Greetings from Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, the second of the three tiny Baltic republics we’ve visited so far. 461,000 people live in the city, out of a total population of only 1.4 million, so Estonia is indeed small.
Small unfortunately also means vulnerable, and despite declaring neutrality at the beginning of World War II they were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, by Nazi Germany in 1941, and again by the Soviets in 1944. The USSR decided to keep it, and held it until its collapse in 1991, when the Estonians finally regained their independence. Wisely, they’ve become members of the European Union and NATO, which should give the empire building Putin pause if he thinks about returning.
But enough of the geopolitical stuff. Tallinn has a fantastic old inner city, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and seeing it was our top priority for the day. We were greeted by overcast skies and light rain as we left the ship, an unusual experience for us. Remarkably, we’ve had only one truly rainy day in the almost eight months we’ve been at sea, in Busan, South Korea. It rains before we arrive at ports, it rains after we leave, but somehow we always seem to avoid much more than sprinkles or brief showers.
And yet our luck continued to hold. It was just a short walk to our bus, and by the time it delivered us to the train station to begin our tour it was barely spitting. Tallinn’s commuter trains are powered by overhead electric lines, and they’re clean, comfortable, quiet, and on time. Our train ride was short, barely fifteen minutes, as our destination was a nearby suburb called Nõnne, and when we arrived the sun was peeking through the clouds and it was dry for the rest of the day.
Nõnne appeared to be a nice, almost upscale suburb, and we passed through a pretty, little park and the town’s main intersection on the short walk to our destination, a covered outdoor market where local growers were selling produce, mostly fruits and vegetables. There were also a number of small buildings, housing a cafe, a candy store, a donut shop, and a couple others that I passed by without looking inside. The highlight was the donut shop, where we were treated to fresh donuts, still warm, and they were delicious.
That really was all we did in Nõnne, and it certainly wasn’t exciting, but it was worthwhile to get at least a little bit outside the city to see what life there is like. And on that subject I should mention that Estonia is considered a high income country by the World Bank, and the per capita GDP is more than $46,000, according to the International Monetary Fund. Everything I saw today reinforced my impression that overall Estonians are doing reasonably well.
A quick train ride returned us to the capital, where we spent the rest of the tour exploring Tallinn’s old city. All of the old cities we’ve visited in Europe share some similarities, and yet each seems to have a feature that sets it apart from the others. In the case of Tallinn it’s the walls surrounding it, which are among the most complete and well preserved in Europe. In some areas the wooden walkways along the top, where soldiers would have stood to rain fire down on the enemy are still there, though I wasn’t able to determine if they were original.
The walled city consists of upper and lower sections, divided by an archway, and we didn’t go into the upper section, where there’s a castle, a cathedral, and the area where nobles had their homes back in medieval times. The cathedral is supposed to be pretty, and the castle is now the parliament building, and I would have enjoyed seeing them, but there just wasn’t enough time. Instead, we toured the lower level, where artisans and tradesmen lived and worked. No complaints, because there was plenty to see there too.
As with many other old towns, the first floors of most of the buildings contained shops and restaurants, and the large central square had plenty of outdoor seating for the cafe crowd. Summer days are long here, but summer is short, and Estonians get outside and make the most of it while they can. And you can tell that winters are long and cold here, because many of the shops were selling beautiful sweaters, hats, and other warm outdoor clothing.
We had some free time for shopping and exploring at the end of the tour, which I think we used productively, and then we made our way out of the old city and to a shuttle bus that returned us to the ship. I liked Tallinn, much as I liked Riga yesterday, in next door Latvia. We’ll visit Lithuania, the third Baltic state, in a few days, but first we’ll stop at ports in Finland and Sweden, including Helsinki and Stockholm. It’s Helsinki tomorrow, and I can’t wait to see how Finland’s capital has changed since we were there 31 years ago. I’ll be back with a full report, so stay tuned.
At the train station in Nõnne. They still use Soviet gauge rails, but the trains are smooth and quiet.
Walking from the train station to the farm market. This area of Nõnne was very pretty.
Not exactly sure what this fountain is meant to portray, but that’s the way it can be with art, at least for me. 😂
This one, on the other hand, was easy. It honors Nickolai von Glenn, the founder of Nõnne.
At the farmers market. Everything looked really good.
Beautiful arrangement of the flowers for sale at the market.
Chocolate shop at the market. Kalev is an Estonian brand.
At the donut shop. Whether or not Michele ate any, and if so how many, is a closely held state secret.
Back at the train station in Nõmme, waiting for the train to Tallinn. I tried to befriend the conductor, but I couldn’t wake him up. No luck with the chicken either.
Back in Tallinn, approaching the walled old city.
You enter the walled city through that arch.
Just inside the walls. The wooden sections at the top are where the soldiers were placed.
This is how the soldiers got to the top of the wall. It’s closed off now.
Walk-in into the old city.
Entering the main public square in the lower level of the city.
The town hall dominates the square.
I should have written his name down, but I remember that he was a famous Estonian writer.
This arch separates the lower level of the city from the upper level. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to go up there.
Entrance to a clothing shop in the old city.
I’ve seen streets like this in several European cities, but I never get tired of them.
Another part of the public square.
Another street scene.
Cute little building.
The old city version of Uber?
Nice street scene with the town hall in the background.
Michele liked it here too.
Another section of the wall.
On our way out after a great day in Tallinn. The rain even held off.
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