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When they founded it in the early
13th century, the Danes must have known they’d latched
onto something big for they quickly fortified this settlement in the
north of the oh-so-cool Estonia. Tallinn rapidly went on to become a
leading light in the Hanseatic League, and by the number of times it
changed hands – evidence of the amount of interest the city
generated – it seems the Danes were dead accurate.
Tallinn, pronounced Tah’linn, a conflation of taani
and linnus for ‘Danish’ and ‘fort’ is where the natty
new meets the obdurate old, and the two get on like a house on fire.
Today’s Tallinn, with its cobbled streets often slick with rain,
breezy bars and cool cafes, with Russian domes, Hanseatic towers,
Danish castles, Soviet suburbs and the calmness of an Estonian, is an
achingly beautiful city. |
