Tallinn was a pleasant surprise, more enjoyable perhaps than Helsinki, from where I caught a ferry across the Baltic Sea to Estonia. Tallinn is by far the largest city in Estonia, but it is a small country. It had a lovely old town but the new town was also surprisingly attractive in places, and home to two incredible museums.

Lennusadam is part of the Estonian Maritime Museum, and is probably the best maritime museum I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to quite a few! For starters it is in an incredible location, a seaplane hanger built in 1917 with pioneering techniques to form huge, but ultra thin, concrete domes. The lighting inside is superb as the photos hopefully illustrate.

The main attraction is the Lembit submarine, built in 1937 by the British for the Estonian Navy. It actually felt quite spacious inside compared with other submarines I’ve explored, but would still be my worst nightmare to be crewed on one.

There are a wide range of Estonian boats, old and new (including ones for skating across frozen ice), navel guns, a seaplane and a tank.

This bridge was cool, but unfortunately only accessible on a tour.

My other favourite was the Maarjamäe Castle Estonian History Museum, housed in a summer palace built by a wealthy Russian in the 1870s. It brilliantly tells the story of Estonia from the 19th century onwards, with earlier history covered at the Estonian History Museum in the Old Town.

I visited national history museums throughout Scandinavia and the Baltics, and this was the best. For me it struck the balance perfectly between objects and text to read, and I learnt a lot about this fascinating country.

Behind the castle are a number of Communist era statues that have been saved.

The main attraction for most visitors in Tallinn though is the Old Town, which was a pleasure to explore, filled with beautiful buildings and streets.

It only takes a few hours on foot to cover pretty much everything. I walked in a clockwise loop from the 16th century Viru Gates out to the sizeable St. Nicholas’ Church and Museum, which was closed on the Monday I visited, along with most of other museums.

Above it the Danish King’s Garden had some creepy giant hooded monk statues.

The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was a classic Orthodox Church built in 1900, highly decorative inside and out, though photography is not allowed inside.

St Mary’s Cathedral is also known as Dome Church, but it was more scaffolding church when I visited.

The remains of the nearby 14th century Toompea Castle now house the Estonian Parliament.

The Old Town is split into Upper Town and Lower Town, with the Upper Town home to the places above from the Danish King’s Garden and a number of lookouts over the Lower Town and outside the original city walls. These include the Piiskopi, Patkuli and Kohtuotsa viewing area platforms.

There are some impressive parts of the city walls.

Back in the Lower Town is the bustling Town Hall Square, home to the only surviving Gothic town hall in Northern Europe.

There are some interestingly named gates around the Old Town including Long Leg Gate Tower and Great Coastal Gate.

To finish with the huge St Olaf’s Church, Tallinn’s largest medieval structure. The 159m tall steeple installed in 1500 was the tallest building the world at the time, but unfortunately was struck by lightning and burnt down. The current steeple is a mere 124m tall…