Sea
breakfast- checked. We were on an
early ferry to Tallinn, the beautiful Estonian capital or the medieval pearl. We thought it’d be good to catch
the earliest crossing in order to enjoy a full day over in Tallinn and in
addition, of course, we wanted to benefit from the all you can eat breakfast buffet on the boat. That’s a decent way
to start your day and prepare for the long day of wandering!
Just
in time to have enjoyed the breakfast, we arrived to the harbor. A short drive
later, we got to the gates of the Old
Town, where we had an apartment waiting for us. It turned out to be a super
charming apartment with more than a convenient location. The good thing about
the old town is that it’s pretty small-sized area and easy to get around by
foot. After settling in, we were off to the
must-sees of this UNESCO’s World Heritage site, and wanted just soak in all
the medieval vibes of it. In effect, Tallinn is not a place like Paris where
you can’t go through all necessary sites in a weekend, but on the contrary,
you can really see a lot in just one day (if you talk about the famous
landmarks). For us that was good news and it just made our short visit that
much better knowing we didn’t have to spend the entire time running from one
place to another without actually grasping what Tallinn really is about- the intriguing
ambience.
We
started out with getting around the area called Toompea, which is the other major part of the old town and located
on a hill, offering great views down to the rest of the old town. It’s a
perfect way to get swept away by Tallinn and be enchanted by all the historical
monuments such as the castle, cathedral, and the parliament that all
reside there.
For
me, one of the most typical and distinct features of this city must be the city walls and particularly its
multiple towers with the red brick roofs- they seem to pop out every time you
see or think of an image of Tallinn. The Viru
Gate is probably one of the most notable one and functions as an entry
point to the city. Other prominent sights includes the elegant Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which
unfortunately was under some façade reconstruction at the time, making it downright
impossible to get a good shot of it. Aside from that, we just loved walking
around the area near the cathedral, mostly admiring the architecture and
colorful buildings that were all around. Every now and then they had those
little boutiques with lots of typical handcrafts and cute souvenirs, and surely
we couldn’t resist. Later on we made our way
down to the Lower Town through the
passage known as The Long Leg, which
connects the two town parts to each other.
As
we walked along, we finally came to the Viru Gate. There is a place nearby where you can actually walk on the ancient city wall (against a small fee). If
you follow the little street with woolen handwork stalls, you can’t miss it.
Just a few steps away we stumbled upon this beautiful alley St. Catherine’s Passage, which was also filled
with handcraft workshops and galleries: everything from glass- to wood arts.
Definitely places to check out if you are keen to see some local products at
their best.
Following
the passage further we ran into many cozy looking restaurants and café shops
with inviting outdoor terraces, that for the time being were totally deserted
due to the rain that had just started to fall. We wanted to make our way to the
central town hall square Raekoja plats,
and look for some hideout from the rain. Around the main square it’s not really
hard to find places to sit down, as it’s literally bulging with restaurants,
bars, terraces- you name it. We got
in to this restaurant that had just the most amazing medieval theme going on-
everything from decorations to menus, waitress costumes, and even to the
actual presentation of food! We truly had a blast drinking beer from the past! And
that’s not all, in the end of it; we were able to pay with medieval coins!
(It’s actually just a tourist thing they do outside the ‘medieval’ restaurants;
they give you these coins that let you get some traditional homemade drinks for
free in any of the surrounding restaurants…)
Somewhere
in between of getting lost in the olden days and the delicious bite we were
having, the rain outside had diminished and we were able to get on our feet
again. Life around the town square was immediately back on track after the
rain, and all the terraces were as full as before. People didn’t seem to be
bothered by a little harmless summer rain, and neither were we as we moved along
taking pictures and enjoying all the pretty details around us.
Later
in the evening we came back to one of the restaurants we had seen around the
main square, a place called Estlander.
As the name already suggests, it had (at least from the looks of it) a very
typical Estonian cuisine with different meats and vegetables in every shape and form- plates of food
to share with everyone. Boy was that delicious!
Afterwards the elderly headed
back to catch on their sleep while me and Denis wanted to check the lively town
at night. Just around the corner from the main square there are plenty of bars,
and we wanted to ask some locals where to find the good one. We were advised
to go to Hell Hunt (no, not to hell-
Estonians are pretty nice people after all…;)), the allegedly best spot around.
We followed their orders and went for it, and were throughout pleased with the
place. We each had a good pint of beer before heading back to the apartment in
pouring rain. Regardless, we did one last
stop at the town square namely a photo session! Tallinn by night- checked.
The
next morning we were ready to hit the road and get our Via Baltica route
properly started. We were on our way, and the navigator was showing our next
destination- Riga, Latvia.
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