On Wednesday, December 20th, I was up early and down at the hotel breakfast when it opened at 7:00. I needed to be at the West Terminal by 8:15 because I had a 9:00 ferry to Tallinn. After my previous experience with Helsinki taxi drivers, I didn't want to depend on a taxi to get me down there so I walked a few blocks to catch the tram and took the tram all the way to end of it's line which is right outside the terminal.
I arrived in Tallinn at 11:15 and once I had disembarked from the ferry, I walked about 15 minutes into the old town. The night before, I had scanned the Tallinn pages of my Rick Steves' book into my phone so I didn't have to carry the book around, and that was very helpful. I'm definitely going to start doing that more. His Tallinn walk starts with the Lower Town and Fat Margaret Tower.
This guarded the entry gate of the town in medieval times
The street that you enter on is called Pikk Street (literally "Long Street"). This is looking back at the gate.
"Three Sisters" is an example of the merchant home/warehouse/office from the 15th century "Hanseatic Golden Age".
The door on the left of the Three Sisters was elaborately carved and shows the wealth of Tallinn's merchant class.
Tallinn was just so dreamy. You'd walk along and see a plaque and it would say "this building was first mentioned in Tallinn's land registry in 1364"!!!
St. Olav's Church (once the tallest spire in the land and helped approaching ships set their course).
Later in the day, I came back and toured the KGB Prison Cells. This was, before 1991, a complex of KGB Headquarters. People were brought here first before being sent to Siberian gulags and "creative interrogation methods" were used in it's basement cells.
On down Pikk Street, is the Brotherhood of the Black Heads. It was built in 1440 and was used as a German merchant's club for nearly 500 years.
One of the great architectural facades along Pikk Street.
The Russian Consulate had lots of anti-Putin, anti-war, pro-Ukraine material outside. Of course Estonia is greatly concerned about Russia's invasion because they are also a part of the former USSR.
Church of the Holy Ghost
The clock dates to 1633
I walked farther up Pikk Street and then made a left turn and saw the Christmas Market up ahead at Town Hall Square.
The town hall (15th century)
I walked around the market for a bit and tried to go to a restaurant at another location, but it had a line, so I made my way back to the market for lunch.
Sausage, Potatoes, Sauerkraut, and Lingonberry jam
They have a Christmas "train"
After some lunch, I continued on my walk.
St. Nicholas Church (13th Century)
The walk continued and my path often looked like this.
St. Nicholas from higher up in the city.
I made it to the Upper Town and the Kiek in de Kök tower which is low German for "Peek in the Kitchen" because the tower was situated to allow the guards to literally peek into people's homes.
A lot of my walk was icy. And nobody acted like it was icy (except me)!
Toompea Castle. You know I loved the 18th century Russian pink addition to the Medieval Castle. Today it serves as Estonian Parliament building.
Tall Hermann Tower (Pikk Hermann). This is the tallest tower of the castle wall.
At one time the Soviet flag flew from Tall Hermann but as the USSR was falling to pieces, Estonians defiantly replaced it with their own flag.
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. This Russian Orthodox cathedral was built in 1900.
No photos are allowed inside, so this isn't a great pic, but I was illegally taking it.
The building of this cathedral was a real Russian flex on the Estonian people because of its location (facing the traditional Estonian seat of power, and over the supposed grave of a legendary Estonian Hero).
St. Mary's Church, but better known as Dome Church.
While I was in the Upper Town, I missed the turn for the viewpoints. I kept looking for it, but was in lower town before I determined that I had missed it. Instead of taking the long winding way back, my dumb map sent me to the staircase that goes all of the way up!
After the climb, I was happy to see it was worth it.
I walked back down again and around the town.
I decided that I needed to sit down since I hadn't had a chance to do that since getting off the boat! I went back to the restaurant I had tried to get into earlier in the day. I went to Pub Kompressor, a pancake restaurant, and enjoyed a pear cider...
and a one of their pancakes. This one was strawberry and cream.
I made one last swing through the market.
I walked back down Pikk Street.
I got the same seat at the front of the boat that I had on the way over. I loved Tallinn and was so happy to have finally visited.
Once we docked in Helsinki at 9:00 p.m., I took the tram back from the boat and had one last walk through the city.
On Thursday, December 21st, I had to get up at 4 a.m. and was out the door at 4:50 a.m. to take my car to the airport. When I walked out, it was just snowing to beat the band!
I had about a 4.5 hour layover at Heathrow. Of course, most people hate the layover, but I just live my best life shopping at some "London" stores and eating.
I had one of my favorite meals....a chicken & salad sandwich (not to be confused with our chicken salad) and crisps at Pret.
and then later tea and a strawberry gateau.
My flight to Dallas was completely full. They told us this 50 times and were making people check their carry-ons, but as people stopped coming down the aisle, I still had an empty beside me. I was just holding my breath. When they started closing the doors and claimed boarding was complete, I was celebrating my fortune (even though it meant some poor person missed their flight).
So I stretched out and just enjoyed my luck.
That's a wrap on my Scandinavian/Baltic European adventure for 2023!
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