Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Tallinn
I arrived in the Estonian capital on June 7 at 6:30 A.M. First I tried to go to the hostel I had booked, but it took me a while to figure out where that was. My guidebook told me I was really close, but in fact I had to walk 30 minutes to get there.
Niguliste Church, with ruins from Soviet bombings in foreground
The hostel is called Old House Guesthouse. It is nice, pretty clean with large dorm rooms and a cozy kitchen. It isn't as special as the place where I stayed in St. Petersburg, Nord Hostel—the manager, a pretty blonde, is a lot colder than Masha. (Maybe she is acting this way to me because I tried to use an expired International Student ID card to get a discount.) Still, even without free Internet access, it was worth the money.
My goal for today was to see all of Old Town. I started miserably. Before I started sightseeing I wanted to buy the bus ticket for Warsaw, the last leg of my trip, so I needed to take a city bus to the bus terminal. I got on the wrong one, though, and ended up on the outskirts of town. I was able to take another bus back into town, but all told I lost two hours. When I finished my errand and finally made it to Old Town, it was already midday. I stopped at a restaurant named Kompressor for lunch. This place was full of students. It serves enormous pancakes filled with cream cheese and other ingredients—they're bliny on steroids—for only $4. Mine, which came with smoked trout, was tasty at first, but after finishing half the rich cream and dough made me queasy.
Raekoja plats (Town Hall square)
After lunch I walked around Old Town. Of all three Baltic capitals, Tallinn's Old Town is probably the most interesting and definitely the oldest and best preserved. It is the only one I could tell that has Gothic architecture. A few such buildings are intact, like Town Hall and St. Olaf's church. Even more buildings incorporate Gothic elements in their facades. I climbed the observation deck of St. Olaf's to get a view of the city. It is a unique experience. You're not standing on a deck built around the tower—you're actually on the roof! The old city wall and their towers are also worth seeing.
Spire of Oleviste Church
Old Town is full of tourists, more than any other city in the Baltics. These people, mainly Scandinavians and Germans, come by cruise ship (Tallinn is the only Baltic capital on the sea). There is a lot of money in this city. I saw quite a few German luxury cars. The city has a lot of Russians, although not nearly as many as Riga does. There is a sharp distinction between the appearance of the Russians and the Estonians. The latter wear Northern European fashions—subdued colors and long skirts or pants. Physically, they resemble Scandinavians: tall and blonde.
Compared to the other Baltic capitals, Tallinn has the slowest pace of life. No place here that I visited was really crowded. Even the largest square in Old Town was fairly empty.
Views of Tallinn from the spire of Oleviste Church (left) and Toompea
Despite the morning delay, I was able to cover Old Town and the hill above it in four hours. At the end of the afternoon I was pretty out of it—I didn't get much sleep on the bus. I returned to the hostel at 6:30. I intended to take a short nap to re-energize, but the next thing I knew I woke up at 11. I got a bite to eat and went back to sleep.
This morning I went to an Internet cafe near the center. There I met a group of Mormons. They were discussing a plan of action in a highly organized manner. ("We will meet so-and-so at the embassy in two hours. Be ready.") If the Mormons continue like this, the Lutheran Church in Estonia will be in trouble.
Draakon gallery on 18 Pikk tanav
For lunch I went to a restaurant called Eesti Maja. This restaurant features a lunchtime buffet for 75 krooni ($6.50). The offerings—chicken drunsticks, boiled vegetables, potatoes, salad—were rather bland, seasoned only with salt and dill. Judging from this meal and the pancakes I ate yesterday, Estonian cuisine leaves much to be desired.
I wish I had gone inside
After lunch I walked 25 minutes to Kadriorg Park. The main attraction in this fairly large park is a small palace built for Peter the Great (which is closed to the public). On this 70°F (21°C) day, there were a few people picking wildflowers in the park's meadows, and even more sunbathers. (Russians and Estonians are crazy about flowers. Girls like to braid dandelions and wear them as a headband.) The time came to go back to the center to catch my 5:00 bus for Warsaw. I walked back along the shore. This waterfront is rocky and windy—it's no wonder Tallinners prefer to lie on the grass.
Meadow in Kadriorg Park
The bus ride to Warsaw was sixteen hours long. The time passed pretty quickly. The trip was, save for dealing with a couple of loud Poles sitting in the back, unremarkable.
