Sunday 18 December 2011

The Baltics 2011: Tallinn, part 3 - Along the city walls

Back to Tallinn! It's been too long.

One last parting look at the hospitable courtyard from the last post...



... and on we go.



Another of the museums I did not have time for - the City Museum.





The street seemed a bit too turist-y, so I went to the other side of the old city walls, through a gate between the church and the red brick house.







Yes, much better already.





Saku (pronounced Sakku) is apparently a small town near Tallinn. And a beer brand, which father later pronounced good.



The sign on this house says "Riigi muinsuskaitseamet". From what I can gather online with my limited knowledge of Estonian, it's some institution of Ministry of Culture, or some such. ("Riigi" makes it sound like something to do with Riga, but it's in fact the genitive form of "riik", which means "state.")



"Bread - restaurant and garden". Would you name your restaurant "Bread"? Apparently, in Estonia you can.





This tower is called Paks Margareta - "Thick/Fat Margareth".



Next to it is a memorial to the ship Estonia, which sank in 1994.



The Estonian Centre for Children's Books.





This was the only photo I could get of this beautiful beautiful door...













This is (as seen below) a Ukrainian Greek Catholic church. Situated in the most bizarre little house I've ever seen. The street was narrow and I could not get a shot of the whole thing, but I think this suffices to give you an idea.





Next: a flower festival!

5 comments:

  1. Estonia looks like a charming place. That fat tower! It does appear to have cellulite, LOL!
    And the Centre for Children's Books - is it a library, bookstore, museum?

    Nice photos, cheerily painted buildings, beautiful door!

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  2. I did!

    I'm not sure what the Centre for Children's Books is - there's a sign saying that (in Estonian) on the building. My guess is it's an institution that somehow supports the publication of children's books or their authors - but it's really just a guess.

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  3. Gosh I can't get over how utterly beautiful this place is! It makes me want to travel again all the more, and go farther afield. Thank you so much for the chance to see a place so rarely in the spotlight, especially over here.

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  4. And there's more, there's more, there's more! Tartu practically begs to be walked in a Regency dress (which I didn't have, maybe next time) and - wait till you see Rundále! Plus there's all that humble beauty of the countryside, all those colourful wooden houses that I'm totally in love with, and the blueberries (hehe) and the fantastic dairy products (barring yoghurts, which are thinner than I like, but still quite good). You have to go to the Baltics one day. :-)

    I want to do the same with less known Czech places, too (that's why there's that tag "Czech Republic not-so-well-known). I'm bored with hearing about Prague and Kutná Hora and those places all the time - they're lovely for sure, but there's much more loveliness to be seen in my country.

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