Rainy Explorations

Trip Start Aug 31, 2007

Trip End Apr 19, 2008

Loading Map

Map your own trip!

Map Options

Show trip route

Hide lines

Flag of Estonia Tallinn, Estonia
Sunday, September 2, 2007

Today, I began my exploration of Tallinn by heading to the upper Old Town through persistant drizzle. Toompea, as the area is called, was the domain of the feudal nobility, ruled under the Hanseatic League and their laws. I went to both lookouts over the Old Town and two churches, the Dome Church, which both my guidebooks made a huge fuss over, and a beautiful Russian Orthodox church from the late 19th century, which I rather prefered over the Dome Church.

I also ventured down to a park to see a statue of Linda. Legend has it that Toompea, 48 m above the harbour, is the burial mound of Kalev, Estonia's first leader, and that his widow, Linda, built it after his death. The statue in the park, however, symbolizes Linda's grief at the deportation of thousands of Estonians during the aftermath of WWII.

Estonian Flag at Parliament

I returned to the hostel for lunch (bought at a local grocery store) and to dry out, before returning to tackle the lower Old Town in the afternoon. This portion of town was ruled by Lubek Laws, not the Hanseatic League and was home to guildmen and merchants. I had seen the town square and city hall yesterday and instead, walked down Pikk Street, lined with old merchant's houses and several guild buildings. At the end of the street, one reaches the town wall, the Great Coast Gate, and Fat Margaret, a rotund 16th century bastion with walls 4 m thick.

I ventured inside the bastion to see the Martime Museum, a history of Estonia's seafaring past. It was moderately interesting, but half the displays were still in Estonian and Russian, making it harder to appreciate the artifacts and history.

After the Maritime Museum, I went to the Tallinn City Museum, which gave a very interesting history of the city from Medieval times to present. As a bonus, I got admission as a student for less than a dollar. An explanation of all the different guilds was given as well as a snapshot of life in the city when Estonia was its own country from 1918-1940. A rather scathing review was given of the Soviet occupation. Additionally, the museum houses temporary displays, the current one being a collection of hand-made clothes and their stories from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. During Soviet occupation, it was difficult to find stylish clothes and Estonian women would buy whatever fabric they could get and make their own clothes. They particularly enjoyed using patterns out of a West-German magazine, but it was difficult to get. Also, denim was impossible to come by. The clothes the women were able to make were impressive, though: fitted suits, embroidered collars, winter coats, all things I could never hope to make

Linda

. I particularly liked the pieces for which a magazine picture was displayed next to the outfit that had copied it.

Tallinn's Prague Factor: I give Tallinn a PF of 75%. It has a lovely historical old town, but it's almost too clean and unlived in. The only businesses seem to be restaurants and souvenir shops. Tallinn feels like Banff while I'm looking for Jasper. Also, Tallinn lacks a river and corresponding bridge, which is an essential part of Prague. Finally, the people of Tallinn have an incredibly annoying and rude habit of walking you off the sidewalk. Two people come at you, and instead of separating into single file, they stay two abreast until you have to get into the street to avoid them a collision. One lady nearly took out my eye with her umbrella yesterday! I wanted to go back and punch her in the face (being unable to conduct an argument in Estonian) but figured that would be bad for international relations, though I'm sure the's not much more I could do to worsen the world's perception of the US. Now this is not to say I hated Tallinn or anything. Quite the opposite. I very much enjoyed my time there and would recommend that others check it out. It just didn't quite live up to my expectations and I have a rather strong aversion towards being pushed into streets.