Tallinn, Estonia – a medieval place

We arrived in Tallinn by bus, another pleasant ride on “LUX” bus.

The first afternoon we ventured through town and marveled at the ancient buildings and architecture. Terri had found a well reviewed place for dinner and when in Tallinn you must try the Thai food!?!

There was a town guide, listed on the Airbnb site for Tallinn, that offered a different sort of walking tour. Kaupo’s idea of a good tour is learning through stories rather than history lessons. We signed up.

The tour was for 90 minutes and Kaupo, or Master Cedric when he is in character, works only for tips; the tour is technically “free.” We saw other walking tours up to 25 people following the guide, Kaupo’s tour seemed more our style.

The tour was great with many stories to help us remember, we liked his strategy.

At some point, each tourer was brought into the action, (there were only five of us)🤪. Sorry, no pictures of me as the Pope trying stale beer😔. At the end of that story, I asked Master Cedric: “where might one poor peasant find the best beer in Reval?” “The Hell Hunt” was his Reply.

Terri and I have always thought that the subject for two great coffee-table books would be front doors and bathroom descriptors. We kick ourselves for not taking more pictures of all we have seen. Here are the bathroom descriptors for Hell Hunt:

Dinner the second night was interesting. We tried one restaurant but it was full, very unusual. We ventured into a small “hole in the wall” place, which we usually have good luck with. It was lit only by candles. We approached the costumed barmaid and asked if they had room for us? “Sure, if you can find a seat it’s yours.” Great! Terri asked for menus, “no menus back in the day, I’ll tell you what we have: sausages, soup, sandwiches and pickles.”

We ordered sausage, pickles, soup, wine and beer. We received sausage, soup, beer and mulled wine. She told us that the pickles were in the barrel behind us. Terri asked, “did they have spoons back in the day?” “ You must bring your own if you want a spoon, or you can slurp,” came the reply: the bowl did have handles. The pickle barrel was just that: think of a wine barrel with a removable lid and a stick to get your pickles!?! It was already dark with only candlelight, nothing was visible peering deep into the pickle barrel. I eventually gave up fishing for pickles in the dark and got out my cell phone. Even with some light it is not easy to fish for pickles, giggling all the while.

We really enjoyed Tallinn and all that it has to offer.