Travels and Birds: Tallin

I will write something about this later, but for now here are some pictures from our three days in Tallin, the capital of Estonia two years ago. We had both heavy rain and beautiful sunshine as you can see in the variety of pictures.

We arrived in Tallin after an overnight ride on one of the many Baltic ferries. These ferries are like cruise ships designed to carry cars. While not as fancy as actual cruise ships they do provide for all needs: entertainment, restaurants, bedrooms and even a concierge to help plan your stay at your destination. Our ferry let us off in Estonia before heading to St. Petersburg and Helsinki and finally back to Stockholm. For some passengers it really was a cruise ship. Those passengers were able to spend a few hours in Tallin and Helsinki, but the real inducement was the full day they would have in St. Petersburg without having to go through the hassle and expense of getting a Russian visa. Tallin is also an easy day trip from Helsinki only 50 miles across the sea. Today Tallin is one of Europe’s leading economic and technological centers. Skype was invented and still has its headquarters here.

Estonia is one of the three Baltic states that lost its independence when the Soviet Union took them over after World War II. They regained their independence when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. Actually they only had a brief period of independence from 1920 to 1940. Prior to 1920, Estonia had always been a part of one of its larger neighbors, be it Germany, Denmark, Sweden or Russia. Tallin, then known as Reval, was one of the major trading ports of the Hanseatic League during the 12th - 15th centuries.

Regaining independence in 1991 is one of the most uplifting and exhilarating stories of the post-Soviet era. Estonia, known as The Singing Nation, has a catalog of at least 130,000 folk songs. Every five years they host the Estonian Song Festival which is highlighted by a choir of 30,000 singing to a crowd of 50,000. Those numbers are correct. In 1987, Estonians began demonstrating with their songs. Mass demonstrations of people singing for their independence. The demonstrations culminated in September of 1988 when 300,000 Estonians, one-fourth of the population, gathered in Tallin to sing. The Singing Revolution was successful.

One major problem they face today is the large Russian minority concentrated in the two eastern counties contiguous to that country. In 1940 Estonians made up 88% of the population. Today that number is down to 61% after 50 years of Soviet rule. It was Soviet policy to build up the Russian population. In addition many Russians chose Estonia for their retirement homes preferring the climate and lifestyle available to them in this small socialist republic. Estonia is, of course, not the only former Soviet republic facing this problem.

Our hotel was a short ride from the ferry terminal close to one of the gates still standing of the Medieval wall that once surrounded this town. We had to deal with a few construction issues as we wandered around this well-preserved Medieval town. Narrow streets with shops and restaurants where we ate our meals al fresco watching the pedestrians with more purpose than we had.

In new cities we usually begin our stay with a Hop-On/Hop-Off Bus Tour. We were especially attracted to this ride in Tallin as a way to avoid the heavy rainstorm that came during our first afternoon. On this ride we rode by the site of the Singing Revolution along with parks and seashores. Most interesting was comparing the buildings built during the Soviet era with those built since. Soviet era buildings are ugly square blocks with no redeeming architectural features. It is as if they were built to intimidate the populace. They certainly have that effect. Buildings built since the revolution were clearly designed to make the point that Estonia had become a different country now that the Soviets had left. Even banks were built in the new style eschewing the intimidating look bankers seem to prefer.

Tallin has several museums. We chose to spend our time in the Museum of Occupation where we learned a lot about that period from 1940 to 1989. Artifacts, photographs, and posters gave us a good feel for the oppressiveness of that time. Video interviews with people from every period of the occupation were long, but compelling. We spent about two hours just watching and listening. Since the time we were there, they have opened up some of the KGB prison cells in another part of town. I’d love to see what they have to teach us.

Our final morning dawned with totally clear skies so I took a long walk up the hill to the Upper Town. this is the oldest part of town still surrounded by its wall. Today the small Upper Town is host to government, religious buildings, and parks, a beautiful space to spend some quiet time early in the morning.