Hei Hei
Next day we take a 1.5 hour bus ride out of Helsinki to a little medieval town called Porvoo. It's a gorgeous little town with tiny burnt red coloured shops along the river - and behind the shops are about 4 or 5 small cobble stoned streets lined with old timber homes and shops. Unfortunately, the weather is not that good - rainy and wet, so we stop of at a corner bakery store (lovely little shop) and have a pastry treat and hot chocolate.
Tiny burnt red shops along river
Bob enjoying his pastry treat and hot chocolate
Cobble stoned streets with old timber homes and shops along
Also in the town is a very old church or cathedral (of course!)
Old Church/Cathedral - a must have in every town
The next day, we head off on a 2 hour ferry ride to another medieval town called Tallinn in Estonia which is a county across the Baltic Sea from Helsinki. And wow, what an interesting and historical old town it has. We spend the whole day and part of the evening there and catch the ferry home at 6.30pm.
We wander along the cobble stoned streets (and there are lots). We visit an old KGB prison - very interesting with tiny cells and equipment for interrogating! Then onto a museum dedicated to the new found freedom of Estonia but covering the past occupation by Russia over 100s of years (Russia just wouldn't give up - it wanted Estonia as its own over many, many wars and years). The torture and oppression suffered by the Estonians over the years and the stories of survival are very moving.
Cobble stoned streets of Tallinn
KGB prison
Bob inside one of the cupboards in the KGB Prison that prisoners were put into for days of end - if they were naughty
Then we have a walk around a very old fortress in Tallinn. It has a wall around the site which was constructed in 1265 by order of Margaret Sambiria and is called the "Margaret Wall". When you look at the structure of parts of the wall and also of the fortress, we can understand why
the old town of Tallinn is now a World Heritage Site. It's amazing how those structures were built of stone so long ago and are still standing. I think our engineers today should take a leaf out of the books of the old engineers of the 13th century.
Old Fortress - and the "Margaret Wall"
Our meal of bratwurst and sauerkraut in the old town square of Tallinn before heading back by ferry to Helsinki.
This featured blog entry was written by Bob and Kerrie from the blog Scandi adventure.
Read comments or Subscribe
