Aug 8, 2013 - Tallin, Estonia

Based on our wonderful experience planning our St. Petersberg, Russia tour, and the good price that we got for booking a 2nd tour, we used Alla Tours again for Tallin.  Our day began by waiting to meet a couple who didn't show up at the meeting place, by the time we gave up and went to the the bus, all seats were taken.   Not a good start when I had planned this tour for the group :)  However, never fear, the group leader put us in her car and we had a private description about Tallin as we drove to the starting point for the tour of Old Tallin.  On the way, we passed the Concert Hall, Cultural Center, and several other landmarks.  AND, we got there ahead of the bus :)  The larger group was broken up into 4 more manageable groups and off we went on a 3 hour walking tour of Upper and Lower Tallin, one of the oldest cities on the Baltic Sea and a very busy seaport.  We visited or walked past several churches, schools, museums and government buildings (including the home of the Mayor) with good information and fun anecdotes from our guide.

At a wonderful viewing platform, we overlooked this beautiful area and, of course, took pictures.  Most important - Art bought his requisite Tee Shirt and I got the Cherry Amber earrings I wanted (having been told in advance that prices were better in Tallin than St. Petersburg).  I'm not a fan of the tyical yellow/brown Amber colors but really like the almost black (really very dark red) cherry color).

We stopped to try the wonderful flavored, roasted almonds from a street stand (and bought some to snack on), walked down the steepest old road called Long Road that is really made up of steps, explored the Town Square with its amazing flower market and found yet another McDonald's in an unexpected town.  When the tour ended we wandered around on our own for an hour then decided to walk back to the ship (although a bus transfer was included in our tour fee).

We did manage to get lost a bit although we could see the ship in the distance...made the mistake of thinking we should go to the Passenger Terminal and missed the turnoff to go directly to the ship.  Just a delay of a few minutes but the day was warmer than anticipated and we were looking forward to lunch and relaxing in the pool for a few hours.

Another wonderful day on our great vacation

For the sake of time, I've added a few pictures here but the link shows many more.

Click on Slideshow to see our tour in Tallin