A Day in Tallinn, Estonia
This blog is about what we did in Tallinn, Estonia on our Baltic Sea cruise on the Norwegian Getaway. We hope it gives you some ideas about spending your time in Tallinn.
Tallinn endured fifty years of Soviet control, but fortunately it was not a victim of the Soviet tendency to tear down historic buildings and replace them with monstrosities. Tallinn is filled with remarkable architecture and old-world charm.
There really is no need to book an excursion when visiting Tallinn. The port is easy walking distance from the historic city center. Even on the wet and chilly day of our visit the walk from the cruise port wasn’t a problem at all. We were soon on our walking tour of old Tallinn. You can download a walking tour from any number of places. There is also Tallinn Free Tour that you can take for the cost of tipping the tour guide.
As you approach the old city center one of the first things you see is this tower. It is part of the mostly intact medieval wall of the city. You can see that it has an entrance next to it. This is where we enter the old city center. The locals refer to this tower jokingly as Fat Margaret.
After passing through the old wall of the city you find yourself walking down Pikk street. This translates to “long” street as it goes from one end of town to the other all in cobblestones and lined with beautiful buildings in a variety of architectural styles.
Tallinn was never bombed, burned, or “modernized” so it has a wide variety of architectural styles dating back to the 12th century including some wonderful examples of Gothic and Baroque and a variety of church and cathedral styles.
The entire town is a maze of narrow cobblestone streets leading to large squares with lovely churches and assorted commercial buildings, hotels and restaurants.
A large square full of restaurants, some featuring al fresco dining even on this rainy day. Many of the servers were wearing traditional Estonian outfits.
We elected to eat inside at a local brewpub that featured nearly one hundred beers from Estonia and other Baltic Sea countries. They had a very nice menu featuring local fare.
We tried several local small plates. This one was salt herring and potato balls. Sour cream is served with everything in this part of the world. The herring was delicious.
Sauerkraut soup and a crepe stuffed with smoked cheese and bacon, all accompanied by sour cream. Everything was wonderful including the local brews.
Back out on the streets after lunch, we walked up the hill to the high part of town where there was more of a Russian influence in the architecture. This is the Russian Orthodox cathedral built by the Russians right across from Estonia's parliament just to flex the muscle of Russian occupation and remind the Estonians who is in charge.
The upper part of town near the Russian Orthodox Church provides a nice view of the buildings and church spires of the lower town even on this rainy day.
Heading back down to the lower part of town we stopped to warm up with another local brew and a bottle of the local hard cider. Definitely try the Mull while in town.
Heading back down Pikk street we continued with our walking tour. This was the KGB headquarters during the Soviet period, complete with prison cells in the basement, where unfortunate troublemakers spent their time before being shipped to Siberia. It is now a museum but the building still holds awful memories for the older generation that still remembers the Soviet occupation.
You could make a coffee table book of the various ornate doors of Tallinn. Some of them have interesting stories behind them. This one is the entrance to the headquarters of Brotherhood of the Black Heads, a German merchants club. German merchants controlled Estonia for nearly 500 years, from the mid 14th century until about 1940, keeping the locals as serfs and servants. The Brotherhood still exists in Hamburg, Germany.
It was now time to head back to the ship. Even though the weather was not quite what we had hoped for, our day in Tallinn was one of the highlights of the trip. We hope you enjoy it.
