Tallinn Estonia.

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Tallinn the Capital City of Estonia was our second port of call and turned out to be my second favourite place to visit on this cruise. The ship moored in the port and it was only a short up hill walk to the medieval old town. The old town is a designated World Heritage site and is one of the best preserved Medieval cities in Europe. It has at different stages of history come under the rule of Denmark, Finland, Russia and Germany and back to Russia. In 1991 it declared itself as an independent democratic State. Estonia became a member of the European Union in 2003 and has done very well out of its membership. It is one of the most prolific cities where IT is concerned and has been dubbed as Europe's silicon valley and is the centre for IT cyberdefence and development for Nato and the EU. Skype was born in Tallinn. The streets are largely cobbled and many are vehicle free zones especially up in the old town with their narrow streets. Walking up into the old town one passes many different churches both Orthodox catholic and protestant. Surrounding the old town is a defense wall which is very thick in places. Some of the walls still house wooden walkways on the interior side of the city walls. The views over the lower town are quite interesting with the turrets of the watch towers and steeples of the churches poking up into the sky. The parliament building is within the old town and quite a few embassies and the Prime ministers residence. It is a very quaint old town. The photo is from a viewing square next to the Prime ministers residence giving quite a pretty view of the lower town and the two cruise ships in the distance at the port. . We walked back down to the lower town via a different route towards independence square then back over to the lower old town where the town hall and market place were situated. We sat and had a drink and people watched for a while before heading back to the ship. It was a beautiful city to visit and one I would love to return to perhaps for a weekend in the future.