Medieval Tallinn and Olde Hansa Restaurant

As you may have deduced from my posts from the Turku Medieval Fair and the Häme Medieval Fair, we are something of Medieval enthusiasts. This is one of the reasons we like Tallinn: the old, Medieval part of the city is so beautiful. We always spend most of our time in Tallinn walking around the narrow alleys, admiring the lovely houses and just enjoying the atmosphere.

The old Town Hall Square and the Town Hall (during the day and at night).

You always discover something new. This time we ended up in an apothecary museum. It was a lovely old room with lots of information about medicine in the past. The glass jars on display featured such items as a mummy’s hand, a hedgehod, a frog... These fascinated my daughter endlessly. It was a small place, but very interesting!

 

One of the places we always go to is the Medieval restaurant Olde Hansa. It is a stunningly beautiful place, the staff is dressed in Medieval garments, and there is often live music in the evenings (the ”house band”, Olde Hansa Musicus). Downstairs you can find a Medieval Shoppe with pottery, glass ware, jewellery, soap, leather belts and purses, clothes...

 

As we often do, we spent one night in Olde Hansa. I said one night, because this is a restaurant where you want to order three courses or linger over drinks just to enjoy the atmosphere, it truly is something special. It also gets rather crowded when the night progresses, so it's good to plan ahead and not be in a hurry. The food is very authentic; you will find no potatoes or tomatoes or chocolate here (alas, no mead, either!) but barley, various meats and fish, pastries etc. Olde Hansa is the house of a rich merchant, so you dine like well-to-do people might have done (not everyone had access to expensive spices, like ginger and peppers, for instance). The service is friendly, and you get to hear little stories about the dishes and old dining customs etc.

 

 

We started with delicious toasted cheese flavoured with juniper and herbs which was served with nut bread. This was very good. The main course was chicken in almond sauce. This was also very tasty, although the portion was much too large for me (especially after splitting the cheese thing with my daughter).

 

For dessert, we ordered rose pudding. This dish looked absolutely charming, very romantic – and it did taste like roses! It was a creamy, silky, rich pudding but not too filling. Just the right thing to finish off a wonderful meal.

 

We like this place so much that, three years ago, we chose it as the place (well, one of them) where we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary.

Travel Tales – Going Medieval: Ruins of Kuusisto Castle and Medieval Churches

On our recent road trip (previous part here), we also visited a couple of Medieval sights. Among these were the ruins of Kuusisto Castle near Turku. It used to be an episcopal castle (bishop’s residence) and was built around the early 14^th century... only to be ordered to be demolished in 1528 by the King Gustav I of Sweden. All that is left now are ruins, but they’re rather impressive and hugely interesting just the same. It’s a beautiful place and well worth a visit.

We also happened to drive by a couple of Medieval stone churches. Considering how sparsely populated Finland was at the time (still is, one could say), it is amazing to think that such buildings were constructed in this remote corner of the world. Yes, well, this was the time when great cathedrals were built, and these stone churches do seem very modest in comparison. But I’ll have to say that I prefer their simpler, more austere style, and somehow it just seems to be a better fit for Finland. Still, these churches must have been real marvels when they were built.

The church in Nousiainen. It looks much smaller from the outside and in pictures, I was astonished to walk in and see how large it actually is.

The church in Rusko was already closed when we got there, so we only got to look at it from the outside. Nearby was a picturesque old stone bridge.

The Lieto church. All these churches have undergone various kinds of renovations and restorations, so none of them is in the condition it was when first built but rather exhibits various layers, items etc. from various centuries (e.g. the murals on the walls were often painted over during the reformation, but efforts have been made to uncover them).

Going Medieval... again

It's been a long time since my last post - I'm blaming not just the summer but also various health issues I've had to deal with recently. After such a long break, I thought I'd start easy and simply post some pictures from last weekend.

That was the Medieval weekend in our home town, and our entire clan (all three of us) attended the Medieval Fair around (and in) the castle. This is always one of the most anticipated events of the year for us. We spent two days at the fair, the weather was wonderful, and we had a great time.

A family portrait (plus a few others):

A few details:

Music is always one of my favourite things about Medieval Fairs. You can just sit back and listen, and sometimes the music carries you away, into another place and time...

Misty Clan:

Greenrose Faire:

The Rower:

My daughter's favourite thing are the animals (there were horses and ponies, donkeys, sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits and a calf, a hen and a rooster):

 

 Vikings are coming!

I found myself a cute little axe! :)