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26 septembre 2017

EASTERN EUROPE CITY HOPPING TOUR: TALLINN (2/9)


The first city we’ve been visiting on our Eastern Europe City Hopping Tour was Tallinn. Capital of Estonia and situated on the northern coast of the country, Tallinn is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe and is listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. And from the 13th century until 1918 (and briefly during the Nazi occupation from 1941 to 1944), the city was known as Reval.

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Noa who is quite interested in the historical facts about World War II could tell us that after WWII started, Estonia was attached to the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1940, and later occupied by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944. Although extensively bombed during the later stages of WWII, much of the medieval Old Town was not destroyed. After their retreat in 1944, it was once again annexed by the Soviet Union. But the Estonians were not happy with this situation until finally, in August 1991, an independent democratic Estonian state was established involving the fast development to a modern European capital. Tallinn became the capital of a de facto independent country on 20 August 1991.

By the way, did you know that Tallinn is the birthplace of Skype?!? As it seems, the city is listed among the top 10 of the digital cities in the world… The port of Tallinn is one of the busiest cruise and passenger harbors in Northern Europe with more than 10 million people passing through in 2016. And it has a large TV tower (one of the rare visiting spots Noa had to propose us…  ) which we unfortunately did not visit…

A good way to explore a new city is doing a tour with the practical Hop On Hop Off busses, where you get a general overview of the place as well as some basic, cultural facts and allows you to better target the rest of the visit. So, one of the first things we look out for in a city are those bus stops. Some of us also use the time passed in the bus to recharge the batteries…

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Tallinn’s is divided up into the Toompea Hill, also called the “Cathedral Hill” which rises above the rest of the Old or Lower Town, the other part of the city, and the Estonian Town, situated in the south. The city is easy to explore by foot and to head to the Town Hall square with its numerous traditional restaurants and shops.

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We also visited the Seaplane Harbour Museum, with its submarine and the different kind of boats you still can visit on-board. And before continuing our road, we stopped by the Baltic Station Market which was recently renovated, an interesting place to find local products. Here we bought lots of cheese, sausage, ham, bread, etc. for our future picnics and breakfasts…

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Our coups de Coeur: take a look at the traditional wooden Estonian, houses, enjoy breakfast at Klaus Kohvik, savour a good glass of wine at Marco Vino wine bar, visit of the most popular museum in Estonia: The Seaplane Harbour (with its submarine and real navy ships to discover – plan 3-4 hours for the visit!)  and discover the Baltic Station Market to get some local products!

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To be continued…

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Fredke
Fredke

I’m Frédérique, fortysomething, mum, maker and craft blogger with a penchant for chaos...

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