Tallinn: Part 4 - Day 2 Afternoon: Medieval Walking Tour, Kehrwieder, KGB Prison Museum, St Catherine's Passage

Day 2 (Afternoon)

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 2 Afternoon.

5/1 Day 2 Afternoon: Town Hall -- Medieval Walking Tour -- Kehrwieder Chocolate Shop -- KGB Prison Museum -- St. Catherine Passage 

Optional Costs

(1) Tips for the Walking Tour - EUR2
(2) Entrance fee to KGB Prison Museum - EUR5

(3) Tea break - Chocolate cake EUR4, Apple juice with Vana Tallinn (Liquor) EUR7,90, Chocolate drink EUR4 (friend's share)
(4) Lunch - Christmas meal set at the Christmas Market (chorizo sausage, sauerkraut and potatoes) EUR9

The Story

05012019 Afternoon: After Town Hall, we headed to the Tourist Information Center where we joined the Medieval Walking Tour that starts at 11.30am. It is a one-hour walk. It was -3 that day but it felt colder. It was snowing and it was blowing. I checked the weather app and it stated that it felt like -8. A lady dressed in medieval attire was waiting for us. 

It was a fun walk and here are some stories that I remembered. We stopped in front of this well named Cat's Well, and back then, there was shortage of water for the people. So, they dug a well which did not have fresh water. It was smelly. The people consulted the priests and one of them named Brother Albert suggested throwing cats inside and after 13 cats in 2 weeks, the water stank even more. I was in disbelief when I heard this and I googled. Turns out that there was no Brother Albert and not 13 cats, but a number of cattle was thrown inside. She said that it stank so bad that they had to seal the well till today. This, I doubt. To solve the water problem, the people brewed their own beer. Even the kids drank beer but with low alcohol. Beer kills bacteria which is much safer than the well's water.

She explained that Tallinn was previously known as Reval. Once upon a time, a Danish king Valdemar II was hunting for deer in Toompea when he spotted a beautiful stag. The king liked the animal much and so he ordered it to be caught alive. Unfortunately, the deer escaped, fell from a high limestone bank and broke its neck. In German, Reh-fall means "fall of a deer", and so that is where the name Reval was derived from. I got this explanation from Wikipedia. Her story was similar to that. Can you see the deer in the photo? It is at the far right corner of the photo.

This building still houses the old structure of the medieval times. I could see that Tallinn is making a lot of efforts to preserve a lot of its medieval memories. I noticed most of the buildings' first part of the building is the medieval era and the top part is modern. Or inside an old building, the door or some parts of the house is maintained in its medieval structure whereas everything is modern. Of course, it is difficult to maintain everything in its original form.

So, back to this building. The owner built this when he was 15 years old. The building's facade is narrow but it is long. The Danes who occupied Estonia previously taxed the people in many ways - having a huge facade being one of them. 

Estonians were not tall back then. This is how tall their door were. They were small due to insufficient food and sickness. That is me standing next to their door. I am not very tall either - me being 166cm.

That is the highest building in Old Town - St Olof's church. Lifespan was till 35 years old back then. To ensure their life was led to the fullest and remembered forever and to be closer to God, some aimed to do a trapeze walk from one guard tower to another at the upper part of the church without safety gear. They died and had their names written in the town records. 

There were many guilds during the medieval age. One of the famous ones is the Brotherhood of the Blackheads. To join, one just have to be male and single. They were always up to mischief. Apparently, they started the tradition of Christmas trees being decorated with lights. Previously, Christmas trees were bare and boring. So, they danced around the trees with fire. One of the trees caught fire and they got happy because everyone was warm. Two years later, they did the same and one of the houses caught fire, and their happy tradition stopped. So, they created decorations that included lights. I am a bit skeptical about this after I found out the Cat's Well story was not in Wikipedia. Anyway, this is Wikipedia's version.

We found ourselves back in the Town Square. Her last story was on Old Thomas, a statue found at the top of Town Hall. It is a bit difficult to spot it. 

Old Thomas is one of the symbols and guardians of Tallinn. A weather vane, the figure of an old warrior called Old Thomas was put on top of the spire of Tallinn Town Hall in 1530. According to the legend, the model for the weather vane was a peasant boy who excelled at the springtime contests involving firing crossbow bolts at a painted wooden parrot on top of a pole, organized by Tallinn's Baltic German elite of the time. Unable to receive a prize because his low-born status, Toomas was rewarded with the job of town guard for life. All his life, Toomas gave candy to the children in the Town Square, according to local legend. When he died, the children constantly asked, "Where is Old Toomas?", which led to uncomfortable answers about the nature of death. Once the weather vane was erected over the town square, parents would tell the children that Old Toomas was watching how they behave and would leave candy under their pillow for good behavior. Source from Wikipedia which is similar to the tour guide's version.

After the walk, we decided to warm ourselves in a cafe. We went into the supposedly voted best cafe in town, Kehrwieder Chocolaterie. Its interior is an underground cave which means it is sort of dark. But it had a beautiful view of the Town Square from where we sat, and with the snow falling, it was like a dream. We shared a chocolate cake and I had apple juice with Vana Tallinn. I could taste more of the liquor rather than the apple juice. It kept me warm.

Next, to visit KGB Prison Museum. This was recommended by a staff in the Tourist Information Centre when we mentioned our intention to see the weapons in Viru Hotel. That would require booking in advance and not to mention that it costs EUR11.  

You can read the history of the cupboard in the following photograph.

We decided to have lunch in the Christmas Market which was not very cheap. It is actually a simple meal of sausage, sour cabbage and potatoes. We shared it and we were happy. I am happy that my friend is willing to try food and experience new stuff without hesitation. Both of us have a similar take in life - no what-if's; if not now, when? Yummy hot food eaten in the cold winter.

We went to search for St Catherine's passage after lunch. It was stated as a must-visit and I do agree to that!

Easily the most picturesque of Old Town's lanes, this half-hidden walkway runs behind what used to be St. Catherine's Church. What makes the passage particularly interesting is that it's home to the St. Catherine's Guild, a collection of craft workshops where artists use traditional methods to create and sell glassware, hats, quilts, ceramics, jewellery, hand-painted silk and other wares. St. Catherine's passage is more about ambience than anything else. No other place in Tallinn combines creativity with a medieval atmosphere quite like it. Source by Visit Tallinn.

Back we go to my friend's place. Along the way to the nearest grocery store, we passed by abandoned buildings with Soviet Union's influence. On the other side of the road were colourful buildings. They do not look much different from the ones in Sweden.