The Baltics - Tallinn & Riga

Tallinn skyline

We were met at our buses by “Nina,” the Intourist guide who would stay with us throughout our travels in the Soviet Union. Intourist was a government agency - the official state travel agency of the Soviet Union - and Intourist personnel accompanied virtually all foreign travelers in the USSR. We stayed in Intourist hotels as we traveled, and we ate most of our meals in the Intourist hotel restaurants. In each city that we visited, Nina was joined by local Intourist guides who assisted with our various activities. 

It may have been vanity (or paranoia) on our part, but we assumed that Nina and our other Intourist guides reported in some fashion to the KGB or other security services. Whatever reporting took place was probably pretty dull. We did not present much of a threat.

I took this photo on the way to our first event, the Estonian Song Festival. The spire near the center of the photograph is St. Olaf’s church, perhaps the best known Tallinn landmark. The high ground to the left is Toompea, which means "Cathedral Hill" in Estonian. It is the site of historic fortifications, churches, and government buildings of Tallinn’s “Upper Town.”

Before I tell you about the Song Festival, let's take a little detour for some context.