27. Estonia

skiptondiariesMay 6, 2021June 10, 2026Europe

Tallinn – June 2015

Greetings from the Palace of Incompetence otherwise known as Heathrow Terminal 2

So that will be my plane (an Embraer) to Tallinn – where I could get 5G on my phone (if it was 5G-enabled)

Greetings from Tallinn: just arrived, it’s raining – so I’m having a beer…

Views Over The City:

View from the tower of the Dome Church

View from the tower of the Dome Church

View from the tower of the Dome Church

Tallinn’s old city became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997

The bell in the tower in the main square

This is taken from the tower in the main square

The Market Square:

The Market Square

The Market Square

The Old Town:

Tallinn was part of the Danish empire in the 12th to 14th centuries though most of the population was ethnic German – they called the city Reval. Under the rule of German Order until the 16th century Tallinn became a major Hanseatic port. From the 16th to the 18th centuries it was ruled by Sweden…

A section of the old city wall

Built in 1515 these merchant’s houses have been restored and are now national monuments

Not everything in the old town is restored to within an inch of its life…

Not the Hoppen family – Christian reliefs apparently

My hotel, in the old town, is very nice but the streets get noisy on Friday and Saturday nights

Churches:

The Church of St. Nicholas was built between 1230 and 1275 by Westphal merchants, who came to Tallinn from Gotland in the 13th century.

St Nicholas – curious additions…

Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Cathedral

Lovely eh? A bit disappointing inside, though – not very big but still had the wonderful atmosphere you find in Orthodox churches

The church of St Simeon and St Anne

Built in the 1750’s and restored between 2002-05

The beautifully restored interior

The 19th century St Charles’ Lutheran church is dedicated to King Carl XI of Sweden

Ukraine Orthodox Church

The Church of the Holy Spirit dates from the 14th century, with a timber interior and a hexagonal tower. It is one of the oldest buildings in Tallinn. The first Estonian sermons, instead of in German, were held here, and Johann Koell’s Catechism, written by the pastor of the church in 1535, is considered the first book in Estonian.

Bars and Restaurants:

Very shvilised – only vaguely amusing if you follow Georgian politics or know Georgian surnames…

A Moldovan restaurant

The Tap Room – Rataskaevu – terrific little bar – dead central and yet the crowds are oblivious – serves Puls beers & nice herring – you can sit out on the street – the music is ok – what’s not to like? Apart from the fact that it closed down a year or so later…

I’m told that Baltic herring is the best in the world…

Puls – an Estonian beer – I wanted the pale lager but got the dark beer instead – it’s harmless, actually – no nasty, cloying caramel flavours – won’t buy another one, though…

So: despite the tap & the font they only have Puls Extra in bottle – it is very nice – lovely hop character – a bit of a find. The Puls brewery went out of business in 2008 and the brand was bought by Viru. Viru in turn was bought by the Baltic Beer Company who have subcontracted brewing to A Le Coq…

You can’t go hungry in Tallinn

The Scotland Yard Pub

Bar Protest – which seems a daft name – very counter-culture – nice beers, though…

Although this bar is called St Patrick’s it isn’t an Irish-themed bar

Quiet Corners:

In a city full of treasures lie hidden treasures…

Sweet little courtyard – the photo on the wall shows how it looked in 2000…

The same courtyard photographed in 2000

They still hang witches here, albeit they shrink them first…

Monuments and Artworks:

Street Scenes:

This curious building is a museum

This building, which is a mish-mash of styles, is a theatre

The Palace Hotel, where I stayed on my first visit to Tallinn

Freedom Square

For Scrabble lovers

Nina Persson has the most wonderful voice

The Open Air Museum:

Bucharest has what is claimed to be an excellent open air museum of rural life – note to self: revisit Bucharest. Skansen, outside Stockholm, has the world’s oldest outdoor museum

There are story boards like this dotted around the trail telling the story of the railway from Tallinn to Tartu. The cat features in all the story boards…

Restored house of a Russian Old Believer – Natalia took me to an Old Believers village in Moldova – we had lunch there, too. I wasn’t allowed to go into their church, though – they aren’t keen on visitors to their churches.

The Old Believers left the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1660’s – to pursue their more traditional beliefs

The Russian Old Believers were persecuted in Russia – so many fled abroad – free to follow their old beliefs – albeit in a new countries

Harbourside:

The Princess Anastasia

Kalamaja:

The Kalamaja neighbourhood (or quarter) is known for its wooden buildings – much like Žvėrynas in Vilnius…

This area has lots of wooden houses

Some are in better condition than others…

This one looks sad and abandoned

Inside Poobel – nicely done with an amazing array of beers (õlu)

Pöide – a rye beer – the font has a Georgian cross on it – anyway, it’s a sour beer – the bartender proudly told me it is hand crafted – it was undrinkable as, indeed, sour beers tend to be…

At The Airport:

For all Estonia being a super-efficient little country that has given the world many technological advances – its airport departures is shambolic…

The reason for the shambles soon becomes clear: Norwegians. Completely clueless when it comes to airport security – you can’t blame the airport or the security staff in the onslaught of such incompetence…

A brief lesson in Estonian. The Estonian language is spoken by roughly 1.1 million people and it is most similar to Finnish. It is quite unique among European languages, belonging to the Finno-Ugric family along with Finnish and Hungarian…

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