Day 1 (Evening)
Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 1 Evening.
4/1 Day 1 Evening: Spent the evening in Old Town
Optional Costs
(1) Entrance ticket to the Holy Spirit Church - EUR1,50
(2) Dinner at Kompressor - Pancake with smoked ham and brie cheese EUR5, pancake with smoked salmon and cheese sauce EUR5,50, Kali malt drink EUR2
The Story
04012019 Evening: After lunch at Olde Hansa, we made our way back to the streets. We went inside the Christmas Market that was in the town square. Tallinn won the best Christmas Market in Europe for 2019. I am not sure why is it 2019 and not 2018. Anyway, the Christmas Market was opened from 16 November 2018 till 7 January 2019. I suspected that it was opened till 7 January 2019 to cater to the Russian Christmas (Russia is next to Estonia). Russians celebrate Christmas on 7 January. They follow the Julian Calendar of 25th December which falls on 7th January in the Gregorian Calendar.
The Christmas Market was pretty and lively. I could hear Christmas songs in the air. By the time it was dark, there were performances on the stage. With the snow fall, the atmosphere was the perfect Christmas ambiance. They sold their local food - sausages with sauerkraut (sour cabbages), which my friend and I tried for lunch the next day, and dumplings. Of course, food in the Christmas Market is expensive, but what the heck, I am not sure when am I coming back again. They sold the usual mulled wine but with their own local liquor, Vana Tallinn. There were lots of stalls selling lots of warm clothes and Russian fur hats. It was definitely colder in Tallinn than Stockholm. I think Estonia is influenced by the Russian weather.
We went inside the the oldest continuously running pharmacy in Europe since 1422. It is the beige coloured building on the left. They sell modern medicine now. The interior looks like a Chinese medicine shop. There is a display for their old items in another room. It was crowded inside the pharmacy.
Went inside Kalev Chocolate Shop and Cafe. I did not go inside the cafe which was touted as the oldest cafe in Old Town. I stepped inside the Chocolate Shop and of course, there are lots of chocolates and colourful marzipan.
As I walked around Old Town, it finally dawned on me on why Old Town of Tallinn is a UNESCO World Heritage. In addition to this country being occupied by 4 different countries (Russia, Germany, Denmark and Sweden), there was a fortification that surrounded the Old Town. This is similar to Visby in Gotland Island (in Sweden) which I visited in the summer of 2018. Visby is also a UNESCO World Heritage with a fortification.
Banner for the Christmas Market.
Saw a beautiful structure which I did not realise was a Russian orthodox church. This is Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. An orthodox church has a different cross. We only found out that it was a church when we stepped inside the doors. We sat for a while and witnessed a church service.
Opposite the church was the Parliament.
Back we go to the Christmas Market. We were in time to see 2 singing and 1 dancing performances. Then, I saw a carousel in the Christmas Market too. It is so FUN!
My friend recommended a pancake house for dinner. It is called Kompressor, a pancake pub house which is located about 200m from the town square. The place is crowded and we had to queue to place an order. It was the first time that I had pancakes with meat inside. I always thought pancake as a sweet dessert and not as a proper meal. But this time it was. Each of us had the Kali malt drink. Kali is an Estonian malt drink. It tastes yummy!
We were really stuffed after dinner and gladly made our way back to my friend's place.
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