12.9 → 15.9: Tallinn

I had set aside my first day in Tallinn to sort out some odds and ends. To start with, I’d noticed that the vision in one of my eyes had changed a tad, and I managed to get an annoying scratch on one of the lenses of my glasses. So, my first port of call was an optometrist. It was all rather straightforward; I had an eye test and picked out some new frames. As it turned out, the cost of all of this was about on par with the gap I usually have to pay in Australia, so that worked out well.

The other thing I wanted to do was send some of the stuff that had accumulated in my luggage back home – about 3 kg worth as it turned out. This was also very straightforward and not as expensive as I thought it might be. For the rest of the afternoon/evening I found a nice bar to sit in in the old town and do some writing before heading home to cook some sausages for dinner. 

On Sunday, I did some of the more touristy things around the old town, the highlight of which was climbing the tower of the tower of Oleviste kirik/St Olaf’s Church. Built in 1267 and subsequently rebuilt multiple times, the spire of this church reached 125m and was the world’s highest building for about a century. The church has been Roman Catholic, Lutheran and, more recently, Baptist. There was indeed a proper service going on when I visited (shock horror, some Estonians actually go to church on Sunday!!). I watched for a little while before paying 2€ to climb the tower. The stairwell leading up was quite narrow, requiring one breathe in when passing someone approaching from the opposite direction. The views were pretty spectacular and fortunately the sun was out to make it all the better.

Inside Oleviste kirik

Ascending 

Views over Tallinn

Looking towards Toompea

Descending

Other highlights were watching others participating in a marathon which was being run through the centre and listening to Estonian bagpipes.

Marathon

On Sunday evening I hired a bicycle so I’d be ready to set off exploring the following day.

I decided that geocaching was the order of the day for Monday, so I set off in the rough direction of the Tallinn TV tower by bicycle.

The Tallinn TV tower is by far the tallest structure in town, built by the soviets to transmit the 1982 Olympics, which were held in the soviet union. As my Estonian salami had gone walkabout at the hostel, I was forced to have lunch atop the tower, which was most pleasant. It was really good to visit the tower, as it is possible to see Tallinn in its entirety, giving me a better impression of the layout of the city.

En route... 

Geocache :D 

Lunch atop tower

On the way home I passed by some more interesting geocaches. One, which I later found out was underground, led me to an industrial compound in Tallinn. I was standing in a carpark for about five minutes trying to work out how to get the cache when a guard dog must have woken up and spotted me. Soon three of the buggers set upon me and I hightailed it out of there, throwing in plenty of angry growling noises for good measure!!! Fortunately they must have been trained not to go outside of the property boundary and stopped, staring and barking at the entrance while peddled furiously into the distance!

The other highlight was a walk through the ‘remains’ of the ancient hill fort of Iru. When I say ancient, I mean like 3000-500 BC ancient. Virtually nothing remains of the fort itself, other than its raised footprint in the landscape. Apparently there are still some tunnels and other features which remain and archaeological digs have been fruitful. I did stumble upon some sort of bunker, but it looked more of the soviet variety to me. It was a really cool place to walk around, this large area of completely unused land in the middle of suburbia, almost surrounded by rivers.

Bunker 

River that surrounds fort area

I'd bet this stone is sacred

Geocache :D 

Cemetery nearby

Tuesday was a bit cold and rainy, so I headed in the direction of the Tallinn Art Museum. There were several interesting exhibitions by Estonian and international artists. I was particularly interested in the work by Estonian artists and found most of it to be appealing. Some of the stuff from the soviet times, though, was a bit creepy.

Estonian art 

That day I also rode around the large Kadrioru Park, in which the art museum, presidential palace and various other buildings are located. By chance I arrived at the palace as the changing of the guard was taking place. Not as spectacular as that in England, but still nice to see. I also found some geocaches and checked out the well manicured gardens when it was not raining. I found a nice big oak tree to sit under which sheltered me from the rain as I ate lunch.