Mon, 11 Aug 2003

author Tim	location Helsinki, Finland
posted 12:43 EEST 13/08/03	section Europe2002/Europe/Eesti ( all photos )

Estonia - Tallinn ( 37 photos )
(Continued from Finland)
After a while the ferry (a SuperSeaCat) arrived, and people pressed hard to be the first through the gates. We just watched in amusement, and walked past most of them straggling their way towards the boat. It was almost exactly like getting on a plane - long walkways up to the entrance door, even the seats were almost identical, tray tables and all.
As we glided away so gently I didn't even notice, it soon became apparent what this trip was all about to most of the locals - a huge duty-free booze binge. There was a group of six old biddies just over from us, constantly taking in rounds of whatever spirit or liquer someone brought back, enjoying themselves no end. Like most others on the boat, they had little trolleys especially designed for bringing back the exact customs limit worth of alcohol and perfume.
Given the very high Finnish prices for such things, it came as no real suprise, but was funny all the same. The ninety or so minutes passed quickly, and before we knew it, it was time to get off and explore a new country (ok, city) in about eight hours.
I don't usually go in for such things, but since Eesti (Estonia in English) is such a new country, let me provide a bit of history, blatantly plagerised from Lonely Planet.
Danmark conquered the region in the 12th century, then sold it to Deutschland in 1346. In the great tradition of land trading, various countries such as Sweden had infuence at times, but eventually by 1721 the area fell to Russian power. In World War I, Russia abandoned the area to Deutschland in 1918. World War II brought more confusion, secretly putting Eesti under Soviet control.
Murmurs of discontent started around 1980, and by 1989 enough action had taken place for Moscow to grant economic autonomy. Full independence was announced on 20th August 1991, although Russian troops didn't leave until August 1994. Their strange currency the kroon came in 1992.
And, last I heard, Eesti is poised to join the EU, ready for assimilation into the greater Europe.
All this combines to give a country with an interesting past, quite confused, but with some strong influences apparent - plenty of people speak Russian, and that culture is evident in many places (for example the ubiquitous Russian doll offered to tourists everywhere). Younger people speak English quite well. It is interesting to think that possibly as late as eight or so years ago, there was close to zero chance of us being able to explore the country.
Tallinn itself is obviously a city in the middle of change. Eesti's capital has plenty of amazing old architecture, so much so that the Old Town is World-Heritage Listed. Yet there are areas where the touristy shops are just a little too thick. However, the general feel is that you are not far away from a very un-spoilt place - the alleys in the city lead to much lower living conditions, every thing is very very cheap (won't last long after joining the EU), and not much has been built in say the last four hundered years. There are of course repair works going on here and there, including a horrible cement-rendering of the Oleviste Church in the Lower Town. It is one of the many countries you want to see now before the hand of modernisation/westernisation takes over.

So, back to what we specifically did. Not wanting to miss our already checked-in return ferry at 11pm, we set a waypoint on the GPS and started wandering in a new country. Road signs and brand names were all different, but we are getting used to that now. It didn't feel quite as foreign as Istanbul did when we arrived there.
We wandered to the northern-most corner of the amazingly well preserved town walls, in through the Great Coast Gate which used to be the port exit back in medieval times. Here the modern tarmac gave way to old style ankle-damaging but oh-so-cool cobble stones. Quite a while looking at places on a general wander, absorbing the best preserved Old Town in Eastern Europe. Highlights of the Lower Town included the Fat Margaret Bastion, and the 120m high spire of the Oleviste Church (from which the architect fell to his death).
We headed then down some nice side streets into the centre of town, which is the beautiful Raekoja Plats square, with the amazing Town Hall on one side and plenty of open-air cafés around most of the others. The Town Hall is the only surviving Gothic one in Europe, with a 1530 weather vane on the top and dragon heads sticking out the side.
Next was a walk up the hill to the focus of the town, Toompea (Upper Town). The walk through the 1380 gate tower and up Pikk jalg where artists were selling paintings to the awesome view of the 19th century Russian Orthodox Alexandr Nevsky Cathedral. The size of this thing was quite amazing, with dome roofs and plenty of ornamentation. Around Toompea we saw some of the original 1219 towers from the Danish castle, which are now part of the Parliament building, and Toomkirik (Dome Church), which we ducked inside and noted the amazing coats of arms and carved tombs.
After a look at the highly-ornamental gilded interior of the Alexandr Nevsky Cathedral, we headed along the south walls of town to search for somewhere to relax. There was a strange shop where a teenage girl was selling fishing and hunting gear, on the phone to a friend as we looked in amazement at the guns on a rack on the wall. Different laws around different countries make for interesting travelling.
Not much wandering later, we found Olde Hansa, an obvious tourist trap of an outdoor pub/restaurant where they were all in costume, the menus were attempted ye-olde-style and the prices were about double everywhere else. We thought a little while about the appeal of drinking beers out of stone mugs, but instead plonked ourselves down across the road at the far cheaper Gildi Kelder, in Suur-Karja. Here we had great meals and two or three hours worth of beer for about $28 Australian. It's been a long time since we last did that.
If you are sitting in Australia thinking "what's so special about that?", then consider that a tank of fuel for Rosie typically costs us about $120, lasts one day, and that a meal out is so rare due to it costing a similar amount.
Next we headed back to the main square for dessert and some different cheap drinks, sitting at one of the many cafés and noting the sword-fight being played out at the next one in an effort to draw the tourist dollars in. That's the way it should be done, not with flashy neon signs and loud dance music.
Now time to find our way back to the ferry, we walked once again through the pretty town, feeling a little sad that we had spent so little time there, and knowing that perhaps we might not come back to anything quite as we remember it.
No problems with immigration getting back out of Eesti, so we boarded the ferry and spent the trip back grabbing as much amazingly cheap duty free as we could carry, now understanding why the day-trippers brought their little trolleys.
We both got quite a grilling from immigration at the other end, Liz being let off once she got her British (and hence EU) passport out, but me having to explain my lack of stamps yet again. We thought we might not be allowed back in - lights had been turned off in the terminal, and we were the only passengers left! Eventually being allowed to pass, we found ourselves once again in Finland.
Eesti was a wonderful side-trip from Helsinki, we enjoyed ourselves greatly and have another set of memories to last for years to come.

(customised)