Friday July 21, 2017 – In Tallin, Estonia – were all excited to be making our first trip to Estonia not knowing exactly what to expect, but after spending the day here, we all agreed that the charm of the place makes us want to return. Kara, an excellent guide and proud Estonian did an excellent job of informing us 41 passengers on the Best of Tallinn full day tour. Mikael was the driver (right hand drive) and Ahmed the ship representative also did an excellent job. Tallinn was called Reval or Renal (during the Hanseatic League period) and the Capital lies on the Gulf of Finland and has a population of 400K with the whole country only having 1.3MM. It was first on Maps in 1154 and the people have a much greater affinity to Finland than the other Baltic Republics – Latvia and Lithuania. Given it’s strategic location it has been subject to many invading and dominating countries. In the Middle Ages it was Scandinavia (Denmark mainly) that ruled the country, 400 years later it was Poland who occupied the South and Sweden the North. By 1629 it was all Swedish territory, Russia then took over in 1721 and during WW1 the Germans ruled the country. In 1918 it became finally a free country, but independence came to an end in 1940 when the Soviet Army took over the country who remained until final independence on the 20th August of 1991 any by May 1993 the USA, EC recognized it’s independence and it was voted as a full member of the EU with Euros being the currency. We drove around various parts of the city such as the Olympic Village (now a casino and hotel / convention center) for the Moscow Olympics as the rowing took place in Tallinn. Another stop was to see the town from the other side of the harbour, but the most interesting was the vast shell shaped arena stage with capacity for thousands and over 30,000 gather in the open air arena, each five years for a week-end festival of local singing (www.lauluvaljak.ee) with the next one scheduled fort the first weekend of July 2019. Other major singers use the outside auditorium during the remainder of the time (Madonna, Andrea Bocelli etc).
The coach then dropped us at one of the squares in the Old “Upper” Town located on Toompea Hill. The town was divided into the upper section for nobility and separately ruled from the lower town which was for the merchants. A large iron gate divided the towns. We visited the Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral with a rich collection of Icons (Gold & rich colored paintings on wood) and no seats – all must stand. Opposite is the pink Parliament building (Riigikogu) – The country is a mono-cameral Parliamentary Republic with 20 parties only 6 of which are currently represented in the body. A president (currently a woman), whose function is primarily ceremonial is elected every 5 years and re-election is permitted. From there we wandered the cobble stone streets, in and out of churches (of particular note was the Lutheran Toomkirik or St. Mary’s built in 1232, with its walls covered with wooden coats of arms dating back centuries) and shops until we reached an overlook with a spectacular view of the lower town and harbour. We made our way down the steps through the iron gate to the lower town, again visiting the squares, narrow cobbled stone streets, merchants and churches until we reached the main square. Today it was filled with artists selling their creations. It was now time for lunch at a restaurant on the main square accompanied by a nice dark (for Anita & Roger) and light (for the Clifford’s) beer. We all agreed that the dark local beer was particularly good. It is of note that archaeologists have discovered skeletons in the main square dating back 6,000 years. After lunch we progressed to a Mediaeval church (of the Holy Ghost) for a 20 minute concert by three musicians playing mediaeval music on instruments of that period. The male played a lute and hand drum (similar to a tambourine without the side shells) and was the spokesman, one woman played the fiddle and the other woman sang and played the hurley-gurly (an instrument appearing like a wooden box with holes around the waist and a handle at one end was cranked to activated the instrument with the other hand being used to work the holes in the bottom (like a flute). The walk continued until we reached the coach for the short ride back to the ship.
It is of note, in closing that Tourism plays a great part in the Tallinn economy with 315 cruise ships arriving during the 4 summer months. Lutheran is the predominant religion and the state provides free education, transportation and healthcare for all the population. A 20% Flat income tax is levied on all individuals and there is no corporate or sales tax. Average wage is Euro 1,100 per month. Due to the dropping population all women are permitted a 3 year maternity leave with the salary paid by the state and as an incentive to have more than 2 children, an additional Euro 500 is given to mothers each month for all children they have over 2.
Roger & Anne Travels 