Day 5 Of Our Baltic Capitals Cruise- Tallin Estonia

We got up early this morning and had some breakfast. We returned back to our cabin, grabbed our gear and headed out to greet the new day.

On the pier just outside out of the area where our ship was docked was a line of taxis.
We picked one and headed up to the Toompea Castle area.

Tallinns medieval city walls and towers were the mightiest around 1530. The walls and towers surrounded the Old town and protected its citizens from outsiders. After that period, with the development of firearms the walls lost their importance and most have slowly decayed. There are a few sections of the wall and several towers that are still visible today.

The are several viewing platform higher up in Toompea Hill where you can view the rooftops of the lower level shops and streets of Old Town.

This is a view downwards from one of the veiwing platforms. 

The old Tallin and the modern Tallinn

The architecture throughout the town was really impressive

Here is a very modern water closet...toilet. Everyone has to pay to use this unit. When you are finished using this bathroom, the door closes and the bathroom unit completely cleans itself on the inside...talk about sanitary. 

Many of the streets were empty when we first stared our day out. It did not take too long until it got crowded though.

I found some of the most inresting styles of doors in the Old Town.

Veronica's knight in not so shining armor

This is one of many views that I took of Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

The building in the background is the nations Parliament Building. I believe that this Baroque styled building dates back to Catherine The Great.

This appears to be a tunnel but when I walked down it, it opened up to some lowers walkways and stores.

Below are views of a couple of walkways that you could get through by walking down the stairwell and through the "tunnel" that I showed you in an earlier photo.

I found numerous churches and so many different styles of architecture that I had a great time taking photographs.

One of many outdoor cafes that were in the area.

Several view of the Old Town Square

This is the restaurant that Veronica and I decided to have lunch at. We ended up splitting a really good thin crust cheese pizza here.

And when the day was done and returned back to our ship, we were given this beautiful sunset to help us remember our great day in Tallinn, Estonia.

Here is a video of where we had lunch at. The thin crust cheese pizza was really good. 

Tonight we will have to get a good nights rest because tomorrow we start a 2 day excursion into St. Petersburg, Russia

To view all of the photographs that were taken in Tallinn, Estonia that did not make it on this blog entry, please feel free to view this slide show. You can actually click on the slide show itself to enlarge the photographs.

Day 4 Baltic Capitals Cruise- Day At Sea

Today we are on our way to our next port of call...Tallinn, Estonia.

Veronica and I plan on doing Tallinn on our own and by foot without using a formal excursion.

We will be spending most of our day discovering the sights of the Medieval section of Tallin also know as the Old Town.

Due to the fact that my leg and hip has been troublesome, we have decided to take a taxi from the pier up to the highest point in Tallinn...Toompea Castle. 

With all of the uneven terrain and cobblestone streets, we felt it would be much better to get a ride to the highest point and work our way down, rather than starting at the bottom and moving up. 

The sights and architecture of Old Town Tallinn should be great for photographs.

I never knew much of anything about Estonia until I looked up some information.

Between 1940-1944 Red Army Forces occupied and annexed Estonia into the U.S.S.R.

Between 1945-1991, the Soviets occupied Estonia and it was cut off from the West.

Between 1987-1988 the was what they called a "singing revolution" in Estonia which were large scaled protests against the Moscow rule that the Estonians were under.

On August 20th, 1991 Estonia declared its independence and the country immediately opened ties with the Western countries.

During the mid 1990s to present, Estonia had an economic transformation accompanied by widespread development of its IT infrastructure.

In 2004, Estonia joined the European Union and NATO.

Skype was also developed in Estonia.

Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice calls over the Internet.

Today we have nothing really planned. So we will find a peaceful and quiet place on board and just relax and read a book.

Tomorrow we go exploring.