We wanted to visit a second Baltic capital, and our choice was Tallinn, capital of Estonia, on the Gulf of Finland, across from Helsinki. Tallinn dates from the Middle Ages, an important port, and, like Latvia, contested ground for centuries. It doesn't have as much of the art nouveau architecture that Riga boasts of, but it has a well-preserved Medieval old town with many of its walls and towers still intact.
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It was a 4 hour ride on Flixbus; passing the slower cars and trucks
provided many thrills |
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| The border; we barely slowed down |
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The terrain, once we got out of the very sizeable cities, was like this:
very flat, mostly forested, some crops, mostly grains, with occasional
glimpses of the Gulf of Riga or the Gulf of Finland |
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Our hotel, the Tallinn Old Town; new hotel, built right into the city
wall; the round building to the left is the old grain mill, powered by
horses; its well was used to supply the city during sieges; now the
hotel's restaurant |
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| Big church on our street |
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| Wall and towers |
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Every now and then, an art nouveau building; most
of the old town is much, much older |
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| Half a block from our hotel, Fat Margaret, a giant artillery tower |
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Fat Margaret is the red dot; beyond it is the port (later post);
our hotel is just to its left |
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Typical: a much older stone building under the plaster,
with various iron reinforcements |
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| Street scene |
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The interpretive/historical signage was exceptional and
everywhere; and in English too |
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| KGB prison |
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| They got Trump, Putin's "useful idiot," on the wrong team |
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Another instance where a bit of the old structure is left
to view, not plastered over |
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| Another art nouveau |
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| Interesting |
