The official day two of the tour started with a guided walking tour of the Old Town. We learnt that Estonia has a population of 1.4 million (only slightly more than the population of the Birmingham city area, at 1.15 million). Estonia's language is most closely related to Finnish, but it shares a similar history with Latvia. Its flag is blue, black and white.
Our tour took in the Viru Gates, Katarina Kaik, Vene (Russian) Street, the Town Hall Square, Town Hall Pharmacy, Saiakang (or Bread) Passage, a coffee stop at a Marzipan Shop/café before heading up to Castle Square and Alesander Nevsky Cathedral via Pikk Jalg again. Once there, we saw more than we had the previous day – we were shown the Dome Church (St. Mary the Virgin), the Finnish Embassy, the yellow Government House and other viewpoints. The Finnish Embassy had a very narrow frontage, but we were told was very wide and long behind; this was from the days when there was a tax on frontages. We descended back into the Lower Town via The Short Leg (Luhike Jalg) to St Nicholas Church, then past the 'Cat's Well' to the Town Hall Square. We all stood on the Compass Stone and made a wish, as per the tradition here.
The rest of the day was free time, so our first stop was the Town Hall Pharmacy, where we could have a proper look around. It is one of the oldest continuously running pharmacies in Europe. As long ago as 1422 patients could buy burnt bees, dried bats and bits of snake and hedgehog to cure their ills, whilst those that were fit could drink a glass of spiced wine to help them stay that way. Part of the shop is also a museum with old medical instruments and "medicinal ingredients" such as the bat, snake and hedgehog.
Lunch was beer and burger flights at the "Mini Burger Factory"; here three different mini burgers were paired with three different mini (200cl) beers: pale, medium and dark. It was very nice and while the burgers were mini, it was an incredibly filling lunch for only E8 each.
From there, it was a short hop, skip and a jump to the Estonia History Museum in the medieval Guild Hall built 1407-1410. The permanent exhibition entitled "Spirit of Survival – 11,000 years of Estonian History" was to cover 11,000 years of Estonia's history, which it did in a fashion, but we were both disappointed as it didn't seem very in-depth or chronological, repeating some things and skipping on others.
So, it was onto the very dark historical KGB Prison Cells Museum. This former house of horrors was the KGB HQ, hidden behind the unsuspecting facade of Pagari 1, making this a symbol of former Soviet oppression in Estonia. In the basement, suspected enemies of the state were prisoned in tiny (and I mean tiny) cells, sometimes apparently up to 18 people at a time and interrogated/tortured before being executed or sent to Siberian Labour Camps. More than 75,000 Estonians (about 20% of the population) were either murdered, imprisoned or deported between June 17th 1940 and as recently as August 20th 1991, less than thirty years ago. It was interesting but absolutely terrifying.
Needing some fresh air after that brush with history, we headed for the harbour, passing Fat Margaret's Tower (Paks Margareta). This was originally constructed in the 14th Century as a tower of the great coastal gate. With 5m thick walls and a 82m diameter, it was used to provide a formidable defence against invaders from the sea. It was very close to the harbour, but with silting, the harbour is now further away and mainly home to ferry terminals. We did stop for a well needed cuppa in 'The Seven Seas' Café. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the 'Kalen' chocolate shop to buy some Estonian chocolate (well, it was rude not to!).
Our dinner that evening was at 'Kulose Notsu Korts', an Estonia country restaurant. I had moose and wild mushroom stew with vegetables while Andy had roast pork, sauerkraut and potatoes, both washed down with honey beer.
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