Today was spent getting to know the city of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Our local guide was a young man called Eero & he was very informative. He has no love for Russia as Estonia was under Russian rule for 200 years then free from 1918 to 1940 when the Germans invaded Estonia then they were returned to Russia & were part of the Soviet Union until 1991. They are now rejoicing in their freedom & Estonian nationalism. We did a tour of various parts of Tallinn in our mini bus then went to the old city where we saw buildings & churches dating back to the 12th century. The churches had originally been Orthodox & so very ornate but following Martin Luther there was a full scale change to Lutheran. Ornate decorations & icons were removed & churches whitewashed & made simpler. My grandad's family were Lutheran but changed to Orthodox. Our guide said this was very common among Estonian peasants in the 19th century as they were told that if they became Orthodox they would be given land by the Russian occupiers, but the land they were given was in Siberia!
During some free time in Tallinn we found a glass blower (Eero had mentioned one & my ears pricked up) & so bought our momento piece of Estonian glass. It is great to buy from a local. Now we were ready for lunch but where to go revolves around who might make the best coffee & we found just the place - a bit hipster (Eero's word) but great coffee & lovely salads.
Back with our tour group we travelled out of Tallinn to the Ethnolographical Parkmuseum where a peasant village from 19th century had been set up using original buildings which had been transported to this site. This actually gave us a great example of the type of life grandad & his parents would have had as they were peasant farmers - have included some pictures.
In the evening we all went back into the old town for dinner & learnt more about our fellow travellers.
