Wednesday, April 26, 2017

TRAVEL SPECIAL .....A mish-mash of old-world and modern charm

TRAVEL .... A mish-mash of old-world and modern charm


Cobbled streets, Gothic architecture and gourmet restaurants define this city

TALLINN
Region: Estonia


Tallinn's Old Town with its lively medieval street exudes a mish-mash of old-world and contemporary charm. An ideal destination for the entire family, children will particularly enjoy the Estonian Open Air Museum, the zoo, the beaches, Kalev Spa Waterpark and the Harju Ice Rink. There's a large playground in Kadriorg Park and another one in Hirvepark, downhill from Toompea.


Nuku Museum of Puppet Arts: The state puppet museum has lots of historic puppets behind glass but plenty to play with, too.There's a Cellar of Horrors full of `evil and scary puppets' , a dress-up room, a shadow theatre and windows into the workshops where the puppets are made. While the performances are in Estonian, but the visual fun is multilingual.


Tschu-tschu: This is a happy, blue little tourist train that makes a 20-minute circuit through the streets of Old Town all year long.


Estonian Maritime Museum: This interesting museum is housed in one of Tallinn's cannon towers. The museum shares Tallinn's seafaring past and has lots of model boats. There are also some tables set up for kids where they can draw and colour too.


Miiamilla Children's Museum, Kadriorg: It is located by the playground in Kadriorg Park. It is lots of fun for preschoolers and kids with a playroom area with lots of different things to do and the `museum' part which has activities such as a pretend shop, post-office and old-fashioned camera. There is plenty of cars and trucks as well as a track to play with them all. There is also a drawing room.


Tallinn Zoo: This pleasant zoo is also in a lovely location not far from the Open Air Museum. It's home to many Nordic animals as well as some others such as elephants, black bears and wallabies. The easiest way to get here or the open air museum is via the hop-on, hopoff sightseeing


ETTR 20APR17 

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