28th – Old churches and cafes

I took et easy getting out of bed and getting breakfast so I didn’t leave the hotel until a bit past 1000. The goal of the day was to see parts of the old town I hadn’t seen yet (south/east parts) and move into the new/modern part of Tallinn.

I started off going to the nearby St. Olaf’s church and climbed the stairs to the top of the tower to get a nice view of the town. Luckily despite the weather forecast there was no rain even if it was overcast. 

You can see the southern and northern walls to the left and right, respectively.

Toompea hill. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and St Mary's Cathedral can be seen towering over the buildings.

The small tower in the middle is Toompea Castle.

I continued east but realized I kept ending up at the town hall plaza. I finally managed to find a way out of the loop and entered the newer part of the city. I passed by the national library and came by what I realized was an IMAX cinema. It was tempting to go in but the size of the building hinted that the screen wouldn’t be up to expectations. If I go into an IMAX viewing the screen needs to be at least “Damn” and preferably “Holy Shit!” and that didn’t seem to be the case here. Also, going to see Infinity War there would mean 2 sets of subtitles (Estonian and Russian) cluttering the screen. At least they aren’t dubbing movies, but still.

Continuing further into the city the architecture was clearly eastern-European mixed with a bit of western-European style and the result was honestly not impressive. A few high-rises and bulky buildings and that was pretty much it. I circled around and an hour later I ended up in the old part again and returned to Rataskaevu 16 at around 1300 to see if I could get a table for dinner. Dinner reservations were full until the 7^th of May and lunch until the 5^th. Woops. I was suggested to come back tomorrow as soon as they opened at 1200 where there would be a small chance that I could get squeezed in for a quick lunch. Here’s to hoping!

Freedom Square with St. John's Church and The War of Independence Victory Column.

St. Charles's Church, just outside the old town.

Viru Gate, one of the main entrances to the old town.

In the afternoon I went for some cake at the oldest still open café in town. From there I kept wandering, ending up at the top of the tower of St. Mary’s Cathedral. It’s in the opposite end of the old town as St. Olaf’s and I was hoping to get a new angle of the town from there. Unfortunately the angle and position of the church itself blocked a large part of the view so the experience wasn’t as memorable as the first tower.

Maiasmokk Cafe, the oldest cafe in Tallinn.

St. Nicolas' Church and Alexander Nevsky Cathedral seen from St. Mary's Cathedral.

I returned down, passed by the Danish Garden where I saw the museum there before returning to the hotel for a short rest before dinner.

An hour of resting later I left and went to Restaurant Peppersack where I had duck salad, elk ribs and chocolate cake. The salad was as one could expect, the elk ribs were delicious; slightly spicy BBQ sauce complemented the 5-bone chunk of meat that was deliciously tender. Just looking at it the bones almost started sliding out by themselves. There was also a symbolic piece of green salad to go with it. I like the Estonian priorities when it comes to food. The cake didn’t look like much but cutting a piece with the spoon required more force than I would have ever expected. It was firm, dense and delicious. Probably contained all the necessary calories for today. And tomorrow. And half for the day after. I could have eaten three had I had the chance.

Monastery Gate (Kloostrivärav).

After dinner I wandered for a bit in the decreasing light and ended the day back at the hotel once again around 2300.