This morning’s hostel breakfast was rather more modest than some we have been accustomed to of late, but it was still enough to get us started on the day. After breakfast I was even able to get this blog right up to date for the first time since leaving London.
My first task today was to walk back to the Europcar office to sort out payment for the extra day we had kept the car. However I was pleasantly surprised to find that in view of the hassles we had experienced finding their office – because of the out of date information on the map they had given us – they had decided to waive the extra day’s rental fee. Perhaps all that stress late yesterday was worth it after all.
While I had been sorting that out Laura had been looking through some nearby markets and she showed me some of the items that were now on the shopping list, to which we then added another. After that we started to walk along the base of one of the sections of the old city wall, detouring at one point to check out St Catherine’s Passage (which was far more pleasant than it might sound). We also stumbled across a beautiful little courtyard nearby. At one of the towers along the wall we were able to pay a few Euros each to climb the tower and walk back along the top of the same section of wall, taking in the views and having a look at the little exhibitions in each of the towers. All this time I couldn’t help noticing that in this nice sunny weather, as I was again walking around in a t-shirt, the locals were wearing jackets and scarves.
By now we were close to St Olav’s Church which was known to have nice views from its tower for those prepared pay a couple of Euros to climb its 278 steps. Of course Laura and I are old hands at this steps thing by now so we couldn’t wait to accept the challenge. I have to say that the first 60 or so steps were pretty big ones, so the climb gave you quite a good work out from the start. The view was definitely worth the climb – Tallinn has acquired a few high rise buildings in the last decade but maybe only one is actually taller than the church tower. However the view also gave a strong hint that the day might not be destined to stay sunny and fine much longer, with some serious looking clouds rolling in. On the way back down I counted the steps out of (morbid) curiosity and could swear there were only 259, although Laura reckons I just got dizzy on the long, continuous spiral stairway and lost count! We had a quick look inside the church but even the windows were rather plain.
Back outside we walked around to have a look at Fat Margaret’s Tower, named for a large canon it was built to house, not some poor obese former resident. We followed another old section of the town wall around until we just happened to stumble on a very nice little bakery shop, so we had a little rest while scoffing a few of the local delicacies.
Suitably nourished we continued our walking tour by heading to the upper old town. From a number of points here you could get a view out over the city in various directions. It was particularly striking at one point that you could look out over the old red roofs and quaint streets of the Old Town in the foreground to the ugly Soviet built apartment blocks in the distance. We had a look inside the Alexander Nevky Cathedral, but unfortunately there was no photography allowed so you’ll just have to take my word for it that it was pretty magnificent.
We exited the upper old town via the “back stairs” in order to go just outside of the Old City quarter to have a look through the Balti Jaam Markets. These were a rather drab affair and clearly not aspiring to service the tourist market as they sold mainly practical shoes, clothes and fruit & vegetables (some of which looked a little past their use by date). A few stalls did have interesting Russian memorablia though, such as old helmets and small busts of Lenin.
We were feeling a little bit leg weary by now so we started weaving or way back towards our hostel with the aim of putting our feet up for a little while. Not long before we reached it, and before a little detour to see the less than impressive “Master’s Courtyard”, the weather started to get decidedly damper.
After a short rest we decided to go and see the Museum of Occupations, which required us to don our rain capes for the first time since Riga. Luckily, since central Tallinn seems to be a pretty compact place, we didn’t have all that far to go. The museum turned out to be rather interesting, and seemed to have a slightly different slant on the factors leading up to independence from the USSR. Despite leading the push for Baltic independence, videos featuring figures prominent in the Estonian freedom movement felt that it was more to do with the inevitable collapse of the Soviet economic system than decisive agitation by Estonia. As it happened, we lingered so long that we had to get the attention of one of the staff upstairs to let us out because everyone else had left and the front door was locked. At least by now the rain had stopped.
We went back to the markets to check on the things we were planning to buy but they had all packed up for the day so we just bought a few supplies at the supermarket for tomorrow’s travels. Then it was just a matter of walking back to the same pancake restaurant we had been to last night to have dinner there again. Different pancakes of course, but every bit as tasty. It was a quiet night in after that as I had some photo club web site pages to update.
It is a bit of a pity that we ended with only one day to explore Tallinn, as I have to agree with a number of people who have told me that Tallinn is the most beautiful of the three Baltic capitals. However I don’t know where we could have taken a day from our itinerary, in fact we could have used more time in each country so far, so ultimately we just didn’t have enough time over all.
My first task today was to walk back to the Europcar office to sort out payment for the extra day we had kept the car. However I was pleasantly surprised to find that in view of the hassles we had experienced finding their office – because of the out of date information on the map they had given us – they had decided to waive the extra day’s rental fee. Perhaps all that stress late yesterday was worth it after all.
 |
| Courtyard view |
By now we were close to St Olav’s Church which was known to have nice views from its tower for those prepared pay a couple of Euros to climb its 278 steps. Of course Laura and I are old hands at this steps thing by now so we couldn’t wait to accept the challenge. I have to say that the first 60 or so steps were pretty big ones, so the climb gave you quite a good work out from the start. The view was definitely worth the climb – Tallinn has acquired a few high rise buildings in the last decade but maybe only one is actually taller than the church tower. However the view also gave a strong hint that the day might not be destined to stay sunny and fine much longer, with some serious looking clouds rolling in. On the way back down I counted the steps out of (morbid) curiosity and could swear there were only 259, although Laura reckons I just got dizzy on the long, continuous spiral stairway and lost count! We had a quick look inside the church but even the windows were rather plain.
 |
| Old City wall |
Suitably nourished we continued our walking tour by heading to the upper old town. From a number of points here you could get a view out over the city in various directions. It was particularly striking at one point that you could look out over the old red roofs and quaint streets of the Old Town in the foreground to the ugly Soviet built apartment blocks in the distance. We had a look inside the Alexander Nevky Cathedral, but unfortunately there was no photography allowed so you’ll just have to take my word for it that it was pretty magnificent.
 |
| City view |
We were feeling a little bit leg weary by now so we started weaving or way back towards our hostel with the aim of putting our feet up for a little while. Not long before we reached it, and before a little detour to see the less than impressive “Master’s Courtyard”, the weather started to get decidedly damper.
After a short rest we decided to go and see the Museum of Occupations, which required us to don our rain capes for the first time since Riga. Luckily, since central Tallinn seems to be a pretty compact place, we didn’t have all that far to go. The museum turned out to be rather interesting, and seemed to have a slightly different slant on the factors leading up to independence from the USSR. Despite leading the push for Baltic independence, videos featuring figures prominent in the Estonian freedom movement felt that it was more to do with the inevitable collapse of the Soviet economic system than decisive agitation by Estonia. As it happened, we lingered so long that we had to get the attention of one of the staff upstairs to let us out because everyone else had left and the front door was locked. At least by now the rain had stopped.
We went back to the markets to check on the things we were planning to buy but they had all packed up for the day so we just bought a few supplies at the supermarket for tomorrow’s travels. Then it was just a matter of walking back to the same pancake restaurant we had been to last night to have dinner there again. Different pancakes of course, but every bit as tasty. It was a quiet night in after that as I had some photo club web site pages to update.
It is a bit of a pity that we ended with only one day to explore Tallinn, as I have to agree with a number of people who have told me that Tallinn is the most beautiful of the three Baltic capitals. However I don’t know where we could have taken a day from our itinerary, in fact we could have used more time in each country so far, so ultimately we just didn’t have enough time over all.
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