Travel Thursday -The Baltic Adventure - Part 4

If I am honest and withhold my bias about Russia (more about that next week), Tallinn Estonia was my favourite port of call. It is probably one of my fave cities yet. Founded in the 10thC the small town grew into a large fortified city under the Danes control in the 13C, when it was known as Reval.  Russian invaded and took control in 1710. While it had escaped most of WWI, it was in 1918 when Estonia became independent and Reval was renamed Tallinn, the capital. During WWII it was seized by the Nazis and was annexed to the Soviet empire. It became independent again in 1991.  It is the influence of the Russian empire that probably influenced by love of this town.

Our first stop was Kadriorg Palace. This palace was built by Tsar Peter the Great for his wife Catherine. Peter had a fear of big indoor spaces (high ceilings, big rooms) and Kadriorg was a far smaller and more intimate setting. 

Me in the garden surrounding the palace

Me right outside the palace

The inside of the palace was home to both historical pieces and artwork.

Period clothing

More period clothing

Some art . . . .

One of my favourite features in some of the palaces we visited was the stoves. They were beautiful and practical. 

The next stop on our visit was the old city, which is still surrounded by the wall and is now the entire old town is a Unesco Heritage Sight.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral 

Kiek in de Kok

As this was our wedding anniversary, we took this picture at Kiek in de Kok

Having some fun

St. Nicolas' Church

Danse Macabre

Wood scultupre from the 13C I believe - amazing it has survived

In the old town, we stumbled across a free walking tour, which was one of the best tours I have ever been on (and I have been on a lot). Created by a young man in period costume, he and a woman, also in period costume, led a group of tourists around the city telling us interesting by historically accurate  stories from the Middle Ages. 

Reval got its name after a king chased a deer, and the deer jumped off a cliff to its death rather than let him kill it. He as so impressed by this deer, he named the town Reval, which means something like deer jump or deer fall (we can't remember exactly and I couldn't easily find it on an internet search).

A statue of a deer near where it fell

To avoid paying taxes on windows, this merchant built a house with doors instead of windows.

Here is a piece of the original painting on the ceiling on this windowless house, dating back to the 16C.

The Man and our guide

A couple other fun facts. The bigger the curl in your shoe toe, the more money you had. If you passed someone on the street with a bigger curl than you, they had the right to the dry/clean spot of the road. It lead to people learning to walk funny or prance as the weight of the toes forced toe walking.

Also, many moons ago, a group of single (most likely drunk) merchants decided to light the tree that had been standing in the square on fire to celebrate Christmas. They did this for 3 years, until they burnt a house down. Then it was illegal to carried lit trees around the city. So they put candles on the trees, and put the candles in glass so they couldn't burn, but it looked like they were on fire, and since then people have decorated Christmas trees.

After a lovely day in the city, our waiters at dinner serenaded us and brought us a special cake (which I could not eat, but it was the thought that counted). 

Next week we will go to Russia. The land of my dreams and the whole reason for this trip.