Tallinn
Tallinn |
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Population: 427 000 (metro 542 000) |
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia, situated on the northern coast, next to the Gulf of Finland. The Old Town is listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. It was the European Capital of Culture in 2011. It is the oldest capital in Northern Europe, it appeared on a map as early as in 1154 and got town right in 1248. It was known as Reval from the 13th century-1917 and 1941-44. Tallinn is the capital in the EU that is situated closest to Asia. The city center is called Keslinn district. It has a very well preserved, romantic and beautiful Old Town (Vanalinn) with large parts of the city wall intact, beautiful embassy buildings, nice restaurants and tall church towers. On the other hand there is a modern part with glass skyscrapers and large shopping centers (Kompassi) and innovative architecture (in Rotermann Quarter), and the city has a pretty decent skyline for being a Northern European city, with a mix of medieval towers and modern skyscrapers. All this, together with its dramatic history (Estonia has been part of both Russia, Sweden, Finland and Germany before independece in the 1990s) makes Tallinn a very interesting city. Freedom Square with its Freedom Monument, is the border between the modern and the old part. Today Tallinn is a vibrant city with some large roads crossing the city, and has been name one of the world's 10 most digital cities! MY EXPERIENCE I visited Tallinn in August 2013 for 2½ days, as part of a trip to the Baltic countries (I visited the Latvian capital Riga before, but missed Vilnius unfortunately). The weather was ok, it was sun and rained the same time the first day, and the second day it was grey and rained. The 3rd day it was sunny, but it was time to leave so it didn't matter. Because of the fact that there are only old buildings in the Old Town, and that it is surrounded by a city wall, it gives the feeling of two different cities, where "reality" with its modern buildings and trafficated streets begins outside the city walls. With other words, Tallinn's city center is both the beautyful medieval city and the modern, almost futuristic city. In the area where my hostel was, on Kaupmehe street, there was no old buildings, nor modern skyscrapers, only boring grey apartment buildings, feeling a bit abandoned. But it was only a 10 minutes walk to the Old Town from there. My stay, Kaupmehe Guesthouse, was very cheap, but even considering that it was not worth the money, and not recomended. Just next to the city center you can find the harbour where the large ferries to Finland and Sweden departs and arrives. Despite having such a large harbour for passengers, you never get the feeling of being really close to the sea while in the city center. But the views from Toompea Hill are outstanding, including the harbour, old town and newer parts! In some way I got the idea that Estonia (Tallinn) felt like a mix of Sweden, Russia and Finland. In the outskirts you can find endless grey commie block apartments, brand new shopping malls, beaches, a tall TV tower and lots of wooden houses, many of them rundown but still beautiful. So Tallinn really feels like a divided city. But a really nice city to visit, highly recommended. I also visited Riga before Tallinn. |
