Adventures in Europe: Tallinn, Estonia

We were coming into Tallinn as we woke up the next morning.

Our visit was limited to six and a half hours, and even less, really, because we weren't allowed off the ship right away, and then had to wait over half an hour in the passport line.

So, it was well after noon by the time we got outside the terminal.

I was silly enough to think we should catch a bus.  This was a mistake for two reasons: 1) the bus went to the airport, and nowhere we wanted to be; and 2) where we wanted to be (the old town) was a short, easy walk from the terminal.  Anyway, the bus was a bit of an experience and by the time we realized we should get off we had to consult a handy transit map to figure out how to get somewhere we wanted to be.

Tallinn's transit system proved quite user-friendly, thankfully, and we simply caught a trolley across the street and in no time at all ended up at the Viru gates.

Just through there we stopped at a souvenir shop so I could buy a postcard and Andrea could peruse the Russian dolls.

Then we stopped at a patio for some lunch and a pint (or actually half-litre) of the local brew.

From lunch we continued our walking tour, past Tallinn's town hall, dating from 1404.

We visited Tallinn's famous pharmacy, apparently the oldest in the world, and still functioning!

Eventually we made our way further up the hill and along some windy, cobbled streets to a cafe where we stopped for coffee.

Our seats on the patio had a terrific view of the Alexander Nevsky cathedral (not to mention the sun!)

After coffee we worked further up the hill, past the cathedral, and saw Estonia's pink parliament, Toompea;

other colorful buildings nearby;

and then back down the hill along the historic streets towards the sea.

There were plenty of neat buildings and unique sites, but simply walking the streets and feeling the history was quite something.  Tallinn's old town had an incredible atmosphere, and we were lucky to have stunningly beautiful weather to enjoy.

Once outside the old town's walls we were a few blocks from the port, so we walked down there (which we should have done in the beginning and not jumped on a bus).

Back on the ship I went up on deck to take some more pictures before we pulled out of port.

Ships fly the flag of the port they are in, and I saw the Estonian flag come down as we got underway for Russia.