Tallinn

Continued from Stockholm

Days 4,5

Tallink had an overnight ferry that would take us from Stockholm to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Our cabin was tiny but comfortable, and later in the night, we walked through the different bars and restaurants (one of which featured a cabaret) and then on to the deck. In both cases, we found ourselves severely under-dressed! Dinner was the lasagna we had packed, and a cinnamon bun.

Breakfast is not included in the ferry ticket and needs to be purchased separately. Quite easily done online at the time of booking. It was a notch lower than the Victory Hotel level, but made up for it with the sea view. We reached Tallinn on time, and began searching for the tram/bus stop to take us to the hotel. After walking a bit, we realised that we were near enough to just continue walking! The Hestia Hotel Barons had the room ready even though we were very early. 

The hotel was built in 1912 and remodeled in 2007. But a lot of the fixtures seem to have been retained. The lift was a classic. Its mechanism was obviously modern, but its exterior is from a bygone era. The room was comfortable, and we quickly freshened up before stepping out for the day’s plan.

Our first stop was the Estonian Maritime Museum, via the Town Hall square. The square had a Christmas market which we intended to explore in detail later in the day. On the way we saw something that wasn’t in our plan – KGB cells. We added that as a “maybe” for later. The streets of Tallinn is a picture of calm. And pretty too. Unfortunately, the 10 minute walk to the museum proved futile as it was being renovated!

God was clearly and literally not on our side as St.Olaf’s church also opened its doors only for the twice-a-day sermons. Science failed us too, the Town Hall Pharmacy had no visible sign about its open hours! It took good, old -fashioned Estonian food to get us out of the train of bad luck. We thankfully didn’t get attached to our planned lunch spot and went around exploring until we spotted Kuldse Notsu Kõrts (Golden Piglet Inn). As we scanned the menu, along with a few other folks, some timely marketing happened in the form of a service staff who opened the door and simply said, “Come inside, it’s warmer!”

The restaurant specialises in Estonian cuisine – we ate Crispy pig’s ears, Moose meat with wild mushrooms in a dark beer sauce, cheesecake with dark bread and drank Vana Tallinn (so good that we picked up a bottle at the duty-free shop in the airport), cider and house wine. A good time to note that Euro is the currency in Tallinn. Made life quite simple!

After a mini break at the hotel, we got right into the afternoon plan. The Town Wall was our first stop, and a friendly elderly lady was in charge. The entry was free thanks to the Tallinn card we had bought online in advance, but the climb was steep anyway. This is only one section of the town wall, and we came across many others later in the trip. But it provides a good view of the town and its streets. From there, we walked up to the Patkuli viewing platform to watch the sunset. The sunset wasn’t really a thing but the view was grand! A path behind the platform persuaded us to explore further and we ended up accidentally visiting St.Mary’s Church, which was the plan for the next day. 

Our next stop was the Estonian History Museum, another superb example of how well history is understood and preserved in this part of the world. Clothes, accessories, literature, weapons, all provide an excellent commentary of life in earlier times. Another unique thing here is that they recognise that history is actually a continuum and thus have contemporary artefacts such as mobile phones, books and household appliances as exhibits. The old Nokia phones and an ancient laptop with a floppy drive are examples that are relatively new but still evoke nostalgia. We then slowly walked to St. Catherine’s passage at the end of which we saw another section of the City wall. The passage itself has quite a few stores though we wondered whether they were tourist-priced. We did do some trinket shopping though. 🙂

The town was getting all decked up and prettier by the minute. We walked around and shopped at the Christmas market a bit before heading off for dinner at Olde Hansa, an excellent medieval marketing effort! In addition to the restaurant, they have a shop and roadside stall, all based on medieval themes. The decor is straight out of a history book, complete with a group of bards. We drank cinnamon beer (excellent stuff) and the house white wine (sweetish) and had a sausage platter which apparently had bear, elk and wild boar meat. No way to know! We liked their bill folder enough to “borrow” it. That meant a frantic exit before it was noticed, and a run to the safety of our hotel, which we discovered was right opposite!

The next morning was dark, and the first snap below was the view from the window. The breakfast continued its steady decline from Stockholm levels, and there was a drizzle! We were relentless though, and walked up to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (bottom right) that seemed very inspired by the Russian style. Lovely sight, and an ethereal feel inside! Right opposite that was the Estonian parliament and the Toompea castle, both of which we only saw from outside. The St.Mary’s Cathedral we had visited the day before was next, and nothing had changed significantly. Our final stop was the Kohtuotsa Viewing Platform. It is smaller than the one we had visited the previous day, but had a much more panoramic view. We suddenly remembered the KGB cells we were supposed to visit, but found that they would open only at 11. That was when we had to leave for the airport!

The tram stop (for the airport) was only a 5 minute walk away. The journey is only 20 minutes, and we saw parts of the new city along the way. The Tallinn airport is relatively small, and one bottle (shopping) later, we were on our way.

Next stop: Bergen, via Oslo