Port #1: Tallinn

Estonia surprised me. I haven't given much thought to this former Soviet bloc country, I must admit; but Estonia is a cool, tech-savvy country and very educated. The population of the entire country is 1.3 million, and there are 44 universities! The people serving your food probably have a couple of Bachelor's degrees at least. Problem is, no one to man the donut shops (so to speak). The economy is short on professionals like plumbers and electricians. My excursion off the ship was to a medieval town called Rakvere. There we saw a medieval-era castle/fortress (Rakvere Castle).

Giant Chess Men, Rakvere Castle

Fancy Transport, Rakvere Castle

They tell me it's made of limestone.

Used cannon balls, some wood, some iron.

Street of Fallen Women...

Not too far from the convent...

I am somewhere in between. ;)

Out front is the famous Rakvere Bull (Auroch, actually)

Since I am a champion stair climber (and you had to be, let me tell ya) I climbed the tower and took pictures of the courtyard. The building along the back wall is where we ate lunch and drank beer and vodka.

Sirat, our tour guide, is the cute blond lady in the upper left, with the kicky summer do. We got along famously. Estonians love to pickle things, even garlic. We had salad, pickled things, chicken and rice, beer, and apple cake.

We also stopped in the town of Rakvere to see the Citizen's House Museum, which is a preserved 18th-century home. I didn't take pictures inside, but this is the street in front, and flowers are from the garden in back.

En route, we were told about Iron-Age excavations we saw along the roadside called stone cists. Read more about them here.

Then we returned to Tallinn, saw some sights and did some shopping.

Tallinn, taken from the ship.

St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Tallinn

City street, Old Town, Tallinn

Many enjoy the view of lower Old Town.

Old Town, Tallinn

Observant Orthodox ladies, St. Alexander's

 

That's a storm rolling in.

St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Tallinn

I mentioned tech-savvy because Skype was invented here, there is almost no place in the country you can't reach free wi-fi, and best of all, Sirat told us her 96-year-old grandmother will post something on Facebook, and if Sirat doesn't "like" it within five minutes, Grandma will Skype her to ask why. (!)