A small country with a population of less than one and a half million people lives a quiet life. It’s worth coming here for people who want to take a break from big cities and quietly stroll through the castles and small streets of Tallinn with interesting shops and cafes. We have selected ten of the most interesting places to visit while in Estonia.
Tallinn TV Tower
The 314-meter-high tower is the highest point in Estonia. You can go up here and explore the entire city, and at the same time tickle your nerves: you can walk along the very edge of the observation deck on the 22nd floor of the building. But there is no risk in this, the perimeter of the site is fenced with a cable, which will prevent you from falling and will not interfere with taking a beautiful photo.
In addition to the excursion and panoramic views, you can have a meal here in a restaurant with a transparent floor and an outdoor terrace. There, next to the restaurant, there is an area with telescopes, so you will have the opportunity to take a close look at every building in the city from a great height.
Upper Town in Tallinn
This place is located on Toompea Hill, from which the ancient castle standing here received its name. Nowadays, the Estonian Parliament sits here, but the building is open to tourists. However, you are only allowed to stay inside during the excursion for half an hour.
The historical part of Tallinn was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997. The upper city was originally inhabited by the nobility, and the lower city by merchants and artisans. The Upper and Lower towns were separated by a fortress wall, part of which has survived to this day.
Rocca al Mare Museum
The open-air museum is dedicated to the history of the country and its traditions. Here you can see old peasant houses, where you can see original household items and tools. And last year, the exhibition was replenished with a new exhibit – the hut of an Old Believer fisherman.
There is a restaurant that serves national dishes and drinks, and on holidays (for example, New Year’s celebrations) a special program is organized. You can ride a bicycle or, what is much more interesting, on a horse through the territory of Rocca al Mare.
Lahemaa
This is the name of the national park, which was founded in 1971. Its area is 725 square kilometers and it is the largest park in Estonia. The territory contains not only huge forests, a waterfall and gardens, but also the estates of the landowners who once lived here.
One of the estates, Palmse, was built in the mid-18th century. Now there is a museum there that tells about the history of the local lands and the biographies of the baron’s family who owned the estate. It can easily take a whole day to walk around Lahemaa, so it’s best to come here in the morning and stay until the evening.
Gapsala Castle
This place is often referred to simply as “Bishop’s Castle”. The cathedral, which is located in Kuressaare, was built in the 13th-14th centuries, but reconstructions and changes took place over another two centuries. Now the Saaremaa Museum is located here, where you can learn about the history of the castle.
According to legend, a “white lady” lives here. She usually looks into the Baptist chapel, which is connected to the castle. The outline of the ghost is best seen in August or September, when the moon is low and shining through the window, and the play of light and shadow creates that same ghostly silhouette.
Fat Margarita
This is not an Estonian variation of the famous alcoholic cocktail, but a tower of the city wall. It is located on Pikk street. The tower was built in the 16th century and has 155 loopholes. The Tolstoy tower was named for its squatness – with a height of 20 meters, its diameter is 25 meters.
As for Margarita, there are several versions of the origin of this name: according to one, a cook with that name worked in the tower, according to another, this is what the soldiers called the largest cannon. Nowadays there is a Maritime Museum inside Fat Margarita.
Hydroharbour
A museum was opened in the Kalamaja district of the Estonian capital five years ago, which is dedicated to ships and everything related to navigation. There’s even a British submarine called Lembit; the submarine was under the command of the Estonian fleet during the period when the country was part of the USSR.
In addition to the submarine, there are sailboats, boats, samples of sea mines, ship cannons, and the icebreaker “Suur Tõll” in Hydroharbour.
Kaali Crater
A meteorite fell on this site about three and a half thousand years ago. The diameter of the funnel is about 110 meters, although from photographs it seems that the size is smaller.
A meteorite fell on the island of Saaremaa. Residents have composed many horror stories based on the idea that the crater is some kind of gateway to the afterlife. For example, there is a story that there was a church here where a brother and sister got engaged, and dark forces destroyed the building for this sin.
Kypu Lighthouse
The lighthouse of Hiiuamaa is one of the oldest in the world and the oldest among those still functioning in the Baltic countries. It was built at the beginning of the 16th century. Over so many years of service, the lighting system was repeatedly modernized: first they burned fires from wood, then they began to add oil and kerosene, then they switched to electric light.
The height of the lighthouse is a little more than a hundred meters above sea level, and the building rises 36 meters above the ground. The lighthouse helped ships traveling along a major trade route from east to west through these waters.
Kadriorg
The palace and park ensemble is also called Ekaterinenthal in honor of Empress Catherine I. Construction began in 1718 by order of Peter I, Italian craftsmen were responsible for the appearance of the complex, who were later replaced by the Russian architect Mikhail Zemtsov.
In the 1920s, exhibits of the Estonian Art Museum were located here, and a little earlier the building was used by the head of the Estonian government as a residence. Now here you can walk through the beautiful gardens and enter the palace to appreciate the luxury of the interior decoration and see in what conditions the most influential people of their era lived.
