Day 5 - Tallinn, Estonia

Today we woke up in Riga - well, someone of us could barely wake up - it took some trying🤭 (you can guess who that was…)
Our coach to Tallinn was leaving at 7:00 and it had a duration of 4 and a half hours. I fell asleep for all the bus ride and Lampros slept for a while too. When we arrived in Tallinn the weather looked promising - there wasn’t any rain but it was still cold. We went straight to our hotel to leave our luggage before checking in at 15:00 and then walked out to find a coffee place for a snack. That was a very fast and easy task since there were plenty of coffee shops around. What really amazed us was that in a lot of coffee shops - yesterday and today - there were signs of “no laptop area” so people can’t go and occupy a table for hours upon end just by having a coffee - something that definitely doesn’t happen in Greece and I think would be frowned upon if it did 😂. We had booked a free walking tour for 15:00 with Gleb, a local guide. He took us through the upper part of the old town and showed us all the interesting places there. He was an excellent tour guide - we learnt a lot of things about Tallinn, the invasions and occupations by Sweeds, Danish, Finnish and Russians throughout the years. The name Tallinn - Tani Llinn- means “Danish castle / Danish city” and “according to legend, the Danish flag Dannebrog fell from the sky in Tallinn on June 15 of 1219!
The legend goes that during his crusade to Esto-nia, the Danish King Valdemar II was close to losing the Battle of Lyndanise. Following prayers from Archbishop Anders Sunesen, the red and white flag suddenly fell from the sky, giving the Danes the victory. The story of the falling flag has been seen in written sources since the beginning of the early 16th Century while Danish kings have used the flag at least since the end of the 14th Century. Valdemar's flag and the coat of arms with the three lions have become Tallinn's town symbols from the medieval days up to today. They represent the historical connections and human cultural relations that have grown between Denmark and Estonia.The legend has been retold through generations. Dannebrog, the world's oldest continuously used national flag, and the legend about its origin, have a profound impact on Danish culture and identity. The story has inspired many artists and writers, who have created beloved paintings, songs and written works about the event.” (Would you look at that! Bravo Denmark!)
What I laughed about mostly though was his pictures of the coat of arms which it nearly the same - and Estonia is copying Denmark’s homework. A bit further we came across three statues of headless monks - they reminded me of the Nazgûl’s of Lord of the Rings. The old town is also a UNESCO World Heritage site for its best preserved medieval buildings in the world. Another legend of the town was a statue on the top of a church - it’s called Old Tom and it’s about a poor boy that won a archery competition between some noble men - normally, if he won he would be given a barrel of gold but the men didn’t want to give that to a boy, so they gave him a medal and made him a knight of the town. When he died kids would ask their parents where Old Tom was and why they couldn’t see him anymore around, so they had to come up with a way of explaining to the children that old Tom is looking after them from above - and for that to be believed they put this statue on top of the church!
When the tour was over, Gleb had mentioned his collection of old and new coins from around the world - so we looked through our change and gave him a few Greek ones that he really appreciated. He also gave us some Estonian coins from before they entered the eurozone. Again, he was terrific!
After the tour we walked around the old town a bit more, went for lunch at Lido (the same buffet restaurant we went to yesterday in Riga) and then headed towards an artistic neighbourhood and the food market hall. After walking around there for a while and taking some pictures, we felt very tired and headed back to the hotel. We’ve just had some yoghurt and tea and getting ready for bed. We’ve really enjoyed today to the fullest. Tallinn has been the best by far until now and it’s going to be hard to top it!Weiterlesen