Tallinn, Estonia
Morning found the Endeavour moving southwest in the waters just off of the country of Estonia. Our morning would be spent in the capitol city of that country, Tallinn, a prosperous sea port with an “Old Town” situated on a hill just behind our port entrance, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in the 1990’s. Just next to Old Town is another hill called Toompea and according to the Estonian national epic Ealevigpoeg, Toompea is the grave mound of an ancient Estonian king, Kalev, built of rocks his widow Linda carried to the site in her apron. The grave was nearly complete when a large rock dropped from her apron. Linda sat down on a large rock and burst into tears. Lake Ulemiste, situated on the limestone plateau high above the city directly opposite the present airport, was born of her tears and Linda’s Rock can still be seen standing in it near the water’s edge.
Once the Endeavour was docked in the main port, we disembarked, boarding busses and were taken on a short bus tour of the city of Tallinn. One very impressive, large building we passed was the National Library. In this building over four million books are housed. The entire population of Estonia is approximately 1.3 million people, which makes this library a very impressive collection of books for such a small country, with much discussion given to the importance of education. Soon our busses stopped just outside the lower end of Old Town and we began a walking tour exploring the narrow and picturesque streets of Tallinn.
One of our first visits was the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky built between 1894 and 1900. The 9:00AM service was still being held, giving many of us a chance to listen to a beautiful choir while taking in the gorgeous interior. According to our Estonian guide the selection of the building site for this church was strategic; it represented a symbol of Russian power in counterbalance to the strong German spirit that was ruling at the time, and even today it’s style clashed with the surrounding neighborhood.
We continued our walking tour, visiting several other churches, and stopping at a lookout facing Toompea and a wonderful view of cobblestone streets and clay tile roof tops. From there we started down through Old Town stopping at the Virgin Tower for coffee and pastries.....a dark hall, thick coffee, delicious pastries....all enjoyed in an atmosphere very reminiscence of the Middle Ages.
From this vantage point our group had an opportunity to wander the streets of Tallinn on their own. Our guides remained with groups while many of us took an opportunity to enjoy exploration of old streets, antique shops, long looks at Baltic Amber, listen to street musicians while slowly making our way towards the appointed pick-up point scheduled for 12:15PM in the more modern commercial district of Tallinn.
As soon as the busses were loaded, we were taken back to the Endeavour waiting in the port, and making ready to continue her passage moving west in the Baltic Sea heading for our next day’s destination.
We enjoyed a relaxed afternoon on board with a long lunch followed a peaceful few hours for reading, moving down wind in comfortable seas.
At 5:00PM Ron Suny presented a lecture on “Nations and Nationalism” and began our preparation for further entry in the Baltic Nations. During his talk, Ron focused our attention on the spirit and identity of the Baltic Nations—entertaining the idea of Nation making and what that may constitute for each of the countries the Endeavour would be visiting in the coming days....
Morning found the Endeavour moving southwest in the waters just off of the country of Estonia. Our morning would be spent in the capitol city of that country, Tallinn, a prosperous sea port with an “Old Town” situated on a hill just behind our port entrance, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in the 1990’s. Just next to Old Town is another hill called Toompea and according to the Estonian national epic Ealevigpoeg, Toompea is the grave mound of an ancient Estonian king, Kalev, built of rocks his widow Linda carried to the site in her apron. The grave was nearly complete when a large rock dropped from her apron. Linda sat down on a large rock and burst into tears. Lake Ulemiste, situated on the limestone plateau high above the city directly opposite the present airport, was born of her tears and Linda’s Rock can still be seen standing in it near the water’s edge.
Once the Endeavour was docked in the main port, we disembarked, boarding busses and were taken on a short bus tour of the city of Tallinn. One very impressive, large building we passed was the National Library. In this building over four million books are housed. The entire population of Estonia is approximately 1.3 million people, which makes this library a very impressive collection of books for such a small country, with much discussion given to the importance of education. Soon our busses stopped just outside the lower end of Old Town and we began a walking tour exploring the narrow and picturesque streets of Tallinn.
One of our first visits was the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky built between 1894 and 1900. The 9:00AM service was still being held, giving many of us a chance to listen to a beautiful choir while taking in the gorgeous interior. According to our Estonian guide the selection of the building site for this church was strategic; it represented a symbol of Russian power in counterbalance to the strong German spirit that was ruling at the time, and even today it’s style clashed with the surrounding neighborhood.
We continued our walking tour, visiting several other churches, and stopping at a lookout facing Toompea and a wonderful view of cobblestone streets and clay tile roof tops. From there we started down through Old Town stopping at the Virgin Tower for coffee and pastries.....a dark hall, thick coffee, delicious pastries....all enjoyed in an atmosphere very reminiscence of the Middle Ages.
From this vantage point our group had an opportunity to wander the streets of Tallinn on their own. Our guides remained with groups while many of us took an opportunity to enjoy exploration of old streets, antique shops, long looks at Baltic Amber, listen to street musicians while slowly making our way towards the appointed pick-up point scheduled for 12:15PM in the more modern commercial district of Tallinn.
As soon as the busses were loaded, we were taken back to the Endeavour waiting in the port, and making ready to continue her passage moving west in the Baltic Sea heading for our next day’s destination.
We enjoyed a relaxed afternoon on board with a long lunch followed a peaceful few hours for reading, moving down wind in comfortable seas.
At 5:00PM Ron Suny presented a lecture on “Nations and Nationalism” and began our preparation for further entry in the Baltic Nations. During his talk, Ron focused our attention on the spirit and identity of the Baltic Nations—entertaining the idea of Nation making and what that may constitute for each of the countries the Endeavour would be visiting in the coming days....
