Tallinn

Friday 12^th August 2016

Arrival in Tallinn was a bit behind schedule, but it was a very easy approach to the berth with our captain opting to reverse in. There were already 2 other ships , including the Norwegian Star, that had arrived before us, so it should be a busy day in town.

Reversing into the berth was great for us because we had a fantastic view of the whole process from our aft cabin. Despite being a bit behind schedule, people were pouring off the boat by 10.20am to either wander into town or get on the buses for tours.

Once again, we decided to give the tours a miss and explore on foot. I had been to Tallinn before and knew it was a tiny place that is best seen by walking around.

Approaching to old Town on foot

Tallinn is another of the Hanseatic Cities on this cruise (we will see many more before we are finished). The Hanseatic League was probably the first trade block ever established, by German Guilds. Centred in Northern Germany, it was a well organized company that basically controlled trade for many important products, throughout this part of Europe including the Baltic States, Scandanavia and as far afield as the UK and Belgium. They owned fleets of ships, had armies and huge warehousing operations in many cities (The Hanseatic Cities). The League was so strong that they greatly influenced who the leaders were in many of the countries they had operations in.

Eventually the League collapsed after around 400 years.

Anyway, back to Tallinn. A very well preserved medieval city, Tallinn has a lot of charm. Much of the city walls are still intact and the Upper City gives great views out over the harbour and the new city outside the walls.

We could see our ship from the upper town

Naturally the dominant buildings in town are the various Churches and Government buildings. Many of the towers around the wall are still intact and have been turned into museums, some containing cafes. We took advantage of one of these, The Maiden Tower, to get access to a nice little café where you could have a cup of coffee up on city wall with great views.

Kiek in de Kok

We attacked the Upper city first, and the cobblestones made it relatively hard going as they were very uneven. The place was also packed, as the other 2 ships had discharged all of their passengers as well, and there were walking tour groups everywhere.

The Upper Town (Toompea), is dominated by the massive Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, and The House of Parliament. There are also several lookouts where you can get great panoramic views, and of course, souvenir shops everywhere.

Having walked around the Upper Town, we walked back down the hill to walk around the larger lower old town.

There are more churches, and squares to cover, and I think we got to most of them.  It was getting close to lunch time and we decided on  the square where Tallinn Town Hall was prominent, to sit down, have a well earned rest and something to eat. It was quite a pretty setting and the food wasn’t bad.

Town Hall Square

Town Hall

Freedom Square

Fed and watered, we were back off on foot, and eventually bought some postcards to send back to the boys. We sat down near a little coffee shop, next to the post box and were entertained by a group of very talented young musicians nearby. 

Once Carole had written on the cards and we had finished our coffee, we dropped the postcards in the box and headed back towards the main town gate, where there was a maritime Museum located in one of the entrance towers, affectionately known as Fat Margaret Tower.

Fat Margaret Tower

The museum was great, covering both the period where the Vikings invaded everyone, including Estonia, through to more modern history. The exhibits were very good.

By 3 pm we were back on board relaxing. I was sitting out on our balcony updating the blog using the free wifi from Tallinn Port (because we were parked stern in, we had wifi access from our balcony). Sailing time was 4.30pm, and the service was a bit intermittent, but at least I caught up a bit.

I doubt we will as lucky at our next Port, St Petersburg, where I will be surprised if there is free wifi at the port.

Before dinner we had a few drinks up on the pool deck and got talking to a younger American couple who have been on holidays for the last 16 mths, but hope to be home by Christmas. They have basically rented an apartment in a number of countries and just stayed there for a few months to really get a fgood understanding of the place before they move on.

We watched our ship leave Tallinn, surprisingly needing a pilot to leave a big open berth straight into a large gulf. It was then time to get ready for dinner.

Departing from Tallinn