Generously planted with oak, chestnut and lime trees and criss-crossed with avenues, Kadriorg, 2km east of the Old Town, is Tallinn’s favourite park.

Together with the palace at its centre, it was built for Tsar Peter the Great; after his conquest of Estonia in 1711, Peter began planning the park as a gift to his mistress Marta Skavronskaya. A serving girl of Lithuanian origin, Skavronskaya was taken as war booty by General Sheremetiev during one of his campaigns in Livonia and used as human currency at the Russian court – Sheremetiev gave her to Prince Menschikov, who in turn presented her to Peter in 1703. She remained the Tsar’s companion thereafter, becoming Empress Catherine in 1724, hence the name of the park – Kadriorg is Estonian for “Catherine’s Valley”.

Peter, who personally supervised the planting of the trees, always intended the park to be open to the public, and a stroll in Kadriorg soon became an essential fixture of the Tallinn social round. In the mid-nineteenth century, when Tallinn was one of the Russian Empire’s most popular seaside resorts, Kadriorg was the place all the summer visitors gravitated towards, enjoying a constant stream of what German writer J.G. Kohl called “promenades, balls, illuminations and pleasure parties”.