Baltic States Tour - Tallinn, Estonia 2
First of all it was a ridiculously windy day. When we stepped out the hotel in the morning, I didn't know we would be in gusts almost the whole day.
On our way to the place for breakfast we passed through Viru Gate, the 14th century twin gate towers at the entrance to Viru Street. They were also part of the old city wall.
Good morning, Tallinn's trams!
We arrived at the cafe, Levier for breakfast too early and had to wait for about 20 minutes while cold winds were punching us. The cafe was located in the Rotermann quarter, a historical industrial area next to the Old Town. The quarter was re-born as a commercial complex with shops, restaurants and offices by renovating the barley, wheat and rye mill, sampling mill, boiler plant and power plant. The old and new hybrid looked interesting and unrealistic.
Finally Levier opened its door for the day. It's a French/Scandinavian style bakery-cafe. Various baked goods and pretty cakes looked at me. It was hard to choose just one for breakfast. At least I knew I would pick a sweet but a savory...
There was a little confusion. A staff brought two of J's savory breakfast bowls. It seemed that the casher thought we ordered two. As the result, I had a full breakfast.
We got back in the winds. Our destination was St Olaf's church.
It is believed that the church was built in the 12th century to be the centre for Scandinavian settlers before Denmark conquered Tallinn in 1219 as the name comes from the sainted King Olaf II of Norway.
Unfortunately it was during the mass time. We weren't able to see the inside except the entrance hall behind the wooden door.
The historical medieval buildings in the Old Town have a plaque that prove a story about the building along with the simple floor plan of the building. It was enjoyable to find one and read the story while we were wandering around.
One of the highlights of the day was to visit the Estonian Maritime Museum. A part of the museum was in the Fat Margaret cannon tower. The tower looked chubby indeed.
The four-floor round museum introduced the history of Estonian seafaring and fishing from prehistoric to modern times with about 70 ship models. The 700 year old wreck of Koge was impressive. The 14th century boat-style ship was found during the construction of a house in Kadriorg, one of Tallinn's districts in 2015.
The top of the museum tower gave us a nice view of several old city wall towers as well as St Olaf's church.
We walked to the Seaplane Harbour, at which the other part of the Maritime museum "the Seaplane Hangers" was located. It took about twenty minute to get there as a lady at the ticket desk at the Fat Margaret told us. It was a nice chance to explore Tallinn beyond the Old Town.
The Seaplane Hargers is located at Tallinn Seaplane Harbor. When I entered the huge spacious building, the 1930's Submarine EML Lembit caught my eye first. It was a rare experience to explore in the submarine although I wasn’t comfortable with staying in such a closed tiny space for more than five minutes.
More big and small life-sized things were placed in the museum. There were also several interactive exhibits. I wanted to play with one of the remote-controlled ships in the pool but they were already taken by some kids. There were more to see outside at the port, such as the Suur Tõll icebreaker, one of the three steam-powered icebreakers from the early 20th century that have been preserved in the Baltic Sea region. It was a museum ship and we explored the deck and the inside. The ship tour nicely gave us a shelter from the winds but I would prefer standing outside to being trapped in the deep down engine and boiler rooms. I am very confident that I can’t be a sailor.
It was super windy at the harbor. I couldn't stand straight. Meanwhile it was so exciting to see the high wave splashing over the breakwater.
J caught the moment!
Having a peaceful lunch sounded wonderful when my face and hands became frozen in the cold sea winds and mists. J found a lovely restaurant called Moon near the museum.
The restaurant serves modern Slavic food. The interior was bright and cozy.
The two kinds of cute, ping-pong ball sized bread arrived at the table. One was classic rye. The other was with poppy seeds. Both were nice. Moon means poppy in Estonian by the way.
We had two starters to share. One was Borsch Soup. Lovely. The other was handmade Pike Fish Dumplings in dill and Beurre Blanc sauce. Perhaps I haven't had pike fish dumplings before. They were pretty good.
My main was Beetroot Orzotto (pearl barley risotto) with baked beet and Esna farm fresh goat cheese. Refreshing. J had Chicken À La Kiev with potato puree, kohlrabi-spinach salad and hazelnut dressing. I believe J liked it very much.
It was still windy but a little bit less than the morning. Or we just got used to the continuous blow. We tried to visit St Olaf's church.
This time there was no mass service. We were able to see the inside. The church has been rebuilt several times and the current neo-Gothic style interior was designed in the mid-19th century.
We wandered the Old Town for a while. The old colorful houses were adorable.
We stopped by "Masters' Courtyard." It was supposed to be a re-created medieval alleyway, with inns, craft workshops, stores and a cafe. However, only a few shops were open and there weren't much to see. Maybe because it was Sunday?
We came again to the Town Hall square and had a break at Kehrwieder just like the day before.
I had hot chocolate this time. It was not bad. J enjoyed a slice of pecan pie with cappuccino. It's very rare that J ordered cake alone. He must have really liked the quirky cave cafe.
It was still a little early to go back to the hotel. We visited St. Nicholas Church. Built in the mid 13th century, the church was one of Tallinn's most magnificent and beautiful churches during the Middle Ages. Most of the buildings were destroyed during the WW2. The restoration of the church took almost 30 years and its purpose has shifted to being a branch of the Art Museum of Estonia.
The inside space still looked like just a church. When we visited there, the exhibition of the works by Tallinn-born artist, Michel Sittow (ca 1469–1525) was held, who undertook commissions from royal courts of Europe, churches of the Nordic countries and Tallinn's merchants and the town council. While we were in the museum, a pipe organ concert began. The free live music was a bonus.
The silver chamber exhibited the collections from churches, the Brotherhood of the Black Heads, and etc. Also, St Anthony's Chapel was home of the Dance of Death, the best-known and most valuable medieval artwork in Estonia although only a fragment containing 13 figures has been preserved. The complete version should be much longer with total 49 figures. What happened with the rest is a mystery.
We went up to the Skydeck of the church tower. Unlike our usual experience with a medieval tower, there was a fancy glass lift that took us there in seconds. While the Skydeck was the inside of the tower with glass windows, we had a great panoramic view of Tallinn there. The clouds were breaking out and the late afternoon lightning was calm. We held the perfect moment to admire the pleasant scenery.
To be continued...
