Travels with Kathryn

Something rather unusual happened yesterday (Friday) – it rained! I have not experienced rain since I left Italy and it came as something of a surprise. Why is it that snow is delightful, and yet rain dreary and miserable? But we all know it is.

Anyway, enough of that, yes, it did rain, but luckily, there was still enough snow to make it somewhat magical, and I did have my umbrella handy. So, the plan was to: (i) walk the walls; (ii) visit the oldest pharmacy; (iii) go to the Estonian History Museum; and (iv) have soup in a breadbowl. Well, 3 out of 4 isn’t bad.

You can not actually “walk the walls” per se, as they are not all connected. However, I did walk around them as much as I could and went up them when I had the opportunity to do so. Construction of the walls began in 1265 under Queen Margaret (“Fat Margaret”). In 1310, the Danish governor began to extend the walls, and this extended continued until the 14th century. By the Middle Ages, Tallinn was one of the best fortified cities in the Baltic region. Under the Swedes in the 17th century, the fortifications were modernized and adapted to allow the use of artillery. Today, Tallinn is one of the few cities with a very well-preserved system of medieval fortifications with 26 towers and around 1.85 km of the defensive wall having survived.

The “up” bit also includes the opportunity to visit the Danish Museum, and there is a delightful legend regarding the Danish victory at the battle of Lyndaise. In the summer of 1219, the Danish King Valdemar II the Victorious (yes, this is his title) landed in the vicinity of the Lydanise fortress, later known as Toompea, which had been already deserted by the Estonians. However, just a few days later, the Estonians attacked the Danish camp. According to the legend, the Danish were losing but when Danish Bishop Andrew Sunesan asked for God to send a sign, the Danish flag (the Dannebrog) fell from the sky and the battle turned and the Danes won. The origin of the legend is not known, but its rather popular in Estonia as they like to emphasise that the Danish had been losing…

I also had an opportunity to pop back to visit the most expensive toilet in Tallinn (yes, I know how to sightsee) – this was built in the 1990s and is seen as evidence of the corruption just after the fall of the USSR. It cost (then) €200,000 to build, and it still costs €300,000 a year to maintain. I did not go in on principle but felt a photo might give you the idea of an OTT toilet (see below). Another side note on toilets, the toilet in the Estonian History Museum was also excellent – in the cubicle there is a motion sensor and it plays a selection of bird songs and then gives their name in Estonian afterwards. Most entertaining.

The next stop was what has declared itself to be one the oldest continually operating pharmacies in the world. It was first mentioned in 1422, and this is technically the original building, although with various modifications over the years such as such modern enhancements as a roof, windows, electricity, etc.

Then on to the Estonian History Museum. I am pleased to report that what I learnt yesterday does turn out to be correct, but there was an interesting exhibition asking the question: “Why was Estonia not a Kingdom?” and in summary the answer is because at the time it was conquered by the Danes, it operated as a cooperative society so there was no ultimate leader who could form a defence, and in particular there were a higher number of vassel dynesties compared to the rest of Europe which again prevented an ultimate ruler coming forward.

My favourite item in the museum was a message in a bottle. Unusually, this was not thrown into the sea, but hidden in the city wall as it was being constructed and details a man’s hope for his future.

So, my plan for lunch had been soup in a breadbowl. As much as I enjoy soup in a breadbowl, I would have had to eat it in the pouring rain, which I did not want to do… Instead, I had a fabulous meal – Tallinn is developing quite a food scene, and this was a restaurant in the Michelin Guide where I had a lovely 3-couse meal with a gin and tonic for 50 (thank you Dad for my Christmad present!).

After all that, I waddled back to my hotel room to dry out from the rain and pack, ready for my journey to Riga. However, before I leave, I shall emphasise what a delightful city break destination Tallinn is. It is beautiful, full of history, very walkable, has great food, and is all at a reasonable price. You should add it to your list (which is you’re following all of my advice is probably getting rather long!).

Today (Saturday), I took my penultimate international bus journey of my trip. I feel that “Lux Express” is of a somewhat higher standard of bus than I was used to in the Balkans! However, I had the classic experience of the tiny lady in front of me, reclined her seat as soon as she sat down for our 4.5-hour journey. Typical. My only other complaint was grottiness of the weather and the lack of a passport stamp.

We arrived in Riga slightly late and it was something of a scrum to get my bag and then get out of the way of the people who wanted to board the bus – note to self, allow plenty of time for my next bus! I took a Bolt to my fancy hotel (its Estonian, you know) booked as a treat for my birthday/ New years as they have a spa which I intend to make the most of. It turns out that many, many, many people have had this same idea, and I waited nearly 30 minutes to check in. However, once in my room is very nice and has a heated bathroom floor, which has come in very handy for drying my last load of handwashing this year (mainly socks). I then headed out to buy scissors (we braked suddenly on the bus, and my lovely folding pair disappeared somewhere, never to be seen again – sad times) and to have dinner. A lovely meal and a cocktail later, I am feeling much more relaxed about the hoards of people in my hotel, even when it meant I had to wait to enter the spa area, but enter it I did. I think my Finnish sauna practice has trained me as neither the steam room nor sauna felt particularly hot, and I was most accomplished at then having cold plunges. Interestingly, there seem to be almost no other English speakers in the hotel – it’s mainly locals (or what sounds like local-ish language), which is actually rather nice. However, I did rather enjoy some chatting up, which was going on next to me in the jacuzzi whereby 2 very attractive Latvian girls instigated conversation with an Amercian guy. I think he felt his luck was in! In any case, I suspect they are all here for the various gala type events tomorrow night, which I intend to avoid, mingle amongst the people in the city, and then hide in my room…

Tomorrow is the last day of 2023 and the last day of my 30s – a big moment. I have had a pretty eventful year, and I shall attempt to do some reflecting on it before writing about it in my next post. But in summary, my life is pretty great right now so I think that the returning to the real world, finding a job, somewhere to live is all going to all come as a bit of a shock to the system. However, I shall not think about that right now as tomorrow I shall also be actually seeing something of Riga (hopefully) with my usual walking tour and a plan to buy a piece of cake for my birthday in case nothing is open on 1st January. One likes to be prepared.