The Baltics 2011: Tallinn, part 1

Did I say one or two posts on Tallinn? What was I thinking?! I practically filled a memory card with photos in one afternoon in Tallinn! (Albeit it was only a 1 GB card. But still.)

Tallinn is a place I had wanted to visit for a long time; ever since my sister first went there, which might have been ten years ago, I don’t remember anymore.
Well, now the dream has come true. Enriched by my new knowledge of the basics of Estonian, so I was able to buy myself a glass of apple juice. For buying something to eat, I still had to employ some English... :P But I could understand the signs quite well, which was nice.

I arrived to Tallinn some time after noon; in the evening I was to meet more of the people from the camp. So I had an afternoon by myself in the city I've long wanted to visit. I only had time for the Old Town, and not all of it - no time for museums or anything like that. Still, I saw a lot and took loads of photos. So, no, it won't be two posts. It will be much more.

This is still outside the Old Town, on the way from the bus station. This church is, if I remember correctly, on Liivalaia. The house below is in a small street next to Liivalaia. I think. It's standing next to a huge, modern hotel.





This is the Opera. Or theatre, or both. It's impossible to get a nice photo of it, because there's a rather busy street, with trams and buses, in front of it. And a parking lot, and street lamps. I think it's a law of the universe that if there's a landmark in a city centre with lots of room in front of it, there will be a busy street. See the National Museum in Prague, or, for that matter, Louvre.



A house designed by the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, conveniently designated as Saarineni maja.



Entering the Old Town.





This could be quite romantic in the evening...



Niguliste kirik. (Kirik is church. I have no idea what Niguliste is, other than it's also a street running next to it.)





There's a sort of park underneath the church, with benches and sunbeds. Estonian summer may only come on Friday (that comes from a joke my sister told me ;-), but when it comes, the Estonians certainly know how to make the best of it. When I was in Estonia, it happened to be really summer. Even too hot at times (while there was 12 degrees Celsius in Prague when father was leaving. Speak of travelling to the North!)







Still Niguliste kirik...











One of the ways the Baltic nations enjoy their summer is through flowers.



And first hints of what was to become my photographic obsession in Estonia: colourful panel doors.





Next: the town square with the town hall and a nice quiet corner.