Monday 29 August 2011

The Baltics 2011: Tallinn, part 2

Back to Tallinn!


I've seen a house with a hook/pulley like this before, in Riga. Both Tallinn and Riga used to be Hanseatic cities. I assume it has something to do with that, with trade.


This one's from 1627.


And it's actually the town hall!



Some houses on the town square...







The town square and the surrounding streets reminded me a lot of the Old Town in Prague - with its amount of tourists and tourist-oriented shops and venues. It's certainly beautiful, but you cannot really enjoy it. It somehow feels a bit fake already. Fortunately, that's really just a small number of streets in Tallinn. There are tourists everywhere in the old town, but most of it is still more or less real, which is also evidenced in the number of shops that are still designated mostly in Estonian.



One of the museums I had no time for.



So at least I photographed it, and took the Edwardian lady out of the photo for you to enjoy.





It was sunny. Not exactly hot, but I was hot - it was cold in Latvia that morning, and I was wearing black corduroy trousers: not exactly an item of clothing known for its suitability for sunny weather.
So when I found this little courtyard with a church inside (the St. Peter and Paul church), I was glad. I went in, and there were benches, so I sat down, and drank and ate, and rested a bit.
There was a wedding in the church, so I did not go inside the church (although other tourists did). I just sat there and photographed in the courtyard.















There was a walkway running along the old city walls. I din't figure out how to get there, and didn't exactly mind.


Next: Just more of Tallinn. Perhaps some flowers?

1 comment:

  1. That town hall building struck me - the windows are so narrow. I don't suppose much sunlight gets in.
    When I was little, we had close neighbors from Estonia, so this is interesting to me.

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