Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Among Nordic medieval cities, there's none nearly as well-preserved as
Tallinn. Its mostly intact city wall includes 26 watchtowers, each topped by
a pointy red roof. Baroque and choral music ring out from its old Lutheran
churches. I'd guess that Tallinn (with 400,000 people) has more restaurants,
cafés, and surprises per capita and square inch than any city in this topic—and
the fun is comparatively cheap.
Though it's connected by an easy boat trip to Helsinki and Stockholm,
Tallinn feels a world removed from those cities. Yes, Tallinn's Nordic Lutheran
culture and language connect it with Scandinavia, but two centuries of tsarist
Russian rule and 45 years as part of the Soviet Union have blended in a dis-
tinctly Russian flavor.
AsamemberoftheHanseaticLeague,thecitywasamedievalstrongholdof
the Baltic trading world. (For more on the Hanseatic League, see the sidebar on
beyond its walls. Architects encircled the Old Town, putting up broad streets of
public buildings, low Scandinavian-style apartment buildings, and single-fam-
ily wooden houses. After 1945, Soviet planners ringed the city with stands of
now-crumbling concrete high-rises where many of Tallinn's Russian immig-
rants settled. Like Prague and Kraków, Tallinn has westernized at an astound-
ing rate since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Yet the Old World ambience
within its walled town center has been beautifully preserved.
Tallinn is still busy cleaning up the mess left by the communist experiment.
New shops, restaurants, and hotels are bursting out of old buildings. The city
changes so fast, even locals can't keep up. The Old Town is getting a lot of
tourist traffic now, so smart shopping is wise. You'll eat better for half the price
by seeking out places that cater to locals.
