Tallinn, Estonia

Today we explored Tallinn, Estonia. It's a small country that boarders Russia that I had never heard of before prior to this trip. All the countries in the area, including Finland, Sweden, Germany, and Russia have invaded or occupied this little country, but it now enjoys its independence.

The entrance gate of this once fortified city. Just to the right of this picture is Fat Margaret, the tower that has stood guard to protect this city since the 1500's.

The main square in Tallinn was a bustling market place. We didn't buy anything there (although we did stock up on wine at the liquor store, 6 bottles for under $40 and it was all good!) but they were selling beautiful sweaters and other knitted items.

This was in the St. Nicolas church turned museum. It was built in the 1200's but was badly damaged during WWII, and has since been rebuilt. Fortunately most of the art had been evacuated prior to the war and was not lost.

This city sure has a lot of churches for being the self-proclaimed least religious city in Europe. Only 16% of residents believe in God.

This the beautiful Orthodox Church which is also called St. Nicholas. It is relatively new. It was built in the 1800's by a St. Petersburg architect, hence the onion domes. We found out that the onion dome shape both here and in Russia is supposed to look like a flame. We took this picture from the bell tower of the Lutheran Church that we climbed.