Last day in Tallinn and a rather slow pace on a sunny, warm day, soaking up the Baltic summer. First I set off just down the road to the KGB Prison Cells. Used by both the Russians and the Nazis. This poor little fiercely independent country was occupied from 1941 to 1991. By the Russians until 1944 then by the Nazis then by the Russians again. Their battles against each other raged across this country.
Surprisingly there is little mention of the Estonian Jewish peoples in all the reading I’ve done. From what I can gather the communists had a hand in their destruction in the early years of the war and then when the Nazis moved in of course those left (a little over 900 ) were exterminated and Estonia was declared ‘Jew Free’. I’m not sure if I’ve got this totally accurate but it is true that there is little of Jewish history noted around here. I think the Estonians were complicit in the extermination by the Nazis, not because they hated the Jews (so I’ve read), but because they saw the Jewish population aligned to the communists and they hate the communists above all else. I reiterate that I’m no historian and these are merely my musings.
So, the KGB cells…exactly what you’d expect. Horrific torture, people kept for days in cupboards I wouldn’t even fit in. Deprived of food and sleep and subjected to disgusting torture. There are more KGB/ Russian Museums but I’ve had enough. I’ve seen too much. It brought back memories of the Museum of Horrors in Budapest that upset me for ages. After this I went to the big Cathedral, St Olaf’s. Nothing to see here really, very austere, no iconaclasty, no nothing really. Scandinavia is the biggest influence.
Then down to Fat Margaret…part of the wall with an impressive medieval gate and canon tower. It had a café on the roof so I stopped there for my morning coffee which was pleasant. I walked back up the street and did a teensy bit of souvenir shopping so as not to leave here empty handed entirely. Then I went to a lovely little courtyard called the Masters Courtyard. Jam packed with tourists at the chocolaterie there but I espied a great little ceramic shop, all hand made and quite unique so I made a beeline for it and bought a small piece I liked.
Lunch…I found a quieter place and decided to be a little more adventurous in terms of my quest for Estonian food. This time I had Steak Tartare…on bread. Different.
I then went back to my starting point, the Tourist office and asked them to book me a taxi for the morning. As Taxis can’t come into the old city where I am I had to work out a meeting point and I thought it was safer if they did it for me. They obliged, so fingers crossed that it all works out to get me to the bus in the morning.
I’ve just returned from dinner and have to get packing. I found a lovely little Italian restaurant last night and decided to go back there tonight having given Estonian food my best shot. I could have had wild boar or grilled reindeer tonight in another restaurant, but couldn’t face it. Hopeless I know. Now I need to get packing and hope all goes well tomorrow getting to Riga. Love to you all.