Happy Canada Day...Tallinn Estonia

Tuesday

Time to say farewell to the farm.  Our minibus and driver arrived to pick us up at 9:00 for the 4 hour drive to Tallin.  It rained off and on along the way.  Once we were off the island and had taken the ferry,  the roads were good to our destination.

Ours was one of the rooms not ready on arrival.  After stowing our gear in the luggage room, the group set off for lunch and then a 2 hour guided walking tour of the Old Town.  Unfortunately it rained rather heavily for most of the time, we felt like we were home!!! But we were able to get a sense of the city.  Tallinn is one of the best preserved medieval cities in the Baltics, it is another UNESCO site. Much of the original wall remains and then view from these sections is breathtaking, what we could see between the raindrops. The numerous towers, churches and tiny alleys are all within easy walking of our hotel.  Being quite wet, we opted to return to the hotel for a short rest after picking up some food supples and allow our jackets to dry out.

Town Center on rainy day

Lucky us...we received rooms on the first floor!  The hotel has 3 stories and no elevator.  The third story rooms are small, attic dormers!  And, most of our group is on the third floor!

By the time we had made some dinner and dried out, the rain had stopped.  This meant we had time to cache!  However, the 'cache Gods' were not in our favour and we managed only one find, despite a young Estonian couple searching for one as well....maybe tomorrow.  It is great having the long evenings, as it is light until at least 11:30, so the town is vibrating until later than this and easy to get around.

Fairy tale gates at the end of our street!

More flower markets

A glass of wine, some chocolate and off to bed.

Wednesday

SUNSHINE!!!!  We assembled in the lobby at 9:15 to take a ten minute  tram to Kadriorg Palace....which is a work of art as well as housing the Estonia's museum of foreign art.  This was our only scheduled group activity of the day.  After finishing at the museum, we found s few caches including one very near the port area.  A lovely view of the port and many cruise ships docked, gave a perspective of the industry in place.

Sunshine!!!

Silhouettes by Eveline Maydell were on display

Walking and taking the tram, we arrived just outside the walled city near Fat Margaret's Tower---constructed in the 14th century, with 5 metre thick walls,  she provided a formidable defence against any hostile forces trying to enter from the seaport.  And, of course there was a cache nearby.  This gave us the chance to be on a small section of the wall.

Fat Margaret tower

Continuing our walk, meandering among the alleys and streets, the Square of Towers appeared. Each year, Local gardeners and professional landscapers from Europe, transform part of this area into a 'gardener's dream space.'  One of the local gardeners, helped us find a cache as she immediately knew what we were doing!

A cache with a tail!

A garden display

As we has not climbed the stairs to the wall from this side yesterday, we decided to tackle them today....and it was so worth it.  The views highlighted the colourful roofs, many spirals, and the harbour from an aerial point....fantastic.

With the DNF cache still bugging us, we made our way back to the starting waypoints.  Starting again, we followed the instructions, ( and with the aid of some previous logs) we were able to find it (Caro spotted it....she was on a roll today)...and it was in plain sight as had been suggested!  Think the sunshine helped.LOL. 

 

Due to our perseverance,  an ice cream was in order.  As we strolled along, looking for a vendor, Sheri from our group was sunning herself on a bench....which are very few and far between, as most outdoor seating is in restaurants.  After trading adventure stories, she decided to join us in our quest.  After being in Riga, where there were ice cream vendors on every corner, we ended up in a grocery store to make our purchase.

Yesterday,  in the rain, the town square was empty.  Today, with sunshine, cruise ships in port (6 we were told) and choirs arriving for a festival this weekend,  the square was a mass of souvenir booths and walking tour groups.  Attempting to choose smaller streets, courtyards and alleys to make our way back to the hotel, we found a couple of gilds selling Estonian made goods, and a few purchases were made.  Space is at a premium in our suitcases, which limited the size and break ability of purchases.

Town Square on a sunny day

Along the city wall

A rest is in order now.  Later we will head out in search of dinner and snacks for the trip tomorrow.
It is now midnight and it is still fairly light....we are leaving tomorrow.  I think we are now caught up with the blog....we did 2 entries today.

Next stop....St Petersburg Russia!!! 2 more days of the tour.