Day 3
Our historical overview covers the new and the old: passing by the new modern skyscrapers that display independent Estonia in the 21st century and ending back in time with buildings still standing from the 1700’s, the still older versions having burned down in fires, as happened again and again. We begin with a trip to an area on the outskirts of town where a gigantic outdoor arena was built in the last decade specifically for choral concerts, a national passion, with very large competing choirs coming here for the Estonian Olympics of traditional song. It sounds like everyone in the country is involved with singing the old songs passed down orally into the present.
And then a return to the old historical part of town and the hilltop where sit the pink Parliament Building, the main post office, and the imposing Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Church.
Inside this church, we find a priest in religious garb intoning prayers among a small group of faithful with a recorded (I think) backup singer harmonizing in the higher register. But interestingly, I don’t smell the incense I associate with this denomination. Maybe with a town history of so many fires, lighted incense is not allowed in here.
The Lutheran Dome Church, which I had only peeked into a few days ago, contains a famous organ which I assume is played on Sundays and is overly decorated with many family shields around its walls of those who could afford to make arrangements to be buried there , giving it a fully decorated appearance and unlike the stereotype of austere Lutheran ambiance.
The city itself, the collections of houses and shops, on various levels, is really the beauty of Tallinn. The viewpoints remain a highlight, in perfect weather, sun glinting on the tall steeples and land reaching toward the sea.
We return to the main town square, where some of us had eaten the very first night, and have the afternoon to do with as we please. Because of time pressure, we were unable yesterday to visit the Jewish Cemetery which had been on our itinerary and I decide to go there on my own. It is an easy and inexpensive trip in a Bolt car, like an Uber, although my driver, despite the address I had written, took me to two wrong places first, one of which I think was the morgue as he indicated it was a place for “dead people”. Luckily, I had a photo of the gates of the cemetery on my phone and when I showed it to him, he realized it was nearby and drove me to the entrance of a large cemetery which stretched out on both sides of the road. There were some people parked and visiting but I saw no one to ask where the Jewish sector was located. The driver and I decided I should go to the only building we saw, down the road we had come from, which we both assumed was some kind of office and so that is where I got off. When entering the grounds, I realized luck was really with me as the small yellow building turned out not to be an office but the empty and locked Jewish Chapel with signage about the Jewish Cemetery I now found myself in. It was completely deserted in a beautiful forest, with gravesites bounded by old stones but carrying new family headstones.
At the entrance of the site, near the chapel were three monuments to the Jews of Tallinn who had been killed in 1942 by the forces under German control.
As I walked around the expanse, from older area to newer area, I saw that it was bordered by a wire fence but with a new section more recently opened and with a few recent graves. So this is very much an active space today for the few Jewish families remaining in the area. About half the tombstones were engraved in Russian script, which I can read, and the other half in Estonian and Hebrew. From the dates on the gravestones, it became apparent to me that after Estonia was declared “Juden Frei”, many Jews returned to their former homes at the end of the war. In addition there was undoubtedly a large influx of Jews from other parts of the Soviet Union seeking a better life in Estonia after the war. Russian was still the main language for many of those immigrants creating what must have created somewhat of a split within the community, between the Russian and Estonian speakers.
I enjoyed walking around by myself in the very peaceful and quiet space, seeing the great variety of family headstones, some better maintained than others.
I took another Bolt car back to the hotel driven by a young English speaking woman born in Tallinn who was happy to speak to me about how the roads are very quickly cleared here when winter comes and about the schools when I asked some questions about their system..
Back at the hotel one of my tour members and I took a walk to one of the largest newest shopping centers in this part of town as we both needed some help with our electronics and there we found many small stores catering to phones and computers, an enormous area for all the cosmetic and beauty companies in the world, as well as a large food court from where we ordered and took back our dinners. Not the most scenic sight but an interesting contrast to the old shops only a little further away in the historical center of town.
Exhausted, since I had very little sleep the night before, I am grateful to be back in my hotel room with a beautiful view facing the churches and spires of the old town.