Wednesday, August
12, 2026
Tailinn, Estonia
63F, very windy,
cloudy until the eclipse!
What a quaint
fairy tale city Taillin is! Medieval is definitely the word of the day! Tallinn,
the capital of Estonia, sits on the Gulf of Finland. It blends one of Europe’s
best-preserved medieval Old Towns—a UNESCO World Heritage site—with a
world-leading, digital-first economy. Just 50 miles south of Helsinki, it is a
highly walkable city known for its cobblestone streets and thriving tech
scene. Taillin is also considered the
oldest capital in Europe. It is also considered one of the least polluted
capitals in the world.
As of 2026, the
population of Tallinn is estimated to be approximately 457,000 residents
within the city limits. Estonia, the
smallest Baltic state has a population of about 1.3 million people.
Like the other
Baltic countries we have visited, we can easily observe its Danish, Swedish, Russian,
German, and Soviet Communist (Operation Barbarossa) roots. Established in the 12th
century, it has seen its share of political turnovers. Just like the other
countries, it overcame the time of the Russian tsars to be influenced by the Germans,
then the Communists. Estonia was finally liberated in 1991 and is a Parliamentary
Republic.
We heard the story
of the Singing Revolution— in the late 1980s,
massive demonstrations against the Soviet regime began. The Soviets were censoring religion and
other freedoms in all three Baltic states. The opposition that wanted independence
coordinated public song festivals as a key element of resistance. Tens of
thousands of people sang national and folk songs in mass gatherings.
Just as the
Soviets were planning to destroy the Medieval walls of Taillin to make way for
other construction, Estonia was liberated—we truly enjoyed those Medieval gates
and walls today!
In America we have
no idea what such oppression is like.
It was very windy
and chilly when we took the shuttle to an area closer to the Old Town—cost $12/each
for round trip.
A bakery stop, a
long climb to the Upper Old Town, souvenir shops, more amber, beautiful
churches, and cobblestone streets that were not too treacherous. Estonians easily admit to having lots of cold
weather. Beautiful wool sweaters, socks, and scarves fill the shops, as well as
amber, wooden kitchen utensils, felted hats, and the usual trinkets.
TK decided he
wanted to have something to eat, so we stopped at a square full of restaurants
with outdoor seating (and blankets on every seat). Menus declared elk, bear,
boar, and other such “delights.” We
opted for fried dumplings and fried dark bread (like pumpernickel), and 2 Coke
Zeros.
The dumplings had
a sausage filling (beef and pork, I asked), and that bread was garlicky, but
both were delicious.
We were ready to return
to the ship, caught the shuttle, and I prepared my camera and tripod for the
partial solar eclipse. After dinner I found a spot on the Sun Deck #16. It was
so windy I couldn’t use my tripod. It was too hard to hold the camera steady,
so I had to give up. There were only a few people onboard with any interest in the celestial
rarity, so TK, Chai and Maurice from Hawaii, and I watched the marvelous event together.
All day it was very cloudy so I wasn't sure how this would go, but the clouds cleared about a half hour before the eclipse. The moon took little bites out of the sun as time passed after 8:02--and in my opinion the sun ended up being at least 85% covered.
