At noon the free walking tour was to begin at the tourist info office. I`d done one of these before in Plovdiv Bulgaria which was good with local knowledge but a bit slow for my pace. There was about 50 of us so they had to divide us into two groups.

Our guide was Helli who was enthusiastic and theatrical in her stories. The first stop was the ``eye of the needle```. As a prisoner was being led away for execution if they could wrestle away and make it up this narrow passage to the church they would be pardoned. However the passage was lined with men to stop them so not easy, although some did manage.

The name Estonia is not local. The land was named the eastlands by the Vikings. Their history starts in the 13th Century when the Swedes brought Christianity. It was then under German overlordship till about WWI. The land would change hands between Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, but they kept the German overlords to keep local control.

In 1918 they tried to declare independence. Denmark, Sweden, and UK did send nomimal aid but the European powers didnt seem that interested and Germany suppressed the movement.

In 1939 the Baltics declared themselves independent, but the Soviet Union then ordered them to accept Soviet troops for their protection or they would invade. 50,000 troops came increasing to 100,000 and they were incorporated into the USSR.

A major church was bombed during WWII. When they asked for aid to rebuild it they know the athiest Soviets wouldnt allow it so they came up with in ingenious idea of proclaiming it a museum of athiesm to get the building permission and funding.

In Freedom Square a glass cross was built for 9m Euros built to withstand a nuclear attack. It was built by a Czech company. However there are ongoing lawsuits as the gl***************ing from the heat.

Next was the 'Peep in the Kitchen' tower so called as you could spy on the homes in the lower town. It became quite a item of curiosity or for business rivals to see who was coming and going from persons homes. The Swedes also built tunnels under the tower.

The lower town needed workers so if a slave escaped from upper town and worked for one year without being caught they would earn their freedom.

Next was the Nevsky Cathedral, of the same name of a Cathedral in St Petersburg I saw. He is revered by Russians as he tricked a German army into advancing onto a sheet of ice which broke, so he is seen to have devine powers for saving his people.

There is also a spot where the Danish flag is said to have originated. The demoralized Danish army looked for a sign in the face of defeat. A piece of cloth with the red and white symbol is said to have fell from the sky into the Kings hand and was seen to be a devine hand when the Danes later succeeded in battle.

The three colours of the Estonian flag symbolize blue for the sky, black for the sorrows during occupation, and white for the pure land.

Another Danish folklore is the site of the city. It is said they were chasing a deer who ran and jumped off a cliff. The King felt this was such a beautiful act that they built a settlement here. However locals dismiss this as nonsense.

By the Parliament is the flag tower. During WWII someone scaled it and took down the Nazi flag but was never seen again. Another merchant homes raised his fortunes by turning off the lighthouse and causing ships to crash. By law half of any salvage belongs to the owner so he amassed a fortune.

During Soviet times fruit was a luxury commodity. A friends mum had a banana so she walked up and down the old town all day holding it and catching peoples attention. She ate half and continued again the next day. An interesting movie about those times is 'Disco and the Atomic Bomb'.

During the 90s there was vigilante beatings by citizens doing the dirty work police couldnt do when the Soviet Union collapsed and there was a growing underworld..

Despite the wealth of information this tour was taking really long. It finally finished after 2.5 hours which is ridiculously too long. Normally these are an hour to 90 mins, but 2.5 hours is just too much.

I still had to get lunch, and we dont go inside any places so I had to backtrack to go inside the churches and museums before they closed as I was only here for one day.

I just grabbed a Hessburger again as I was short on time.