"Market Square in the centre of the Old Town. In glorious sunshine, we had a very nice morning coffee before continuing our exploration of Tallinn."
"The 'Yellow' cafe."
"This 15th century Gothic building (built 1402-1404) was once a guild for merchants and artisans; now it's the Town Hall and a museum showing Estonia’s rich history from the prehistoric times to the late 1990's." 
"Shops if you really want them - we didn't!"
"St. Nicholas' Church - founded by German merchant/settlers from the island of Gotland (the Hanseatic connection), the church was designed to double as a fortress in the days before the town wall was built. The building survived the Reformation looting of 1523, but wasn't so lucky when it was destroyed by WW11 bombs (next slide). It was subsequently rebuilt and opened in the 1980's as a museum specialising in works of religious art."
"On 9th March 1944, the church was severely damaged by Soviet Bombing and the resulting fire turned the church into ruins and destroyed most of its interior. In spite of this most precious art treasures survived thanks to their timely evacuation from the church; the renovation of the church started in 1953 and was completed in 1981."
"Tallinn is surrounded by the remains of the original city wall but you can see evidence in some of our photos of the modern city outside."
"This is the very oldest part of the city which has suffered over the years, especially by Russian bombing during WW11. The passage on the left is known as the courtyard of Katariina Käik (Catherine Passage) and the tombstones (lower right) exhibited on the south wall of the remains of St Catherine's church are from the 14th to 15th centuries and are among the unique landmarks of Katariina Käik (see next slide)."
"The tombstones are from St. Catherine's Church of Alexandria and belonged to the Magistrates of Tallinn, the Brotherhood of Blackheads, the Great Guild and many others."
"Part of the old city wall and defence tower - in medieval times this must have been quite an obstacle to overcome.
"The oldest sections of Tallinn's city wall were built in the 13th century. During the next three centuries, it became one of the largest and strongest defence systems in the entire Northern Europe. Much of the wall has been preserved including this defence tower, although you can see that this section of wall has been modernised to include a museum."
"Two of the three bronze statues of monks (Ambrosius, Bartholomeus, and Claudius) in the Danish King Garden. Their creation was funded by a shady Estonian businessman Toomas Annus but no-one seems to know what he got out of it and for what reason. "
"Where there's a tree there's a fairy and some pretty flowers."
"Toompea Castle (Toompea loss) is a castle on Toompea hill; the castle, an ancient stronghold site in use since at least the 9th century and throughout history Toompea has been occupied by the rulers and conquerors of Estonia. It is now home to the Riigikogu (the Estonian parliament). The blue, black and white of the national flag can be seen flying on top of the 45.6-metre Tall Hermann tower as the symbol of Estonia's independence."
"St. Alexander Nevsky church located in Toompea; as with many churches we have already seen in this part of the world this is a typical Russian Orthodox church with its onion domes."
"Looking out from Toompea Hill towards the church of St Nicholas; you can see the cruise ship moored up in the background."
"Our very good friends Marion and Ed - with 'George'."
"It's another fairy behind the tree."
"The building in the background is part of the Toompea Castle where the Estonian Parliament is based."
"The old and the new."
"St. Mary's Cathedral, also known as Dome Church, is also located on Toompea Hill and is the oldest church in mainland Estonia. It was established by the Danes and is the only building in Toompea which survived a 17th-century fire."
"The end of a perfect day."
Tallinn, Estonia
(29th May 2018)Our next port of call was Tallinn which is the capital city of Estonia; first established in the early medieval era, the Old Town is one of the best preserved Hanseatic town centres in the world. This is a term we had come across before and when you look at the position of Tallinn on a map you can see why the city became a major trade hub in the 14th to the 16th century, as a major part of the Hanseatic League.
The Toompea Castle
We took advantage again of the shuttle but could have easily walked from the ship into the town as many people did. The walk from the shuttle into the old town didn't take long and after a relaxing coffee / beer in the 'yellow' cafe in the market square we took a walk up the Toompea which is a limestone hill around 30metres above the surrounding area. The Toompea castle dominates the hill and is also the seat of government; the Alexander Nevski church also sits at the top of the Toompea.
Lower down there are some very old parts of the town which are mainly around the remains of the old city wall. The Catherine Passage or Katariina Käik has a number of old tombstones recovered from the church, which is in ruins; these tombstones go back to the 14th and 15th centuries and have inscriptions on them depicting the names of magistrates of the time and the Brotherhood of the Blackheads, an association of unmarried merchants and foreign traders living in Tallinn in the 15th century who had an obligation to defend the town.
