Baltic States Tour - Tallinn, Estonia 3

October 28, 2023

Baltic States Tour - Tallinn, Estonia 3

It was a chilly but quiet morning. The storm has gone!

We went back to the Rotermann quarter for breakfast. There was a bakery that was on my must-go list in the area.

RØST is a Scandinavian influenced sourdough bakery/coffee shop. We arrived there a little early. I was able to smell cinnamon outside of the shop and couldn't wait to meet their famous cinnamon bun!

At 8:30 am, the door was open.

Beautiful cinnamon buns, cardamon buns, Pain au chocolat, croissants, and a couple of savory pastries and some kinds of sandwiches. I wished I could have all but I had a cinnamon bun after all. The bun was delightful. J had a tuna sourdough sandwich and a croissant, I think.

While I was munching the wonderful bun and sipping green tea, I was watching the bakers knotting dough to form cinnamon buns and taking freshly baked buns out of the oven. The bakery was definitely my wonderland, but it was time to proceed the day. I took a big breath of the delicious air and stepped out to the streets.

We wandered in the Old Town for a while, checking a plaque on the historical medieval buildings when we found one.

We were interested in visiting the 13th century Dominican monastery, but it was closed. Perhaps next time.

On the other hand, we saw some 14th and 15th century tombstones of the St. Catherine Church of the Dominican monastery on the wall of the passage nearby.

We stopped by the House of the Blackheads, a guild for unmarried merchants and shipowners that was active in Livonia (today's Estonia and Latvia) from the mid-14th century until 1940 while they still remain active in Hamburg, Germany. The house was one of the former headquarter locations and is now a venue for events like music concerts.

The door was open and we peeked the inside. A lady there kindly allowed us to see the While Hall. The room was created in 1532 and became the first venue in Renaissance style in Tallinn.

There was a park outside of the Monastery gate, one of the old city entrances was a green park with a large pond.

Over the park was the train station. Our destination was an indoor market at the other side of the railways.

J bought a meat pie, which looked like a piroshk, a Russian fried pie. I guess he enjoyed it.

The market was somehow very quiet. There were few customers. I didn't see any tourist groups there either.

We bought a jar of Estonian honey.

Also we bought some chocolates and biscuits at a Kalev shop. Kalev is Estonia's most beloved chocolates and sweets factory. I hadn't known the brand until we made this trip.

Then, we headed to Telliskivi Creative City. It was supposed to be an "Art-focused venue featuring studios, galleries and theaters along with cafes, bars and cultural events." I hoped to find local potteries or crafts. However, only a few shops and cafes were open and I didn't see anything interesting. It started raining at that time. We had a tea/coffee break at one of the cafes and walked back to the Old Town.

The lunch of the day was at Restaurant Rado in the Old Town. That was another J's nice finding.

They serve modern European dishes in the smart dining room. I saw two men in suits who looked like having a business lunch.

Their menu is seasonal and changes daily. Our waiter brought a big hand written board to our table. We both had a grilled cauliflower with parmesan for starter and pasta Cacio e Pepe for main. The cauliflower was cooked wonderfully and tasted lovely. With the heavy snow of parmesan, the cauliflower was a little salty for my taste, though.

Then, more cheese (saltiness) came to the table. That was totally my fault, but I really liked the pasta. The texture was great. The cheese sauce was pretty much salty but tasty. I thought I would certainly get thirsty later, but surprisingly it didn't happen. Was it a magic cooking, magic cheese or both?

We wandered in the Old Town more. The Old Town was small. Eventually many of the streets and the buildings became familiar to us.

We must have walked by most of the towers and walls, maybe all, too.

We walked up the "Long Leg" street to see the Toompea Castle (the Parliament of Estonia) again. I didn't realize that it stood on the edge of the rocky hill and had a tall tower at the corner until I saw the castle from the back when we were walking around the market. We found an entrance to the garden at the left side of the building. The tower was there!

The 14th century defensive tower, Tall Hermann keeps a national flag on the top. It's a symbol of Estonia's independence. The flag is raised at sunrise and lowered at sunset, except on the Victory Day and the Midsummer Day on June 23rd and 24th.

Finally we had the blue sky!

We passed by the Freedom square and explored the outside of the Old Town for a while.

After we came back to the Old Town, we had a tea time at a chocolate shop, Chocolala. The wife and husband founders and their team hand-make fresh chocolate with cacao beans from five countries and mostly local ingredients. For example, they often hike and search new and amazing flavors in the forest.

The kitchen behind the showcases and casher was active. There was a small eat-in space. J picked five flavors of chocolate bonbons and sampled them with tea. They were nice.