Eesti Vabariik (Estonia)

Adam & I have thought long and hard about what was our favorite stop in this two week mega sightseeing trip.  Obviously St. Petersburg was amazing and one of the main reasons we wanted to take the cruise in the first place, but Tallinn has to be towards the top of the list of our beloved cities.

Estonia is another great interesting mixture of cultures.  They were dominated by the Swedes then the Russians from the early 1700’s to early 1900’s finally winning their independence after World War I.  The mid 1900’s saw them as a relatively poor county and unable to preserve their independence from Soviet expansion in World War II.  In 2004 they joined the European Union as an independent nation and finally switched from the krooni to the euro in January 2011.  They now enjoy the freedoms that come with being in the EU and not a Soviet State, but also benefit from Finns who come to Tallinn for cheaper shopping and partying than at home (as Tallinn is only 50 miles from Helsinki).  With nearly 30% of their population still ethnically Russian, however, they haven’t quite lost all the Communist influences.

Stepping off the ship in Tallinn you're vitally aware that you are sticking out a bit geographically as the wind whips through each of the 5 layers you thought might protect you from the cold.  (By the way, you might notice the newest addition to my hat collection making its debut appearance about half way through this blog.  It’s not the prettiest I’ve ever owned, in fact it might just be the ugliest, but style was not the top priority in its purchase!)

I decided also that men must have been solely in charge of naming the city walls and turrets within Tallinn.  What woman would name the main gate into the city ‘Fat Margaret Tower’?  Seriously?

Okay, it’s named that way as it has very thick walls to keep out intruders (the walls are nearly 8 ft thick in most places).  But come on, how about ‘Really strong Margaret Tower’?

The relief above the gate is Hanseatic (mid-16^th century) before Sweden took Estonia from Germany.

The color in the old town was highlighted by our guide as being new (since the late 1980’s) as Estonia started to emerge from Russian rule, they looked to publicly address how different they were under their own government.  The first thing they thought of, apparently, was pastels.  [Take that Russia!]

I have absolutely no historical context for this next photo.  We didn’t go in to investigate as the tag line on the menu outside of ‘No-one does American quite so well in Tallinn’ didn’t inspire confidence, but in case you’re wondering, the cost of two tacos with no sides was approximately $15 USD.  I think I’ll just wait and go to SuperTaco in another 8 months…

Back on our tour of what might be slightly more authentic Estonian.  As each nation took over Estonia, they all built their church on the same spot, replacing both the building and religion of the previous occupiers.  The statue of Martin Luther and relatively simple German church was replaced by a shrine to Swedish war heroes which in turn was torn down and replaced with the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in 1900.  We thought this was quite a bit of gold and glitz.  Wait until you see Adam’s post about the Church on the Spilled Blood.

Directly across from the Cathedral is the Estonian Parliament building.  I’m not sure if you can tell fully from the picture, but it is Pepto Bismal Pink.

From here we climbed up (what would be a stop in a European capital if we didn’t get to go up a really large hill?) to the city overlook.  St. Olav’s church in the distance, above Adam’s right shoulder, was once the tallest spire in the world (in 1492).  It was used by the KGB to block Finnish TV signals and served as their headquarters during the height of their rule.  Our guide said locals knew it had to be the tallest building around because from the basement of it, ‘you could see Siberia’.  The church today has been restored to a place of worship as a Baptist Church.

So we've hit the point in the day where the hat comes in.  No, this won’t be the last time you’ll see it.  I can’t remember what I’m standing next to, probably because I didn’t actually see it due to the fact that the hat covers about three quarters of my eyes.

(Adam here: I'm going to chime in here real quick to explain that the street pictured below was a must see because it housed several glass blowing shops that I figured Amanda would enjoy. Unfortunately, the hat got a bit in the way. Also the giant stones being supported on the wall by iron clamps were actually enormous headstones discovered during excavations just outside the city walls. Back to you, Amanda)

Reading the guidebook became increasingly difficult…

In complete contrast to the earlier Texas Cantina, you can also get a ‘decent bowl of elk soup’.  Slow down there, let’s not oversell our quality!