Tallinn is such a magical combination of mass history and shear beauty. I have taken more pictures in the two days we have been in Tallinn than the first two weeks of our trip.
The thing I love most about Estonia is the people. What a story of resilience and perseverance.
In 1152, Estonia was added to the world map. In the beginning, other countries used Estonia’s as serfs. They have been ruled by many different countries though they never had a king of their own. A large part of the 16th and 17th century they were ruled by three kings at the same time the Dutch, the Swedish, and the Polish. That must have been confusing.
In 1918, they declared their independence and established democracy. It lasted 1 day before the Russian stepped in.
Then World War II happened and the occupations began. Up until now, Estonia was ruled by other countries but no armies came just people. The Russian army came first. The Estonian people were tormented. Then the Germany’s came and things got a little better. Then the Russian’s came back. The war ended. And the 41 year Occupation began.
What a horrible time for this peaceful democracy. They were sent to work camps in Siberia for the littlest things. For 20 years, they waited for the Americans to come. (We went to the Occuptation Museum and watch all the films and interviews from the time. It was heart breaking. The people really felt that we all forgot about them.)
The Estonian people tried several times to work with the Soviets to regain control of their country. The Soviets were driving the country into the ground and the people were starving. At one point in time, Estonia was allowed to only grow corn. Big surprise but corn won’t grow in the Estonian climate.
My favorite attempt to regain control was in 1987, the Estonian’s proposed that they manage the resources in Estonia but send everything to the Soviet government.
In 1991, Estonia re-declared it’s independence. This was a several year journey with demonstrations and barricades. There was no violence by the Estonian people. They are actually famous for their 3 day protest in the form of signing. It was started with only a few people but everyone kept joining in and soon you have thousands of people.
What impresses me so much about these people is their plans for democracy. They knew English was their future. By 1995, English was being taught in kindergarten. Everyone under the age of 25 is bilingual: Estonian and English. Their English is as good as ours.
They imbracced the technology era and became internet wizards. Today they are the syber security specialists for the European Union. They were the creators of Skype which in its time was a completely unheard of idea. Last year, they had the most startups in the European Union.
For 10 years now they have been using chipped ID cards. The cards are their passports, drivers license, online banking, tax returns, voting, … One card does it all. Absolutely amazing to have been integrated country wide just 15 years after their independence from the Soviets.
How did Estonian progress so fast? Tallinn is close enough to Finland that the Estonian’s could receive Finnish tv and radio. Of course, the broadcasts were blocked by the Russian’s so the Estonia’s built their own receivers. There was a huge black market for American music which they still play today. It was weird for Derek and I to walk the streets hearing Micheal Jackson and Pink Floyd.
We were told that “Dallas” was one of the most popular tv programs. This was their link to the west and the people treasured it.
In all rights, Estonia should be a poor country full of people feeling abused. But it is full of life and growth. We chatted up as many people as we could find. The ones with broken English immigrated to Estonia. The ones with good English, smiles, and a sense of humor were Estonian.
We were talking to an Estonian girl in a bakery about the weather. It had been sunny and warm. She told us the following joke… One Estonian is talking to the other, “did you go to the beach this summer” “no, I was working that day”
I can’t recommend Estonia enough. What a great place to vacation. Come in 2018, they plan to celebrate their 100th year of independence.
If you plan to stay in old town, do not bring rolling suitcases, use a backpack. The cobble streets are really bumpy. I really admired the jogger. It was tough enough just to walk on the streets.
In all the occupations and change in rulers, old town Tallinn has only received one bomb. The apartment we stayed in had 13th century wood walls in the hallway.
The city had multiple church steeples and most of the outer wall was intact including the wall towers.
Yes, we went straight to the outer walls and walked them.
For $3, you could climb inside the wall towers. “Where do I pay?”
It was a bit tricky to climb the wall towers. The steps are old stone so they were slick. And the stairwells are circular and narrow. I was glad to have experience finding hand holds.
There were even some that did not look very safe. This step is due to break off at any time. Needless to say, Derek and I stepped over it. Very carefully.
There is a classic church tower to climb in Tallinn. By classic I mean, narrow circular, stone staircase. Same stairs used for up and down. A million people trying not to fall. This would never be allowed in the states.
I think we would have been stuck on top for hours but their was a lady pretty persistent in getting down. Derek and I got right behind her.
Tallinn has a wonderful hill top inside the old town. It has great views of the city and offered a spot to watch the sunset.
Old Town Tallinn is full of small, old streets which have all sorts of character.
Since the city was never destroyed, they have lots of artifacts.
On the wall of this street, they mounted old tombstones dating back to the 13th century.
One of my favorite streets had a timeline of Estonia. I visited it twice. The street had over 50 of these inlays in the concrete. Only concrete street in Tallinn, Old Town.
Derek and I walked around old town, out to the nearby suburbs, and down along the water front.
We were told to try the hot chocolate. It was perfect. No milk. No whip cream. Just hot chocolate
