Thursday, September 15, 2011

Tallin, Estonia : The Old City

After our interesting trip across the Gulf of Finland (see my post : Tallin - Stormy Seas) we safely arrive in the Port of Tallin.

A bit of info on Tallin : It is the capital city with roughly 400,000 people.  Estonia overall has 1.3 million people.  The Russians occupied Estonia for many many years and their influence is unmistakable.  You can see clearly in some of the buildings that they are Russian design.  The newer buildings are totally different as the Estonians want to have their own identity.  Still 25% of the country's population are Russian. 

Ok, so we arrive and of course it is raining but not long after it stops and stays dry for pretty must the rest of our time in Tallin.  We walked to the gates of the old city and spent the rest of our day there.  It is an amazing place dating back over 600 years.  Most of the buildings have been restored, some have been rebuilt and others have been touched very little since they were built giving you a good idea of what it was like at that time.  We spent most of our time in Tallin exploring the old town.  We made a short trip to the mall to do some shopping and then headed back to the ferry terminal for our 5:30 sailing back to Helsinki.   

                                  Tallin - The Old Town



Short Video : The Main Square
 
 

                                                             More of the old town







6 comments:

  1. Looks like a very interesting place... Shopping?? not your favourite thing.... BUT when do you get to see Santa Clause!?!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I must disagree with LC...you love shopping {especially when you are looking for craft supplies or quilling paper...remember the washi tape shopping was a lot of fun}

    Next time I am going with you. I now have put Estonia on my bucket list.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Soooooo... How easy would it be to think that Tallinn was named after Stalin? It's not. Interesting. I'm glad you're enjoying the weather. - Martin

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Rich.... Enjoying the view of English Bay from the 17th floor...Thanks...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey M C L. I have to get better at responding to comments :) I hope that you enjoy my appt. Is it sunny with good view? Hope so.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Having a great time. The view was great yesterday. a little rainy this morning but good again now! Have been having good food, good wine... good fun.. How about you? Are you back from Sweden?

    ReplyDelete

Labels

Baby (1) bike ride (1) China (8) Dog (1) Durham (8) England (17) Estonia (2) Ferry (4) Finland (13) Hampton Court (1) Helsinki (13) Hockey (2) Japan (23) London (11) Petersfield (4) Rudolph (1) Scandinavia (16) Stockholm (4) Stonehenge (1) Sweden (4) Tallin (1) Tower of London (1) York (1)