Tallinn

The first mention of Tallinn is in fact on a map, one that was produced in I 154. Its attraction remains as a medieval city, whether you look down at the cobbles, or up at the church steeples, one of which was the tallest in Europe when it was first built in 1267. Look straight ahead too, at the city walls, the towers, the massive doors and the wooden gables. Leave some time for going behind these doors, perhaps into the Old Town Hall, where merchants used to plan for Tallinn's every-gneater prosperity, or perhaps into the City Museum which displays the treasures in which this prosperity enabled them to indulge.

Behind more modern doors will be an extraordinary range of surprises; it could be a French meal worthy of Paris or an Italian one worthy of Rome. It could instead be an art shop, where the major dilemma will be whether you should stock up with glass or with tableware made from juniper

Do however leave the Old Town during your stay in Tallinn. KUMU.the new art gallery that opened in February 2006, shows the best of what Estonian painters did during the 20th century. Kadriorg Park nearby houses a palace, a Chinese porcelain collection and a small cottage that Peter The Great built. Rural Estonia over the last 200 years is conveniently

brought together at the Rocca Al Mare Open-Air Museum, where you can! see how Estonian peasants lived and worked and also sample the varied j food they managed to enjoy. Boat out to the islands too: Naissaar for instance now has its own music festival through the summer which rivals | anything on offer on the mainland.