Tallinn Estonia

After visiting Riga we travelled by coach to Tallinn the capital of Estonia.

On our first morning in Tallinn it was very chilly about 12 degrees when we set off for a walking tour of Tallinn with our local guide.

We began at the top of the Toompea hill to see the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the castle.  The Cathedral was completed in 1900.  It is beautiful, all white and red brick with giant onion domes with gold crosses.  Inside is all mosaic and gold icons everywhere.  The church has 11 bells as well as Tallinns largest bell which weighs 15 tonne.  The bells are rung before each church service and can be heard all over Tallinn.  Unfortunately I wasnt allowed to take photos of the inside of the cathedral. 

We then strolled along to a couple of lookout points where you could view the entire city and walked slowly downhill through 800 years of history strolling through the cobbled streets of the Old Town, a scene straight out of a fairytale.   

We visited the market square with its old German weighing house, pharmacy and Town Hall.

The Old Town of Tallinn is an exceptionally complete and well preserved medieval northern European trading city on the coast of the Baltic Sea.

We loved Tallinn and at the end of the tour we extended and stayed for another two nights to see more of the town.

My only negative was the cruise ships.  On one of the days there were 5 huge cruise ships in port and the town had so many visitors.  It was difficult to get around.

On our last day there we were treated to a free concert.  First there was a military band and then several groups of folk dancers.  Each group in a different costume.  We sat in the square and watched for a long time. It was very good.