Gorgeous, ancient, tiny Tallinn. First stop after the bus station is the centre of town, where, directly under the ancient town hall, the only surviving Gothic town hall in Northern Europe, is a stunningly romantic café called Tristan ja Isolde. Back to the stone wall, sitting on wooden bench, I drink my fabulous macchiato and eat my almond croissant looking out across the square. I chat to the two town guard types who explain to me that the chains on the side of the town hall are for displaying unfaithful wives. Hmm. After this, I head over to the apothecary’s shop, where there has been a pharmacy continuously since 1422. Then through a small archway towards the 14th century church and its 1684 clock, but I get distracted by the summer market. I manage to stop myself buying cute knitted outfits for a child I don’t have yet and delicate purple handpainted silk scarves I don’t really need.
I finally drag myself away from the market and down to the Museum of the History of the City, an amazing museum filled with materials of culture, of history, of trading, of language, proclaiming unbroken lines of ethnicity through centuries of domination by various empires, the Swedes, the Russians, the German invasion. There was so much material from ancient days until the early 20th century and then it all kind of sped up… but I want to know what the difference was between Là¼beck law and the feudal law that applied in only one part of the town, and I was fascinated by the books… old books, old texts, and old items of government. In Riga, there was the history museum too, ancient artefacts, bronze age and then viking stuff and clothes and metals and jewellery and wood and then farm equipment. And then the museum of occupation, the Germans and the Russians to sweep in and just go through all that history, wipe out a language, kill people from wherever… but it’s all connected, and you have to think what was happening to these people at that time too… and you look here and you try to trace the timeline: when was the Siege of Stalingrad? How did that relate to the invasion of the Baltic states? what was going on and for whom? So complicated. Didn’t go to any museums in Lithuania but I bet it would be the same.
Lunch at ‘Grandma’s Place’ (Vanaema Juures), amazing traditional Estonian food and wine, not exhorbitant prices. Menu items include Elk and Wild Boar. I meant to go back for a late night dessert and Estonian dessert wine, but I didn’t make it. Next time. I bought sweet almonds in a twist of brown paper from a street stall.
Spent the afternoon wandering through town, first down Pikk tà¤nav, the street with the most beautiful old buildings then through Toompea (the other half of the town that had the feudal law) with a sweet Italian guy named Riccardo that I met on the bus from Vilnius. He showed me the Russian-style church and the best spots for sweeping views and then we walked around the outside of the town walls back to the main gate and Fat Margaret tower.
In the evening, I discovered incredibly funky little bars with WiFi. Is there anything Tallinn doesn’t have?
Last minute phone call to cousin Marina to ensure she knows which bus station I’ll be at next morning, then onto the bus to St Petersburg.
