Author: Grant and Barbara

The anticipation of an early morning alarm always makes for a restless night, aided by the hum of the airconditioning recirculating warm air. Not to worry, the gentle beat of the rain in the morning soon cooled things down.

I always get nervous cycling over wet cobbles and tramway lines. Concentration got us the 0.5km to the starting photo near Tallinn Town Gates. A bright array of colourful waterproof jackets. And then off….

8km or so of typical city scenery along the quiet Sunday main road. Then country side: no hills today to divert the gentle headwind. Just lots of wild flowers seeking attention, and the steadily increasing heat. Good cycletracks too.

A lot of vintage American cars (1950s style) passed in the opposite direction. They have left where we are heading to – they are returning to Finland. There used to be a festival for them which has stopped. The cars keep coming though, along with the drivers. They like old fashioned petrol fumes.

A number of Soviet style semi ruined farm buildings (i.e. large, utiliterian, concrete) left me wondering how long it takes a country or place to emerge fully from the shadows of previous regimes and economies? By all accounts Estonia is doing well.

Cycling settles into it’s lovely rhythm – though today only the one coffee stop. Only the few seemed to recognise the benefit. Others seemed in a rush to get to tonight’s gulag. Whilst I do exaggerate – it does feel like it was set up for a previous era – the main thing is everything works. The noise of airconditioning will not be an issue – just the breeze through the door. Whilst some are pleasantly surprised you can even drink the tap water, I’m more impressed it means you save 2Euro buying the bottled water. I’ve not emerged from my Scottish roots….

A good day and way to start all round.

Back in a tick, well two ticks hopefully. Unbeknownst to me I had left the Botanic Gardens heavier than I entered. By two ticks. Now one thing we hadn’t packed (weight saving?) was a tick remover. Google translate didn’t really work for this – something I need to feedback. So I played charades with the pharmacy assistant. Whether she was impressed with my skills, or eagerly anticipating the replay on the security camera, it worked. As did Nurse Tate with eagle eyed precision.

This is the briefing day. Took me back to work when the word ‘brief’ seems somehow conspires to mean as “not” brief. Serves a purpose and a chance to form instant judgements on the other members of the group – to be confirmed or proved wrong over time. Glad I don’t go for stereotypes. Mainly good and interesting folks. Mainly….

Rest of day was sampling the Town Hall (dating for early 14C), mediaeval music in the square and gentle meander. Downtown Rotermanni is fun. Barbara returned from the KGB house having left some tips.

Now to cycle…

When thinking about the snippets to include, it is sometimes the day afterwards I think “Ah, I meant to include xyz”. Today it was another linking factor between the Old City and the rural area. Religion. The old city has a congregation worth of 13 and 14C Churches of some grandeur, Christian in varying guises. Paganism (a judgemental name from the “winning side”?) was common in the rural areas until late 16C. Literacy rates were lower, and the missionary priests didn’t speak the lingo. The peasants didn’t care much for Latin. Not until the printing of the translated Bible did Christianity start to take hold. Now you know.

Not sure that squares with St Columba and others landing in rural Scotland 1000 years earlier. Unless the midges had something to do with it.

Today was bike building in the afternoon.

Morning filled with the out of town Botanic Gardens. Tranquil apart from the wind whistling through the trees and distributing the misty air evenly. Take my hat off to whatever quantum forces are holding the plants’ flowers in place. Artic plants thrive here for some reason.

Barbara is getting into the swing of asking for pensioner discount. They do look at her twice. I pretend not to be offended.

We swapped an urban centre – no matter its’ antiquity – for a rural life. Stone replaced by wood. That is, a day trip to the Estonian Open Air Museum. This is on the shore of Kopli Bay – a holiday destination from the second half of the 19C until WW2. This theme of influences will return.

I never cease to amaze at the usefulness of Google Maps to get around when abroad: especially navigating public transport. Tallinn has a plethora of buses and trams (free if you live in the city) on a bewildering number of overalapping routes. I marvel at the system where you type in destination, when you’re leaving and hey presto! Options for best buses. i.e. we got to/fro, tap n go. Magic. Still glad to see the bus had a driver though…..

From about 1958, and continuing, a range of farm settlements from across different parts of Estonia have been moved and rebuilt here. A bit like St Fagan’s in Wales if you’ve been there. The farm houses range from the middle of the 19C up to the period of Soviet collectives.

It brings out the influences of Estonia’s neighbours. Russia obviously; Germany and Finland in the North. Particularly so on the island farms. Estonia has about 2300 islands of which 22 are inhabited by humans.

Wood wood wood. And a bit of stone. Wooden bark and thatched roofs. I think we may be about to cycle through some woods. The craftsmenship to build the structures is fantastic. No wonder many had jobs as craftsmen in the cities and estates. Being a peasant, a cotter, was tough. No welfare benefits then. In fact serfdom wasn’t abolished until the 1850s and then you had to buy your way out. Soviet collectives had a brutal initial period.

I like the windmills and their tails, long bits of wood sticking out so you can rotate the upper structure into the wind. And the “trebuchet” wells.

The recommended 2hrs to get round took 6. My poor weary feet are saying “can’t you just cycle”? Soon…..

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.