Khertvisi Castle, Khertvisi, Georgia

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Tallinn-- A Seriously Cool City

On Thursday morning I left Helsinki for Tallinn, just an hour-and-a-half ride across the Baltic Sea.  We landed in the Estonian ferry port and I headed into the Old Town to find my hostel and get settled in.  It was a beautiful day, and I spent the better portion of it just wandering around, completely enchanted by the medieval buildings.  I visited Tallinn once before, in 2006 during a short break from classes in St. Petersburg.  That visit happened in February, however, so I kept my aimless rambling to a minimum that trip.
Just after arriving in Tallinn

The main square in Old Town

Tallin's medieval wall, now complete with handicraft dealers

Old Town, Tallinn

Tallinn has, I've learned, the longest, most complete medieval wall in the world.  The red-shingled rooftops are incredibly beautiful against the sparkling blue Baltic when viewed from the (one) hill in town.
Skyline of Tallinn

Now with me, in true self-portrait style!

I took a tour of the city on Friday, led by a very bubbly and entertaining college student, who made sure to poke some fun at the Estonians and all the nations that have conquered Estonia at one point or another.  Even she was a little at a loss for words, though, when we came upon this wedding of a young wedding couple at the Russian Orthodox church at the top of the hill:

Just what every bride dreams of: getting a wedding photo taken with Shrek and Donkey.


I could have walked through the city for days and days.  I did, in fact, do a lot of walking.  It's a good thing I did, too, because Tallinn has a fantastic cafe culture, with a different cute boutique coffee shop on each corner.  And I just wouldn't be a very good, responsible tourist if I didn't test out a cup of coffee and chocolate rum cake at each one, now would I?  So, yeah, I ate a lot of cake.  Good thing I walked a lot, too, to counteract it.

The Katherine Passageway

Another view of the city wall

The Tallinn Flower Festival was ongoing, and local landscapers had all set up cute little concept gardens all around the outside of the wall.  This one looks like it belongs in a Chilko household, doesn't it?

The flower festival just added to the beauty of the city

And I just realized that I haven't loaded up all of my pictures, so stay tuned: I've got more pictures from Estonia coming soon!

1 comment:

  1. Beautiful! And the garden is cool - need to see if we can cut up some old vinyl and give it a try. Thanks for thinking of us. Terry :o)

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