I'd covered so much ground in Tallinn on Day 1 that I was at a little bit of a loss of what to do on Day 2. It's not really that big a place, and being both Easter and a Monday, no museums were open. However, of course this wasn't going to stop me from going exploring, so I decided to head out to Kadriorg Park after breakfast. This is a museum area, but there is a Palace in the park, which is itself pretty special - it's not your usual European palace. It was built in the 18th century in a Russian Baroque style by Peter the Great. It actually looked quite modern for its age. It would look really pretty in the summer with all the garden beds flowering and fountain bubbling.
I had a mosey around the park - looked in at the Presidential Palace, some of the sculptures in the park - then head back to the town via the ferry port. The waves of humanity just coming off these ships was astounding, so I stepped up the pace a little and got outta there!
I was getting a bit cold so decided it was time for a cup of tea. And what better place to have one than the Maiasmokk Cafe, a beautiful old cafe in the centre of Tallinn. Warmed up, I head out to the Danish King's garden, then crossed town to St Catherine's passage. This is a really interesting walkway full of ancient tombstones and artisan workshops (an interesting combination...), where you can buy the work straight from the artists. St Catherine's passage is also really close to the old town walls, and you can go up these 14th century fortifications, which I did. It would have been bitterly cold manning these walls for any long period of time.
Lunch was calling so I went to a vegan cafe that I had read about called Vegan Inspiratsioon. It was super tasty and just what I needed - I hadn't had any particularly good meals in Tallinn so far.
After lunch, I popped into an old pharmacy on the market square. This had a museum of old pharmaceutical goodies that were thought to have magical properties, like deer penises and sun-dried dog poop. I walked around the old town for a little more before going to my hotel to warm up with a cup of tea. My last dinner in Estonia was at Vanaema Juures (Grandma's Place), where I had elk stew, and some delicious Estonian bread (it has some treacle in it and with a scrape of white butter, its divine!).
The next day, I had a quick walk around to say goodbye and flew back to London Heathrow. Latvia and Estonia were really interesting and quaint. They were nice places to go at Easter too, as neither was particularly touristy at that time.
Next post, the doors of Tallinn, as promised.