Day 46: Tallinn

MAY 19 - Our hotel is east of downtown, an easy walking distance to the largest park in the city, Kadriorg Park.

A carpet of spring flowers, just uphill from the Japanese garden.

Kadriorg Palace, commissioned in 1718 by the Russian Czar Peter the Great for his wife, Catherine I. It now houses an art museum.

Down the street next to the coastline, at the start of the Pirita Promenade, is the monument to the Russalka, an armored ship that sank offshore in 1893, taking all 177 passengers down with it. This is actually the second monument we’ve seen in Tallinn commemorating the sinking of a ship.

On a Baltic beach by the Pirita promenade.

This sushi restaurant was quite cheap, but with an impressive layout. Even the ice cubes had blueberries frozen inside them.

Back to old town, to climb the steeple of St. Olav’s Church (we counted 233 steps). For its time (14th Century, mentioned on Day 45b), it was considered to be the tallest building in the world.

From the observation deck on the steeple of St. Olav’s Church. At the extreme right is the steeple for St. Mary’s Cathedral (oldest recorded church in Tallinn, dating from 1233).

I take a tram to the airport to pick up a rental car for tomorrow’s agenda. It is a Toyota Yaris station wagon, with 6 gears. Have lots of fun negotiating the one-way back streets to get it to the hotel.

Estonia