May 6, 2012
Tallin, Estonia
I don’t think I knew the country of Estonia existed before
living in Finland. For those of you who aren’t familiar with where it is,
Estonia is a small country on the Baltic Sea south of Finland. It has a
population of 1.3 million people and has spent most of its history being pushed
around by bigger countries.
We arrive in its capital, Tallinn, via ferry at one
in the morning on a stormy night. The hostel where we were staying was supposed
to be a short 15 minute walk away from the port, and we were all looking
forward to a warm bed and a sound sleep. Unfortunately, our hostel didn’t
specify in their directions which
port it was a quick 15-minute walk from. And we learned after unsuccessfully
trying to navigate our way to the place (we ended up taking a cab after
wandering for the better part of an hour in the pouring rain) that indeed, the
directions were not from the port we disembarked from. Alas.
But once we arrived, the hostel was quite comfortable. We
slept as late as we could in order to still be able to make it to the free city
tour, which was fantastic. If you find yourself in Tallinn, which I recommend,
definitely take the tour.
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| Our guide. |
Some favorite photos from the tour and a few random
facts:
Estonia has more churches than any other country in Europe, yet
only 16% of the country is religious. (It is the second least religious country
in the world—after China.)
There is and eight- to eleven- month compulsory military
service for able-bodied males, but men can be called to serve anytime between
19 and 26 years of age. This means that
men with regular jobs and families are often called away from them. Our guide
explained that guys, therefore, come up with various ways to try to avoid this
service. Some of her friends managed to get a doctor to sign off on a poor bill
of health after downing a case of Red Bull before their physicals.
The War of Independence Victory Column was manufactured by a Czech company and cost 8.5 million Euros. Unfortunately, the inside lighting didn’t work, the glass became discolored, and the panels weren’t manufactured to withstand the temperature fluctuations in Estonia, so several of the panes broke and fell to the ground. And, many Estonians think the memorial is quite ugly. Nice.
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On the right is an arm holding a sword if it wasn't immediately obvious to you.
(It wasn't to me.) |
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| The front |
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| They moved the discolored panels to the back. |
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| Fortress |
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| Who knew Shrek lived in Estonia? |
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| View of the old town |
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| The three of us |
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| I just don't get it. |
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| Salmon lunch. Yum! |
After a delicious traditional lunch, the Aussies and I had to head to the port again to catch our ferry to Stockholm. Fortunately, this time we knew which port we were headed to.
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