Sunday 9 September – Runners, ruins and round things.

Today, our last day in Tallinn, was a bit cooler.  Having seen just about everything we wanted to see we headed off for a day of “pottering about”, watching some of the runners as they passed in the marathon, visiting a few markets stalls, walking through narrow alleyways between the old town walls and the old houses and other buildings, finding cute stairways and old tombstones hung on the walls of St Catherine’s Passage for hundreds of years.  We went into St Catherine’s church, now used for artistic displays and currently featuring large suspended orbs covered with fabrics such as wool, felting or lace. Next we visited St Peter and Paul Cathedral and wandered through the adjoining 16^th century stone corridors, featuring a large engraving of Adam and Eve, into the cloister garth with its 16^th century water well.

We stopped for a delicious lunch of mixed cured meats and various cheeses served with the local dark grain bread. After lunch we wandered to the Fat Margaret Tower (it’s not clear where the name originated) and the Great Coastal Gate, dating back to the 13^th century and originally constructed not only for defence but to impress visitors arriving by sea.  Then a last stroll through the town square and to check on the marathon stragglers before returning to our apartment to pack and prepare for the bus ride to Riga, Latvia tomorrow morning.