We spent most of the day in the Vanalinn today, the historic Old Town.
This included a climb up the 115 steps of the only remaining Gothic town hall in Europe, Raekoda on Raekoja Plats. The views over the square from the top were well worth the effort.
Later in the day, we also climbed the 258 step tower of Oleviste Kirik, St. Olaf’s Church on Lai. This was once the tallest spire in the world and was once used as a surveillance centre by the KGB. Again, the views from the top reward the exertion of reaching the top, although having Eloïse in front of you is a good way to pace yourself and not get out of breath.
Before lunch, we paid a visit to the Püha Vaimu Kirik, the Holy Spirit Church. There’s a clock on the facade, dating from 1684 and the tower bell is the oldest in Estonia, made in 1433. The wood-carved interior features include an altarpiece from 1483 and one of the former pastors, Johann Koell, is considered the author of the first Estonian book from 1535. So, it’s safe to say that this church is steeped in history.
The highlight of the day for me was a visit to the perhaps verbosely named Museum of Occupation and of the Fight for Freedom.
The experience recalled that of our visit to the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia 1940 – 1991 and that’s hardly surprising, because in both cases, the oppressors were the USSR and the German Reich.
Estonian people were subjected to the same litany of horrors as the Latvians (and no doubt the Lithuanians, too): imprisonment or internment, deportation, expropriation of property. You name it, the Soviets and, to a lesser extent, the Germans, did it to them.
Although this museum was smaller than the one in Rīga, we still didn’t get to see everything. I mostly walked around, looking at the exhibits. Sarah had Lukie asleep in the sling, so she sat down and watched some of the documentaries on offer.
There are seven documentaries in total and each of them runs for approximately thirty minutes, so you’d need at least half a day to visit the museum if you plan to watch all of them. Alternatively, there’s a DVD of them available from the museum, but it’s very expensive at 700 kroons (≅ €47). We bought a copy anyway, because the material was so interesting.
We had dinner this evening at the very upmarket and enigmatically named Ö. Sarah, in particular, was at the edge of her comfort in having the children present at this very stylish place, but it came highly recommended and you only live once, so why not? We never go out to restaurants back home, so on holiday is our only opportunity.
The food was top notch and the children were actually very well behaved. We didn’t want to push our luck, though, so we adjourned to Chocolats de Pierre again for dessert.
Tomorrow’s our last day in Tallinn.