I suddenly feel my hand being clutched — and not by my husband Rick.
I turn to see a knight in chainmail armour falling before me on bended knee — not for undying love, but for a one-euro photo-op.
We are in front of the Old Town Hall, which has been on this spot since at least 1322, the present building dating back to 1404. Vana Toomas (Old Thomas), symbolizing Tallinn, appears as a weather vane atop the hall. Legend has it that, as a peasant lad, Old Thomas won an archery contest reserved for nobility and, instead of being punished, he was invited to become a guard.
This is our first of many meanderings around medieval Lower Town’s Raekoja plats (Town Hall Square), at the city’s heart for eight centuries. The vibes of the Middle Ages emanate from Gothic edifices, now turned into tempt the tourist shops and restaurants with outside seating placed under great umbrellas.
Cheery young people in medieval dress wave menus to entice passersby to partake of a morsel or sip a drink in their establishment.
Town Hall Pharmacy (Raeapteek) is said to be one of the oldest continually running pharmacies in Europe; by 1422 it belonged to its third owner. Old apothecary equipment sides the walls, but medieval remedies, such as crushed dried bee wings, have been replaced with current pharmacy offerings, such as aspirin.
Olde Hansa is a shop stacked with goods that gained popularity centuries ago: goblets, tar soap, onion jam and some odd shoes with curled-up toes. Sales clerk Anna is on hand to clarify a shoe was not just a shoe back then, but a show of wealth.
“These are commoner shoes with hardly any curl,” she says. “The rich wore shoes with curls almost reaching their knees, with metal rings for strings to attach the curl to their mid-calves. The king’s curl was tied to his waist, so you can see why he was carried.”
Anna invites me and two other shoppers to partake in a snort of pepper schnapps, brewed in-house. Taking the traditional stance — baby finger at the bottom and thumb on the rim of the shot glass, other hand on the head (a sign of respect) and one leg crossed in front of the other at the knee — we toast in unison. Then, down the hatch. Very tasty.
On another day, we climb Toompea Hill, known as Upper Old Town, to see how the wealthy once looked down their noses at the commoners.
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral reigns. It was ordered by Tsar Alexander III and completed in 1900. The Toompea Castle, which for seven centuries served the nation’s foreign masters, today houses the parliament of Estonia.
We move along to the formidable 15th-century stone bastion, Kiek in de Kök (Peep into the Kitchen). The curious name stems from soldiers joking about how from the top they could look down into the kitchens of the houses below.
Inside, spiral stone stairs lead to many levels displaying torture devices and weaponry from the medieval ages right up to the Second World War.
The nearby Bastion Tunnels are next. We don small blankets to wrap around our shoulders against the chill and follow Anilee, our guide, down uneven stone steps to tread through 300 metres (of the total 500 metres) that are currently staked out.
Along our route, we learn the various uses of these tunnels over the years. A small cell is where Catherine the Great had a 71-year-old monk imprisoned for speaking out against her. In this damp, cold, lonely place, he lasted four years before his soul departed.
During the Second World War, the tunnels became air-raid shelters used by the Germans and, later, the Russians. A gas-masked mannequin and old radio equipment sets the scene. After being abandoned for decades, during the 1980s, punkers moved in to party and hide from the militia.
From 1991 to 2005, during the turmoil of Estonia’s newfound independence and skyrocketing unemployment, the tunnels became shelters for homeless people.
Out in the brilliant sunshine again, it’s time to purchase a bag of fresh-roasted almonds that had been stirred in a vat with cinnamon and sugar — a good pairing for our cappuccinos.
Tallinn’s gothic structures, along with the living-history atmosphere of medieval costumes and customs displayed by shop/restaurant staff, and the bustling light-heartedness of the town squares will forever linger on as a happy memory.
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