Day 10: Tallinn, Estonia

FAT MARGARET TOWER AND CITY WALL


MEDIEVAL COURTYARD

Sunrise: 4:28 a.m. Sunset: 10:07 p.m.
Arrival: 8:00 a.m. Departure: 4:00 p.m.
Today's Treat: Cheese Plate
Today's Towel Animal: Bull Terrier

Our luck with the weather has lasted to our final port of call. We enjoyed yet another gorgeous sunny day. It was downright hot as we wandered the streets of Tallinn. I had never even heard of Tallinn until we booked this cruise. It is the capital of Estonia which used to be part of the Soviet Union. After Estonia gained its independence from Russia, Tallinn wasted no time brushing off the its drab communist cobwebs and dressing up the medieval town center. Everywhere we went today people were busy at restoration work. We saw streets being recobbled, restaurant signs being painted and hung, walls being repaired.

Tallinn is a wonderfully picturesque town with many medieval buildings and parts of a medieval wall still intact. The city center is quite compact so we easily covered the main sights during the course of the day. We walked to St. Olaf's Church so I could take a look at a macabre gravestone in the rear churchyard. Nearby we saw Fat Margaret tower, a huge tower at one of the gateways of the city wall. It is called Fat Margaret not because of the size of the tower, but because of the stout cannon housed within the tower. We strolled up and down the streets of the city center, passing many quaint-looking shops, cafes and restaurants. We popped into a few shops here and there and Brad bought me a lovely linen/cotton sweater. Linen wear is one of the main exports of Tallinn. They also specialize in nesting dolls, crystal and amber. We were hot and weary from all our wanderings in the relentless sunshine so we took a break for a beer at one of the sidewalk restaurants in the main square. We sampled the Estonian favorite brew, Saku, and found it only marginally better than Russian beer.

At the other end of town we visited Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, built by Peter the Great, it was topped with onion domes but not with the fanciful colors and designs of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg. These onion domes were a plain black color. Inside, the church had a typical Russian Orthodox interior, very ornate with murals and icons. I tried to take a picture of one of the icons but was shooed away by a priest in cassock.

We had coffee and cake at a nice little cafe called Bocaport, housed in a ceramicist's workshop. Brad had cafe au lait and I had cappuccino. He had an apple cake while I had an almond tart. All very tasty and served in handcrafted pottery.

We needed to board the ship by 3:30 p.m. as the ship sailed at 4 p.m., but we didn't mind leaving a bit early. We are a bit worn out by all the touring. And my neck is still quite sore.

At dinner tonight we learned that Nick's fast food restaurant is called Burger Star. He has about five or six restaurants in his chain, all somewhere in the south. He has his own version of a quarter pounder called a Megastar: it's a triple decker burger. He says it is mainly drunk blokes who order the Megastar.

Tonight's entertainment was provided by two tango dancers from Argentina. They did a decent job but there were many filler production numbers performed by the Royal Caribbean dancers that were a bit tiresome.