Laurie says:

Two of the snapshots below were taken in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. It’s a very old city but it’s also a very high tech and 21st century city. I wrote about my trip to Estonia to visit my daughter and her partner and some of it’s history in my first Estonian photo post.

Except for a brief period in the early 20th century, it has been occupied by others, from the Danes and the Teutonic knights in the 13th century to the Soviets in the later part of the 20th, until it finally regained it’s independence in 1991.

Tallinn‘s Old Town is in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is ranked as a global city and has been listed among the top 10 digital cities in the world. The city was a European Capital of Culture for 2011. Tallinn is the oldest capital city in Northern Europe. The city was known as Reval from the 13th century until 1917 and again during the Nazi invasion of Estonia from 1941 to 1944. Then as Tallinn again under the Soviets.

It centers on Toompea or “Cathedral Hill” with towers and fragments of castle walls and lots of beautiful later buildings. The hill is surrounded by the Old Town, which is the old Hanseatic town and was the center of the medieval trade. It wasn’t until the mid-19th century that ethnic Estonians became the the majority among the residents of Tallinn.

I was fortunate to be staying at the top of the hill, although the walk up and down was definitely brisk.

This is my daughter Cid and me in Old Town.
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This was shot in the sculpture gallery at the Kumu Museum in Tallinn.
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This was shot in a bog near Vjandi in southern Estonia.

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And finally ducks by a pool in a park in Vjandi.
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