Tallinn, the city by the sea

When I took the cruise from Helsinki to Tallinn, I had absolutely no preconceived ideas about the little country called Estonia. All I knew wast that Tallinn was the capital, and the country was on the fringes of the Baltic Sea region. It was only when I began my walk around the Old Town that its beauty began to weave magic on me. Centuries-old streets, Gothic spires, medieval markets, gabled houses and half hidden courtyards juxtaposed with grandiose churches were but a peep into the 1000- year history of the tiny Baltic city.

A winding cobble stoned lane led to the enormous Town Hall Square that throbbed with a life of its own. On the edges of the Square were dozens of cafes with tables spilling on to the sidewalk. The imposing 15th century Town Hall with its spire had a weathervane in the shape of the moustachioed mascot of Tallinn, known as Old Toomas.

I joined the multitudes milling around the Square filling up the memory card of my digicam. At the corner of the Town Hall Square, I came across the Town Hall Pharmacy, which supplied burnt bees and powdered unicorn horns to ailing citizens from 1422! Now such medieval remedies have been consigned to the back room!

Historians say marzipan came from Persia or Italy but local legend insists it was invented in Town Hall Pharmacy! The story goes, that an alderman fell ill and summoned the apothecary who was told to test the medicine first. The duty fell on his apprentice, Mart. The clever lad replaced each bitter ingredient with a sweet one. Not only did the remedy work but the alderman loved it so much he ordered it in large quantities. The confection came to be known as Mardileib or Mart's bread which later mutated into marzipan!

The Old Town was once well fortified with an elaborate system of high walls and towers. Just 2 km of the wall, 20 towers and remnants of two gates have survived. The towers had interesting names, from Fat Margaret's Tower and Maiden's Tower to Kiek in de Kok (Peep into the kitchen!) because it was so high that guards could see right down the chimneys of the houses below!

Tallinn was divided into the Lower and Upper parts with the German aristocrats occupying the high ground of Toompea Hill, and the commoners living in the town below. The Toompea Castle was the seat of power in Estonia since the German Knights of the Sword built the first stone fort in 1227. According to the locals, though, the night life in the Upper Town was dull, the Germans strayed below for entertainment! We too gazed down from Toompea hill at the Old Town's roofs, towers and beyond, right up to the harbour as the knights once did!

The most photogenic part of Old Town's lanes is St Catherine's Lane, along the back of what was St Catherine's Church. Today, it is home to the St Catherine's Guild, a collection of craft shops where artists make and sell hats, quilts, ceramics, stained glass, painting and more. I found some beautiful souvenirs in the shops that line St Catherine's Lane, at a reasonable price, and met Kadri Jäätma there, who does ceramic artware under the name 'Keraamik'. Once an MP, she retired and took to this art and was modesty itself as she took us around her studio.

Lunch at Olde Hansa, a medieval restaurant, turned out to be a food orgy! The décor was like that of a rich, medieval merchant's house with heavy furniture, attractive murals, and ceramic crockery with wooden handled cutlery. The restaurant sure preserves the tradition of extravagant feasts practiced by the rich merchants of the Hanseatic cities!

A young boy dressed in medieval costume poured fragrant water from a flagon over our hands into a basin and offered us towels before the feast began with the elaborate ritual of breaking bread.

The generous appetiser of liver pate with salmon could well have constituted the main cours and even as I struggled with it, platters of roast rabbit and wild boar were borne to the table by liveried waiters who cheerfully demanded we do justice to the fare. It was an ordeal to stand up after having the sinfully rich dessert. But then, you can't attend a medieval feast and expect not be helped to your feet!

Driving out of the Old Town to the Kadriorg neighbourhood proved to be a delightful experience. Snow-covered forests proved to be just what a shutterbug like me wanted. Right in the centre of Kadriorg, amid manicured gardens, a beautiful swan pond, and gazebos, stood the stunning Baroque palace built as a summer residence for the Russian Czar, Peter the Great in 1718.

It is said that after Peter conquered the Baltics, he built an estate and public parks and named them after his wife, Catherine I. Over the next two centuries the streets near the park were lined with ornate wooden mansions as Kadriorg developed into a covetted, elite residential area.

Sitting on a wooden bench in the park, I mulled over the beauty of the city called Tallinn and realised why it had been coveted by Swedes, Danes, Germans and Russians throughout its history. ...

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/features/et-travel/talli~.cms

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