Although we knew it would not be possible to top Olaf’s Soviet Flashback tour, nevertheless our afternoon walking tour of Tallinn’s Old Town area looked promising. Tallinn has one of Northern Europe’s finest medieval Old Towns. It has cobbled streets filled with charming squares, gabled houses and colossal cathedrals. Its hillsides with their abundance of red-roofed buildings can be seen from our ship.
There were lots of tourists out (okay, okay, it was wall to wall tourists), but then this is a touristy part of town and it’s June. But our guide, holding his red Viking lollipop skyward, managed to forge ahead. First, a look at some of the things we saw in Old Town, most of which need no explanation (and because I have none).
We were allowed about 25 minutes after the tour to do a little shopping before the bus would take us back to the ship. And there was LOTS of shopping available in the Old Town area. We could have easily spent the afternoon there. But 25 minutes it was.
Amber seems to be the local jewel here with parts of shots or entire shops devoted to it. But I see I didn’t manage to get a single photo of one.
These lifesize “dolls” are everywhere in front of the shops. Some have girls’ faces and some look like animals. They’re all different and they’re all adorable. That man, not so much.
And then just a few more photos from our bus ride to and from Old Town.
You know how much I love the old streetlights. These have the added attraction of looking like they have candles on top.
An interesting Lutheran Church. Again, Christianity is the major religion, with Lutheran the predominant denomination in Estonia, although he also claimed that Estonia is the least religious country in Europe. The Viking spirit and nature are what most residents worship.
This is some kind of a “sculpture.” It looks to me like a spider made out of wood, but I don’t know if that’s what they had in mind.
I guess you would have to call this a “tree office.” Odd.
Another grocery store. This one looks a bit more inviting than those in St. Petersburg.
I was struck by the perfect reflection of the old buildings on the side of a very modern, glass building across the street.
At the pier next to ours, a huge Disney Magic ship has pulled in. When it blows its horn, it plays “When you wish upon a star,” (just that first line), several times, in several different keys. At one point, there were hoards of people standing on the pier near the entrances, looking like they want to break and enter.
Before we leave Estonia, let me pass along just a couple of things that the tour guides shared with us. Estonia is one of the 3 Baltic Republics: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. It’s located between Sweden and Russia, just across the Bay of Finland from Helsinki. The country’s area is just smaller than the states of Vermont and New Hampshire combined. The population of the whole country is only about 1.3 million people. Our guide says that personal taxes are made up of several pieces and total 66%. However, that pays for items such as medical coverage, pension, and education. So in effect, the taxes are very high but then everything is free. I have not confirmed what our guide said, so I may be passing along incorrect information, but I hope not.
Saturday will be a day at sea and then on Sunday we’ll arrive at Gdansk, Poland, for a day’s visit. And hey, that hour we lost by crossing a time zone a few days ago reappeared when we crossed back into that same time zone last night. Yay, I think.
Our Viking River Cruise 
If no one mentioned, your pictures are beautiful. I especially liked the reflection of the old building in the new. But, the ‘tree office’ was there more to it? How’d they get in?
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Now that you mention it, I don’t know. We don’t have a real good view of the back in that photo so I suspect it’s at the back somewhere. Good catch!
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