Caliban – Opinion and Righteous Anger

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.

We did get some rain today, but it was on and off throughout the day, so we were able to shift our day around it.

This day was all about taking it easy. After some more time in Vanalinn (Old Town), which included some time at the wool market, we did a walking tour that took us out of the historic centre, where, apparently, relatively few tourists venture.

We eventually ended up in the Kadriorg district, the site of a huge city park that goes by the same name, the presidential residence and the former palace of Peter the Great.

After cake and coffee and the superb Park Café, we started to head back towards the mediaeval cobblestoned alleys of the old town. On the way, I stopped off at a CD shop to sample some of the local sounds, while Sarah and the children continued to the hotel.

Dinner was mediaeval fare at the very touristy, but apparently also very well regarded Olde Hansa. This place actually had bear on the menu, but Sarah insisted that I not even consider it, so I didn’t. The meal was good, but not prize-winning.

For dessert, we adjourned to furnishings from a bygone era and the mouthwatering treats that are Chocolats de Pierre.

I’m not sure what we’ll do tomorrow, but there are a number of things still on our list. We certainly won’t be bored in this city.

If Rīga is the chocolate box image of a quaint, historical European city, then Tallinn must surely be the entire box, soft centres and all.

It’s hard to know which superlative to wield first to describe the charm and character of this beautiful old city.

We’re ensconced at the Telegraaf (nothing to do with the awful Dutch newspaper) in the old town, a sleek hotel in a great location. It even has its own parking garage, which we’re making grateful use of.

We arrived at about 13:30, having made mincemeat of the sat-nav’s original estimate of a 14:15 arrival. The 10, 9 and 4 roads (plus the ferry, of course) carried us from Saaremaa to Tallinn in distinctly gloomy weather, but scarcely a drop of rain fell from the skies.

Once we had checked into the hotel, I changed into long trousers and decided I’d need a jacket. This turned out to be a mistake, because no sooner had we walked a few minutes away from the hotel, than the sun came out and set about warming things up. It stayed that way all afternoon, too, once again defying the day’s weather forecast.

Lunch was at Kompressor on Rataskaevu, a crêperie serving up chunky pancakes with fillings such as bacon and smoked cheese, which is exactly what I had. A hearty meal was just what was needed for an afternoon’s sightseeing.

We spent the afternoon wandering around the cobbled streets of the old town. Taking photos actually became tedious. I would’ve been better off putting the camera in continuous shooting mode and hurling the bloody thing through the air, such was the frequency with which we were confronted by beautiful or eye-catching scenes. Bam, bam, bam; one after another I found myself wanting to record what my eyes saw and my memory would soon forget.

Tallinn has the immediate charm of Stockholm’s Gamla Stan, enough backstreet cafés to give Paris a run for its money, the historic grandeur of Prague and the mediaeval atmosphere of Český Krumlov. No wonder so many foreign powers have tried to claim it for themselves.

It also has tourists: great, sauntering bunches of the buggers. Cruise ships line the harbour in the distance and, everywhere you look, tour guides, right arm raised and clutching an umbrella or numbered marker, zigzag across the streets, a pack of video camera wielding Italians, Germans or some other nationality in tow. Even American accents can be heard here.

So far, this is the only place in the Baltics where we’ve seen tourists in the quantities you’d expect to find in the more obvious European city destinations, such as Paris, Rome, and London. Tallinn is clearly no secret. Oh well.

Tallinn’s old town is split into All-Linn, the lower town, and Toompea, the upper town. We’ve seen a good amount of both today, but will explore further tomorrow.

Dinner was at Vanaema Juures, whose name means Grandma’s Place. We had reserved a table at this place earlier in the day and it was a good job, too, because it was completely packed when we arrived; even on a Monday evening.

Vanaema Juures serves up delicious home cooking, just like your grandmother used to make, or would have, if she’d been Estonian and a great chef. I had the wild boar in red wine sauce, which was absolutely phenomenal. Strawberries and ice-cream took care of the need for something sweet afterwards. This was possibly our best meal on the trip to date.

Four nights in Tallinn should be just about right. I’m already glad we’ve increased our stay from three nights, because this town clearly has a lot to offer.

Torrential rain came down on us today; really torrential. I’ve seldom seen such heavy rain last so long. Saaremaa was besieged by this deluge for several hours.

We drove south today, to the Sõrve peninsula.

