Tallinn, Estonia

Monday, August 13

For those of you who have never heard of Tallinn, Estonia (like us!), here is a brief history:

Tallinn is a small medieval town. Founded around 3 BC, it led a peaceful existence until Pope Celestine III called for a crusade against the "northern heathens". It was invaded by the Danish in 1219 with 150 ships. When things were going badly for the conquerors, legend is that Danish King Valdemar prayed for help and a flag dropped out of the sky into his hands. The flag had a red background and a white cross. This has remained Denmark's flag, and is the oldest national flag of the world.

After the Danes, Estonia became home to German knights who were tradesmen and craftsmen. This is why the centre of Tallinn looks like a medieval German town. The Swedes also came to Estonia.

In the early 1700's, Czar Peter the Great defeated Sweden and established Russia as a Baltic Power. He captured Tallinn in 1710. Estonia received independence after World War I, but lost it again as a result of the 1939 pact between Hitler and Stalin. The Germans controlled Estonia from 1941 to 1944, and from 1945 to 1991 Estonia was part of the Soviet Union. Estonia once again gained independence in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The part of Tallinn that we explored today was only the old medieval town. We started at Fat Margaret Tower and then visited St. Olaf's Church, built for the Danes and Swedes. From 1549 to 1625, this 13th century church was the tallest building in the world because of its 159 meter tall spire. Lightning struck this spire 8 times, and when the church burnt to the ground, it was rebuilt by Peter the Great. The tower was at one time used as a tv tower by the KGB.

It seems that there was a medieval church at every corner: there was St. Nicholas Church for the Germans, and the Holy Ghost Church for the native Estonians. Our favourite church (on the outside) was the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, whose onion domes and towers made it look like it was plucked right out of St. Petersburg.

There was a central town hall square, which served as a market and meeting place, and was the site of at least one execution (resulting from a dispute over a bad omelet). The circular stone where the stockades stood is still visible.

We stumbled upon a place where you could try your hand at archery, so Anton gave it a shot (har har). He had some practice shots, then came the competition between him, a guy from Finland, and a guy from the Phillippines. Anton won with a score of 82 points, and he made it onto the board as the highest score so far today!

We found the Cat's Well, which was the town's source of water. Superstition had it that there was an evil water spirit that required regular sacrifices in order to keep the well water fresh, so they threw animals into the well, especially stray cats. This continued until the mid 19th century.

After walking through Katarina Kaik (Katherine's Way) which was full of quaint shops set into the medieval buildings, we found a place where you could climb a tower and walk the city wall between 3 towers. At one point in time, Tallinn's walls spanned 4 km and had 46 towers. Then we found our way to one of the other towers, called Epping Tower. This tower had 6 levels you could climb, and was interactive because you could touch anything, including trying on the armour and playing with the medieval weapons. The top level contained a catapult which was really cool.

It was a pleasant day, walking along the cobblestoned streets. Of course, we only explored the old medieval part of Tallinn, not the newer city around it. We counted about 7 cruise ships in the harbour, so we figure more than 10,000 people must have descended upon this city at once, only to be gone in a few hours!
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