Lanky characters at hostelry in European capital (7)
I believe the answer is:
tallinn
'european capital' is the definition.
(capital of Estonia)
'lanky characters at hostelry in' is the wordplay.
'lanky' becomes 'll' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'characters' indicates anagramming the letters.
'hostelry' becomes 'inn' (synonyms).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'at' is an anagram of 'ta'.
'ta'+'inn'='tainn'
'll' going inside 'tainn' is 'TALLINN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tallinn that I've seen before include "Capital on the Gulf of Finland" , "European capital" , "Estonian city" , "Capital of Estonia" .)