Impressions of Tallinn, Estonia

Last summer, about a year ago exactly was the first time I’ve visited Tallinn in almost 20 years. My first visit was in the December of 1990 with a group of friends while it was still a part of the Soviet Union. The Tallinn of today is a far cry from the first memories I hold. All I really remember is a gray and dreary city where even the interesting old town was drab.

Although the first building apart from the terminal’s that you see when walking from the ferry from Helsinki isn’t exactly an uplifting piece of architecture, even it manages to avoid looking drab (the leading picture of the post).

My colleagues and I only had a few hours on shore during our cruise, so we quickly headed into the old town, which is far from grey and drab these days. Still, many vestiges of the years of neglect still show and are best seen in the seam of the restoration work on St. Olaf’s Church.

And by reading the Wikipedia entry I learned that ages ago it has been the world’s tallest building, so during some future trip I just may have to climb up to the top to contrast it with Willis Tower…

Be prepared for a few follow-up posts once I manage to go through my photographs a bit more since Anna and I visited Tallinn again later last summer. And in a few days I’m heading there again.