Baltic Cruise - Day 12 - Tallinn, Estonia
We woke up to another cool day and the ship was already maneuvering into port by 7:30. We were originally supposed to arrive at 9:30, so it was nice to get into port a little earlier. It gave everyone time to have breakfast and get their minds sorted out before going a shore.
We had a walking city tour today and we did about two hours of walking. It was very interesting, especially navigating the cobblestone sidewalks. Saw one woman (from another tour) in spike heels and she looked as if she was suffering.
Our guide’s name was Greta and she had just graduated from university with a degree in literature. She had also gotten a certificate to teach English and thought that might be the better way to go. As we drove through the streets of her city, she told us that Estonia is a small country, only 1.4 million people, a third of who live in Tallinn. It is by far the largest city, but since it was Sunday, it seemed very empty.
She explained that they had been invaded many times over the centuries, first by the Danish, the Germans, then the Russians, twice. The first time was by Peter the Great, then they gained their independence from the Soviets in 1900, only to be re-conquered in 1922. She said that they were very excited because on August 23, it will be the longest they have ever been an independent state. Even while playing host to the Russian, the Estonia people continued to fight back in small ways, through song, poetry, and literature, although Great admitted you had to read between the lines.
The city is divided into the old and new, with a three meter thick wall separating it in some spots. The royals lived on Dome Hill, so named for the church built there. It was thought to have been a burial mound created by Linda (the mother of the most popular Estonian folk hero, Kalevpoeg) in order to bury her husband, Kelev. This was a race of giants and she piled the rocks very high, but she got very tired and when she tried to lift the last stone into place, it slipped and went down the slope. She chased after it, but when she finally caught it, she was too tired to move it and so she sat on it and cried. Her tears created the lake (Ulemeiste) that now provides Tallinn with its fresh water.
The buildings are now home to the various embassies and lots of fun little shops and cafes. We had time to check some of them out, among with the many historical buildings. There was a Russian Orthodox church, which the Russian built in an attempt to convert the Tallinn populace. It was also a time when many of the Russian elite lived in the old town and they wanted a church close at hand.
After that, we got back on the bus and took a tour of Catherine’s Garden, a park that Peter built for Catherine. It also houses two cemeteries, one for the people and another one called the Forest Cemeteries, simply because if it so wooded and the headstones are so low to the ground, it looks like a forest. She said that only people who already own plots are allowed to be buried there. We ended up at the People Amphitheatre. Music and singing has always been very important to the people and they would have singing competitions between different groups. Then, during the second Soviet invasion, they used the festival as a mild form of protest against the occupying force. It continues to today and in between various musicians come to have concerts. The last one was Elton John.
After that, we headed to the Olympic Village. It was part of the 1980 Olympics. Tallinn hosted the sailing regatta, except very few people showed up. Until recently, the Village sat empty, but now a hotel and several shops/businesses have moved in and they have started to reclaim the Village as their own.
On the way back to the ship, Greta point out a hotel - Viru. It was constructed by the Soviets for foreign visitors, except they were concerned about what those visitors might be up to, so each room was wired with microphones and the KGB has a secret office on the 23rd floor. Rooms only went up to 22 and when anyone asked, they were told it was merely a storage space. The joke was that the hotel was constructed from a new material, micro-concrete - half concrete and half microphones. The microphones are now removed and the 23rd floor is a KGB museum.
After five hours, we were ready to climb back on board and get ready to depart for our next port - St. Petersburg.
Dinner, well, remember I said I wasn’t going to eat anything for a month. I lied… We had the prettiest rainbow tonight, a good sign for St. P.
Another nameless dinner, but thankfully that didn’t impact the food. I had some tasty chicken satay, followed by a beef consommé with patachou balls and a wonderful baked mahi mahi.
Chris had a chicken satay, cream of onion soup, a green salad, Steak Diane,(complete with a pear-shaped potato, and he finished off with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a shot of Galliano, which he poured over the ice cream.
We came back to the cabin to find that we had another time change. With excited thoughts about our Russian port, we drifted off to sleep.