I’ve seen Estonia referred to as E-stonia, which is very appropriate, given how wired this country is. Or perhaps I should say how wireless Estonia is, because it seems that most of the country is covered in a grid of mostly gratis 802.11 networks. Even on the southernmost tip of the Sõrve peninsula this afternoon, I had free wi-fi access from the one small restaurant near the lighthouse.

As we ordered our lunch, the rain stopped and, urged by Sarah, I ventured outside and over to the lighthouse to take some photos of the ominous and forbidding setting. I hope I got some good ones, because this was the only opportunity today to take any landscape photos. Soon after we finished lunch, the rain started again in earnest.

Estonia’s extensive wi-fi coverage, by the way, is thanks to the work of Veljo Haamer and his WIFI.ee project. Orange and black signs abound across Estonia and anywhere you see one, wi-fi access is available. Even town squares and parks display these signs, so that you can sit on a bench and check your e-mail as you relax for a moment or make your way across town from A to B. It’s a commendable initiative and I wish more countries had something like this.

We headed back to Kuressaare along an unpaved coastal road that ran right along the water’s edge. The views are probably great on a good day, but I could see only about 100 metres in front of the car, if that.

We leave Saaremaa tomorrow on the eleven o’clock ferry. All of the advance tickets have now been sold, but since we booked yesterday evening, we’re assured of being aboard. All I have to do is get us to the port on time.

From Virtsu on the mainland, it’ll be about another two hours of driving to the Estonian capital of Tallinn, where we’ll spend four nights. We were originally planning only three, but the hotel we picked had a four-for-the-price-of-three deal that was too good to pass up.

The weather forecast for Tallinn isn’t particularly good, but being a city, there will be things we can do indoors. And, even if it rains tomorrow, we’ll be there long enough that we stand a reasonable chance of some dry spells.

Dinner was at the very sleek Chameleon, a restaurant that looks as if it would be too cool to have a children’s play room inside, but surprised these patrons by doing just that. Eloïse and Lucas spent most of the meal away from us in a different room without so much as a murmur!

I should also put in a good word for the Classic, a cosy little café (or kohvik, as they’re called here) on Lossi. They have good cakes, coffee and wild boar shashlik (shashlik or Шашлык, by the way, is a legacy from the Soviet days and can be found on menus throughout the Baltics).

Well, this is sleepy Kuressaare, a pleasant little town on the south coast of the Estonian island of Saaremaa.

We couldn’t get onto the noon ferry crossing today, so we had to sit in the queue for the 13:00 sailing from Virtsu to Kuivastu. We might have done better to book in advance, which we’ll now be certain to do for the return journey on Monday.

The drive over the small island of Muhu and then Saaremaa was lovely. Saaremaa is covered in thick pine and spruce forests, not to mention juniper groves. Lighthouses and windmills supposedly dot the landscape, although we’ve so far seen only one windmill. This is old Estonia, rustic charm at its very best.

Saaremaa is still gloriously unspoilt, the unwittingly fortuitous consequence of many decades of Soviet rule. During that era, all access to the island was strictly forbidden, thanks to the presence of an early radar system and rocket base. The encroaching tourism in the years since independence doesn’t yet seem to have put much of a dent in the island. Long may it remain so.

We visited the Kuressaare’s castle today, which was good fun. Unlike the previous ruins we’ve visited on this trip, this castle was still intact, so it was much more interesting to walk around.

One part of the castle that particularly appealed to the imagination was the courtroom, where many a poor sod was sentenced to death and summarily executed by being hurled into a shaft with ferocious lions at the foot. It sends a shiver down your spine, just thinking about it. These days, the roars of the lions from the shaft are mere recordings, but it’s enough to get the idea.

Our hotel is a stone’s throw from the castle, located right next to the moat. It’s a beautifully charming Art Nouveau building with attractive period furnishings. Of all the settings of all the hotels we’ve stayed in over the years (and that’s quite a few), this one ranks pretty highly in terms of picturesque appeal.

At this point, it’s hard to know whether to feel sorry or happy for the Baltic countries and their relative obscurity as a travel destination. If more people knew what they were missing by not coming here, they surely would decide to come. Whilst that would provide a very welcome cash infusion for the economy, it would also bring with it the horrors of mass tourism we know and loathe from across the globe.

Estonia is a little bit bigger than the Netherlands, but has less than 10% of the population. No wonder it doesn’t feel crowded here.