Greetings! We recently returned from a trip to Estonia (eh-stown-ee-uh; country #100!!), where we were able to experience Tallinn (tah-LIN). Below, you will find information and photos from our trip. Please note that, while there may be references to countries engaging in ongoing conflicts or wars, these references should not be interpreted as an endorsement of or negative opinion/judgement about what is happening to or with those countries, places, conflicts, or wars.
Tallinn is the capital city of Estonia (referred to by locals as Eesti [ess-tee]), which is one of the Baltic States, lying on the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. Latvia has 2300 islands and 1600 lakes, and is mostly flat, with one hill that rises to 318m/1043ft in a “very green country” (due to having a lot of forest area). For 700 years, Denmark, Sweden (Stockholm is 200km away from Tallinn), and Russia (St. Petersburg, Russia, is 300km/186mi from Tallinn) occupied Estonia. There continue to be reminders of Soviet rule, primarily in their architecture, which has resulted in Hollywood (California) producers coming to Estonia to film movies (e.g., the movie Tenet). However, efforts have been made to move forward, and an example of this is the closing of all Russian schools to focus on Estonian language and culture.
Estonians are regarded as very introverted people who will typically not smile or spontaneously talk to people they do not know. We were told that this is because the long, cold, dark winter makes them want to stay home, and they prefer to be at home than out amongst others. As a result, we were encouraged to consider that Estonians are “smiling in their hearts.”
Old Town Tallinn (originally known by its Medieval name, Reval [rev-ahl], which means “the fall of a deer”) is one of the most well-preserved Medieval towns in the world, as only 10% of it has ever been destroyed. Similarly to its Baltic neighbors, Estonia was subject to rulers wanting to institute their religions and eradicate the established practice. Estonia’s history includes the Pope initiating a Crusade to eliminate the final pagans in existence in the North of Europe. It is also said that the Danish King arrived in Tallinn via the Baltic Sea, and when the Danes arrived, the Pagan Estonians ran away. The Danes reportedly saw this as a “sign of God,” and started celebrating. The Pagan Estonians returned with reinforcements and tried to conquer the Danes, and they almost got to the King, but were unsuccessful. The Germans subsequently came to Tallinn and gave the King gold, as they could not fight them since they come from the same area.
The first thing the Germans built was a church to St. Nicholas (above), the patron saint of archers, sailors, and thieves. The area used to be split between merchants and noble people, and was further delineated into three groups: merchants; King and Queen; and the Pope. Other people did not have any rights, and they built their own city, walls, and gates. The merchants would close the gates when they saw fit, which meant that, at times, the nobility was not able to get what they needed from the merchants. During this time, it was established that a fourth class – Commoners – could be considered citizens with freedoms if they lived in Reval for one year. As a result, they coined the phrase “the city air makes you free.” It should be noted that there were still tribes (called “barbarians”) in the forests, and the nobles were afraid of them. Very few (if any) of the members of the tribes came into the city.
The photo above is a graveyard from the Bronze Age time, and similar graveyards are also found in South Finland and North Latvia. This one was found when they built the road in 1980 for the Olympics, as Estonia was the location for the sailing competition when Russia hosted the Olympic Games. The graves were moved to the current location (next to the highway) to make way for the road, which was originally built by German prisoners after WWII.
Merchants built large houses so that the side that faced the street was alluring for business. Unfortunately, the King taxed the merchants based on the size of their houses, so, the merchants started building smaller houses. Then, the King taxed them for the number and size of windows that they had (i.e., buildings with larger windows would be assessed higher taxes). As a result, in the 1700s, merchants (such as the owner of the house in the photo above) built wooden doors in the places that they would put a glass window so that it appeared from the outside as if they had doors, not windows and, as a result, they were not assessed any taxes. However, the doors basically functioned as windows.
It is said that in early history, nobody celebrated Christmas in the streets in Estonia because they only had three hours of sunlight at that time of year, and it was -30C/-22F and felt like -50C/-58F. However, after a series of unusual attempts to get people to celebrate outside of their homes (and stories that include enticing people to the square by offering free beer), Estonia finally had success, and was reportedly the first country to publicly decorate a Christmas tree (1941).
The spire was struck 11 times by lightning and each time, they rebuilt it to be shorter.
Religion continues to be prominent within Estonia. While Lutheran is prevalent, the largest followed religion is Russian Orthodox. Within Estonia, of the 1.3 million people living there, 30% are Estonian, and 30% are Russian. It is estimated that one million Estonians live in other parts of the world, primarily in Finland (Helsinki is 80km/50mi away, and can be accessed via a 2-hour ferry ride) and Norway, due to better employment benefits. The language in Estonia is similar to that in Finland and Hungary, and they have words that are similar to German. Estonia is very safe (they have three new prisons, but because they have very low crime, they rent the space to other countries), and is considered to have very good education, with their students scoring fourth on aptitude tests behind Japan, South Korea, and Singapore.
Tallinn was a quaint town within a beautiful country, and it was very fitting for it to be #100 on my list. It has a unique history, including its connection to its Baltic neighbors, making it easy to get to and from, with intriguing countries and cities nearby. It’s definitely worth a visit if you find yourself in that region of the world.
While this was country #100, I still plan to travel, as there are so many other places to explore. Thank you for joining me on this journey, and stay tuned for more adventures in the weeks, months, and years to come. Until next time, take care and be well…