Exploring Tallinn

Saturday

31 August

Day 62

34 to go

Glad to have a day where the alarms weren’t blaring, we instead woke to the sound of rain. We knew today was going to be a little wet, so it wasn’t a surprise. We were up by 8.30am, having had a reasonable night’s sleep. Paul however, was still feeling full of a cold. 

We tried ringing Jaden with no success, then packed up our things and headed into the wet at 9.45am. Our first stop was the tourist info centre, to find out about getting to the ferry. Looks like a taxi will be our best option. We also got info on travelling to Tartu, which we plan to do tomorrow. 

With maps and info in hand, we went out sightseeing around the old town. Our first stop was not a far walk. St Nicholas’ Church, built in the 1300’s but bombed in WWII. The medieval church has been restored, but is no longer a church, it is a museum. We wandered from here down a small street lined with interesting, pastel coloured, old buildings with fabulous doors. You could feel the heritage and history enveloping you as you wandered by. 

We walked around a corner and up the Mayeri trap, which sits beside the modern monument to Estonian independence and the Freedom Square. We walked around the outer edge of the Kiek in de Kok fortification, before spying the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. This is a beautiful, onion domed building similar to those you see in Russian pictures. We began walking around the outer edge, also viewing the Toompea Vaike Kobras. A large and official looking, pink building. 

We continued our amble, treading the cobbles to the Cathedral of St. Mary and the Bishop’s garden, which provided a view over the new city. We did a walk around St. Mary and back to the Bastion and old walls. This is now a museum, that we will likely check out at another time. There were interesting, bronze statues of monks standing in the courtyard watching over the passersby. 

We wandered through an arch and onto a tiny cobbled street that lead down the hill and back towards the tourist centre. 

Feeling a bit chilly, we returned to the apartment for extra clothing and a very quick rest. We were then ready to head on again. The rain had pretty much gone, but it was still grey and cool. We stopped at a little pancake pop store for a quick snack. Enjoying watching the cooking process. We took our pops to a bench in the square and finished them off, with the birds keeping to clean up the crumbs. 

We wound our way through the streets, passing by the little red house, the smallest home in Tallinn, in the shortest street. This brought us out at the Great Guild Hall and then we did a brief check of the St. Olaf’s Church. Another spot we will return to and probably climb the tower to the viewing platform. 

We passed through the plate tower and then followed Google through the wooden, slat homed suburbs. We passed a school, interesting murals, plenty of apple trees and then finally reached the Pohjala brewery. It was a cool space, typical of any brewery you walk into back home. It was very busy when we arrived, but we found a spot overlooking the production area. Paul enjoyed the beer and we shared a delicious lunch. 

We finished up by 2.15pm and began the trek back. We only walked part, opting to hop on a tram for some of the way. We alighted at the train station, so we could get a feel of it for tomorrow’s trip. We then wandered back towards the old town, passing this time through the Nunne Tower gate and on streets we had yet to check out, however we soon turned into the Town Hall Square and we were able to navigate back to the room. 

We were happy to have our usual afternoon break, going through photos and organising tomorrow’s adventure. It was 5.30pm, before we thought about dinner, opting to head out to the supermarket to buy something for dinner. Happy with our soup and chicken Kiev, we returned, microwaved our meals and enjoyed. 

With neither of us keen to head back out, we enjoyed a quiet night in, before retiring early, as tomorrow will be a long day.