After a smooth day getting here, with the usual frisson of adrenaline waiting to see if the bike boxes made it, it’s time to adjust. First up is into Wikipedia as the Baltic states never reached Scottish education, apart from a weather description.
Estonia has a population of 1.4 million, 400000 of whom live in the capital Talinn. This traces back to the 13C. Reclaimed it’s independence in 1990 from the breakup of the USSR.
The taxi driver explained we arrive in the height of the tourist season, when up to 15000 folks from cruise ships bring norovirus ashore – I mean descend on the old town. Which is where we head to. Luckily it’s a quiet and sunny day. The street cafes have a chatty buzz: local kids scoot around.
Quite a religious place too, once, if them number of competing spires are anything to go by. The buildings have a detailed history on them: detail overload. Suffice to say developed in 13-14C, changed hands and useage, redeveloped, some bombed 1944 and rebuilt. What is interesting is the predominance of stone vs timber. Tiled roofs vs thatch, no solar panels.
Quiet cobbled roads, with traffic diverted around the centre: a modern equivalence of a moat or town walls. Very little litter, bright colours, narrow and broad lanes. One is called Short Leg Lane , to distinguish it from Long Leg Lane. Presumably No 1 short leg lane is circular.
Food is the main catch, so many dishes to try….just have to try harder. Dumplings.
Travelling reflections 