Tallinn, the medieval, mobile-mad capital of Estonia, owes its fortunes and seemingly endless misfortunes to its strategic location on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, where northern Europe and the Orient collide. The city has been moulded by a curious combination of Teutonic efficiency and Russian extravagance. Although its Old Town is often described as “fairy-tale”, there is not a hint of tweeness in the architecture: the soaring spires of the churches and the narrow, Hanseatic merchants’ houses, leaning perilously into the streets and washed wit watery limes, yellows and pinks, are unfussy, even austere. The “sleeping beauty” feel comes from the forest that encircles the Old Town, softening the edges of the rugged city walls.

   
  Tallinn Old town