Penguin Travels: Baltics - 10 June 2012 (1)

Tallinn City Tour

Building in Need of Repair

Modern Building

I was up at 06.30 and enjoyed the good shower in the room. May and I went down for breakfast and sat with Charlie and Ian. Ian came from Newcastle-under-Lyme, but was on the land only tour because, like Charlie, he had taken advantage of attending a conference nearby by adding the tour at the end. I ordered a mushroom omelette, which was very nice, and had potatoes and tomatoes. It was as good as having lunch.

View of Town Hall up Viru

Butressing on Katerina Kaik

At 09.00 we met for our briefing and were asked to contribute €20 for the tips kitty. Aija went through the route we were going to take and gave us translations of some common words, which I have to confess, I didn’t use. Everyone spoke such good English that we never had the opportunity to try them – certainly not when we had the list with us.

Window of Dominican Monastery


Orthodox Church of St Nicholas

We then met our local guide, who was called Taimi, and headed back into the Old Town. She began by explaining how the owners of the heritage buildings of the Old Town were responsible for maintaining then. However, some buildings were being allowed to crumble and decay and others had been destroyed by fire and replaced by very modern buildings. Luckily, enough buildings had been preserved and many of these were made all the more attractive by being painted in different colours. One turquoise building had been the home of Dostoevsky, the novelist.

Puhavaimu

Swedish Embassy on Pikk

Taimi said that there was an organisation which promoted home crafts to help women, most of them elderly, by providing materials and outlets for sale of goods. Some handicraft stalls lined the city walls.

We walked though Katarina Käik (Catherine’s Passage), where artisans have some trendy shops, especially glassware. I especially liked the paintings of cartoon cats on display at the far end. At €24 each, they were a bit too expensive to buy as presents though.

Church of the Holy Spirit

Colourful Shops & Gate to Toompea

Taima gave some very long explanations and I found myself distracted by a man inside the open bell tower of the Orthodox Church of St Nicholas. Instead of using ropes like in the UK, he started to ring the bell by hitting it directly. I do hope he was wearing earplugs!

We continued on, seeing many of the sights May and I had seen the previous afternoon. This time I kept a better record of the buildings I was photographing.

St Nicholas Church

St Olaf's Church & Cruise Ship

We stopped for morning coffee at Bogapott. As it was a nice day, we sat in the courtyard. I had my first hot chocolate of the trip.

Then we went up the hill to Toompea, where we joined a hoard of tourists and a pigeon at a lookout point. From there, you can see the port and the cruise ships which were probably responsible for most of the other tourists.

House of Teutonic Knights

Post Office & Street Light

As we walked around the hill, Taimi pointed out the very attractive post office, the Riigikogu (parliament) building, the Dome Church, the House of Teutonic Knights, and the St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. I liked the gas street lamps. We spotted some people doing archery practice in a green patch below.