Unlike other cities we have visited, Tallinn’s Old Town is at the top of a hill and you wind your way down to newer parts of the city. On the way there, we saw the St. Bernadette monastary, which was built in the 1400s.
As we drove, the tour guide shared some late December/New Year customs in Estonia from the late 18th and 19th centuries, including the practice of stuffing an odd sock or mitten with the dirt and dust collected from deep cleaning that were turned into dolls and then gifted to your neighbors. I’m not 100% sure why.
One of the more controversial tourist stops is the large Russian Orthodox Church planted right in front of a city admin building. This one was commissioned by Catherine the Great.
There has much debate on whether to tear it down but it does attract a lot of tourists to Tallin throughout the year.
Very close to the Russian Orthodox church was one of the older churches in Estonia which started as a private one for the elite families of Tallinn, as you can tell by the elaborate family crests that pepper the walls.
This marble tomb was for one of the very last people allowed to be buried inside the church and was commissioned in late 1774 for one of her court favorites. It took three years to complete and ship to Estonia from Italy.
This church also included a very elaborate pulpit.
To lighten up the mood, a nativity scene with smiling donkey greeted us on the way out.
There were also some clay mugs made locally that support the upkeep of the church.
Next was a lookout of Old Town, which gave us a view of all the buildings we wouldn’t have time to see.
I’m glad I bought hand knit colorwork items in Latvia because the Estonian ones on offer were all machine made with acrylic yarn.
Amber is very popular in Estonia, and this shop had anything and everything you could want.
Some of Old Town has been gentrified, such as this beautiful stone house decorated for Christmas.
There were also old clocks on many of the church buildings close to the central square.
As we got closer to the Christmas market, many of the souvenir shops were of a more whimsical variety.
Tallinn is also home to the oldest working pharmacy in Europe, which was just on the edge of the Christmas Market.
Unlike the food booths at the other Christmas markets, the ones in Tallinn were not appealing, so I took the guides advice and walked past the ice rink to Cafe Revel, where I enjoyed lamb dumplings, a meringue the size of a dinner plate, and an apricot gingerbread bun.
