Tallinn, Estonia

Note: Don't pay any attention to the dates at the start of the blog. Those dates are automatically inserted by the blog program and are the dates I am writing, not the dates that correspond to our activities.

On Friday, Sept. 8, we visited the town of Tallinn, Estonia. Tallinn is the capital of Estonia. It is a very unique and charming city that dates back to Medieval times. The part that we visited is called "Old Town", and consists of Upper Town and Lower Town. Upper Town contains mostly government buildings, a few churches, and a few souvenir shops. Lower Town is more commercial and has a lot of shops and boutiques, restaurants, etc. Lower Town is the walled part of the city, and Upper Town is separated from Lower Town by thick fortress-like walls, towers, and a city gate. During our tour of Upper Town, there were 2 overlooks where there was an opportunity to view Lower Town from above. The views were exceptional, as all the rooftops of Lower Town (and Upper Town) are red, so the overlook afforded views of this sea of red rooftops. After our tour of Upper Town, we passed through the city gates to Lower Town. The streets of Tallinn are very uneven cobblestone streets, very hard to walk on, but very picturesque. The heart of Lower Town is the plaza in the middle of the city, where there is a wide open space surrounded by shops and restaurants.

One of the buildings surrounding the plaza in Lower Town is a church, with pillars. On one of the pillars there was a round iron collar hanging from a chain. The tour guide took us over to show us what it was. They used to make a public display of people who had done something wrong, so they would place the collar around the penitent's neck and make them stand there for a few hours. Our tour guide asked one of the people in our group to volunteer, so she could show us how it worked. As she placed the collar around the man's neck, she told him to close it so that it shut completely. The man was reluctant, but then he joked that if they asked his wife, she'd probably close it tight and throw away the key. We all had a good laugh.

We did some shopping in Tallinn, and were able to spend some time in town before heading back to the ship. Viking provided shuttles back to the ship so that people could remain in Tallinn at leisure, and return to the ship whenever they wanted. The ship sailed at 9 p.m., heading for Gdansk, Poland, with a "Day at Sea" before reaching Poland. There are no activities or tours schedule, so we basically get a day to relax. A vacation from our vacation. Much needed.