘What makes it more ridiculous,' I said wiping the tears from my eyes ‘is that I thought you said ‘a big fat homo'!!!

The performance lasted about 45 minutes and certainly lived up to the billing. It contained some classics from Maestros such as Verdi, Rossini, Puccini and Kid Creole!!

The ship docked alongside what can only be described as a rather long jetty. Walking down the gangway, there was another cruise ship parked or is it moored, or even berthed, anyway tied up on the other side of the jetty opposite the Opera. This, as we learned later, was the Norwegian Jewel, one of 11 ships that make up the fleet of the Norwegian Cruise Lines.

The size of the Norwegian Jewel never really hit home until we had cleared the jetty and dared to look back. Have you ever seen 59,000 tonnes next to 93,500 tonnes?? The Norwegian Jewel made the Opera look like one of its lifeboats had escaped!!

The narrow road leading from the port to Tallinn was lined with wooden huts. As we were one of the first from the boat, not all stalls had opened yet. It was wall-to-wall souvenirs. I calculated that if we browsed in each one for 10 minutes we would only get ¾ of the way ‘running gauntlet' before it would be time to return to the ship!!

Tallinn old town is only about 1 km from the port. Once you are able to get a fix on the church spires and countless towers, just follow them and soon enough, after negotiating a busy junction and a moderate hill (well for us, anyway!!) we had entered the old town between Suur Rannavärav (Great Coast Gate) and the rather colourfully named Paks Margareeta (Fat Margaret's Tower.) I don't know who this tower was named after but as both the gate and the tower were built as part of a fortification complex to protect the city from invaders, she must have been one hell of an imposing lady!!!

We took a stroll down the narrow cobbled road of Pikk, past the KGB Headquarters (I kid you not!) I'm pleased to announce that they have long since scarpered but there remains a chilling reminder above the door that states: ‘This building housed the organ of repression of the Soviet Occupational Power. Here began the road to suffering for thousands of Estonians'. On a lighter note, the Estonians claim that the KGB headquarters was the tallest building in Tallinn. Even from the basement you could see Siberia!!! Despite the torture and murder that went on in the confines of this building, I'm glad to see the Estonians haven't lost their sense of humour!!

Next door to this building stands the tower of St. Olav's church. The spire of this church was used as a radio antenna for communications during Soviet times. At the end of Pikk is a 5-way junction with a rather grand looking well in the middle of the road. This well is known as ‘Cats well'.

In medieval times, the locals believed that a water spirit lived down the well and required the sacrifice of animals to be thrown down to appease it and ensure the water remained clean. All sorts of animals were thrown down there. Most were dead but some living. The losers in this superstition were definitely the stray neighbourhood cats of Tallinn!! This practice gave way to the well's popular nickname. Needless to say, this didn't improve the quality of the water although the rich lime content didn't help either! The well finally stopped being used and in the 19th century, was finally filled in.

After a light refreshment stop at Molly Malone's in Town Hall square, we weaved our way through the medieval market up some steps to Toompea Hill. The gasping for breath was well worth it. From the several vantage points, one can take in one of the best panoramic views of ‘lower' old town.

At the top of Toompea Hill, the highlight has to be the Russian Orthodox Alexandr Nevski Cathedral with its distinctive 3 onion domes.

We spotted some archery targets on the bank below one of the viewing platforms. The targets were leant up against the wall of the city in between the Maiden's Tower and Kiek in de kök. This in Low German literally means, ‘peek in to the kitchen'. The nickname is derived from the 36m height of the tower. The solders who were posted at the top joked that they could look in to the houses and down the chimneys in to the kitchens below. The humour of the Estonians!! Peter Kaye: eat your heart out!!

Oh yes, the archery targets resting up against the wall. Dwarves!! It was an archery contest for midgets! Either that or they were tall children just very far away!!

So, I have learned 2 things about Tallinn and especially the Estonian people. Firstly, they like a joke!! Secondly they like to give things nicknames. Either way, this town has a charm and character all of its own that somehow is missing from more modern cities.

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