Tallinn, Estonia

Cyndi with a local art vendor in Tallinn. Her husband paints landscape pictures of the town of Tallinn. We bought one of them!
Rich finds his "niche" in Tallinn
This archway was just about Cyndi-size!
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
Cyndi on a cobblestoned road with the Nevsky Cathedral in the background
Craig and Mayra with Rich and Cyndi in Tallinn, Estonia
Just to show the magnitude of some of these stone creations of old. This tower is called Fat Maragaret.
This man made some lovely pottery. We bought some from him. There are only 4 days of a Medieval Festival each year, and we were there for one of them! All the artisans were dressed in their medieval dress!
Some artisans sewing handmade thick felt clothing
Hand carved wooden buttons!
This woman looked as if the clothes she was wearing did not need to be handed down too many generations. She made doll clothes.
The Town Hall of Tallinn. The building dates back to 1371. The tower of the town hall is over 800 years old. The townhall itself is the oldest in all of Europe. There is a weathervane called "Old Thomas" on top of the steeple. In the same building is the oldest pharmacy in the world, having been in use for over 500 years.
Rich in a cobblestoned area of town (which part wasn't?) with St. Olaf's Church's steeple in the back drop
The Nevsky Cathedral
Rich and Cyndi overlooking the lower town part of Tallinn from the top part of Toompea hill
Cyndi with Tallinn in the background. If you look closely, you can see our ship.
Rich and Cyndi in Tallinn, Estonia....one of our favorite stops on the whole cruise!
St. Mary's Cathedral
The tower of St. Mary's Church with the Estonian flag hanging
Nevsky's Cathedral
Walking through another stone archway in the city of Tallinn
On the fringes of the lower town of Tallinn, near the town square
Mayra with a new woolen friend (evidently Estonia is well-known for its woolens)
Craig fooling around at the well...a well with a grisly history of animal sacrifices to appease evil pagan spirits. Let's just say that you don't want to be a stray cat around this town... :o( They call it the Cat's Well.
Cyndi and Rich in Tallinn, Estonia
Craig and Rich on a swing in a garden we found in Tallinn
Craig and Mayra
The fortress wall that goes around the city
Looking down the ancient cobblestoned streets of Tallinn
Another view of a portion of Tallinn
Mayra next to some very old wooden carved doors
Peeking through the archway into the city of Tallinn - the great coastal gate.
Rich in front of the stone archway going into the city
The view of the city as we approached it from the port.

We LOVED Tallinn, Estonia! The cobbled stones were amazing...and rough on the legs. The town has been around for 1000 years. Estonia itself has been in a bad spot, geographically, for the wars that have ravaged the Baltic area during that time. Estonia peacefully earned its independence in 1991. Tourism has flourished since then. Some basics about Estonia.....it is about 17.5 sq miles - a little bigger than Switzerland or Denmark and has a population of 1.3 million people. Only a little more than half are actually Estonian...there have been many other countries that have invaded or sent laborers to Estonia that have settled there as foreigners. After WWII, when the Soviets took over Estonia, they thought many of the Estonians had spied on the Russians, so many Estonians were killed or sent to Siberia. Although Estonian is the official language, Russian is often spoke as well. Tallinn is the capital of this republic country. The currency is the Estonian Kroon. When we were there in July, it was 15 kroon to a U.S. dollar.
I highly recommend a trip here if you can do it! It really has a rich history!