March 18: visiting Tallinn

From Helsinki you can easily  take a boat to visit Saint Petersburg or one of the Baltic countries. I visited Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.
Tallinn is located only 80 kilometre south of Helsinki, at the other side of the Gulf of Finland. Its old town is in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The first traces of human settlement found in Tallinn's city centre by archeologists are about 5000 years old. In 1050 the first fortress was built, and in 1285 the city became the northernmost member of the Hanseatic League – a mercantile and military alliance of German-dominated cities in Northern Europe.

Tallinn's harbor

After a 2.5 hours cruise through the frozen sea, I arrived in the All-linn, the lower part of the historic town. After lunch, I visited St. Olaf’s Church. At the time the church was built, it was the tallest building in Europe. A legend about its builder makes the church even more compelling: a mysterious stranger promised to build the church for free if the town’s citizens could guess his name before the church was completed; if they failed, they would pay him 10.000 units of gold for his work. Unfortunately for the man, a town spy overheard his wife calming their baby with a promise of their father Olaf’s return. When it was revealed that the citizens knew Olaf’s name, just as Olaf was putting the finishing touches on the church steeple, he immediately fell to his death.

The ancient city wall.

Then I visited Town Hall Square. This is the heart of the Lower Town. Besides the Town Hall, the square is home to Gothic buildings. During summer, this is a venue for festivals or concerts like Tallinn Old Town Days, but when I visited it was freezing cold over there. Fortunately there were several nice bars on the square.

Town Hall Square.

After a drink, I walked to Toompea (or Cathedral Hill) which crowns Tallinn’s old town with a castle, churches, palaces, and government buildings. This area was once a separate town (Dom zu Reval), the residence of the Chivalry of Estonia, Roman Catholic bishops of Tallinn (until 1561) and Lutheran superintendents of Estonia, occupying an easily defensible site overlooking the surrounding districts. Many buildings are newer than in the Lower Town due to a fire that consumed the medieval buildings. There are many viewing platforms on the ancient city wall.

A nice view on the Lower Town and the modern city.