OLDE HANSA

There are those historians who argue that people who lived in the Middle Ages were happier overall than people who lived at any other time in human history. If this is true, then Tallinn, which developed during the 1300s, would certainly have been a happy place. A re-creation of this moment of human happiness is the restaurant Olde Hansa, in the center of the old town.

Sure, it is all glitz and show, but it is a fun place. The waiters are friendly and personable, and multilingual, and the atmosphere is studied olde tyme, with beams and banners and painted walls galore. The restaurant is on three separate floors and the live Renaissance music (lutes and recorders) is charming. But the best part is the food and drink. The honey beer (mead) is a “must drink” and the food choices vary from wild boar to elk to even bear. The best choice is a roasted ham hock that is served with barley and sauerkraut. All in all, it is quite possible that people who ate like this would have been very happy indeed.

-- Aarne