Travelled: 78 kilometres by ferry from Helsinki, Finland to Tallinn, Estonia.
Visited: Tallinn (The Old City). Return ferry passage âŹ22pp.
Stayed: Back in our parking spot in Helsinki by 8pm.
We had kept a day for Tallinn aside during our stay in Helsinki. Tallinn is the Estonian capital. Originally we planned to catch the fast ferry on Tuesday, but it was cancelled due to bad weather. So we tried again on Wednesday on the big ferry which is less susceptible to weather. So we got ourselves up bright and early walking to the tram stop rather than the bus, 20 minutes later we were outside the terminal looking at a sign stating the new terminal is 700 metres further along the port. Should have stayed on the tram for another stop…
Finland
From the viewing platform of the new terminal building, we can see our ferry, the Megastar.
Our ferry arrives in Tallinn after an easy 2 hour voyage. It did roll around a little so the big ferry was probably the right choice. As soon as the green light comes on the charge down the gangway begins.
Estonia
Walking up from the port the first sign of the Old City is the Great Coastal Gate also known under the less polite title of Fat Margaret’s Tower.
Not far from the gate we come across St. Olav’s Church. Cannot get far enough away to get a half decent photo, but I thought these stone carvings under the window were interesting.
The alter of St Olav’s Church in Tallinn.
You may notice from this photo that there seems to be an issue with the church’s acoustics ? Every aisle has at least 2 sometimes 3 speakers. Suddenly through the sound system we hear the song ‘telephone to Jesus’ playing and we realise these are not speakers but micophones and Jesus is waiting for our call…I am happy enough, but Pam’s phone suddenly ring and she runs outside…
There are signs of the old walls and towers here and there as we wander about. Some buildings in the old city of Tallinn look unloved, but probably reflects the fact that Estonia was part of the Soviet Union until its collapse.
The streets of Tallinn are quiet as we walk along. The tourist season is over and there are just a few people about. We don’t mind it makes for an easy walk. Although the cobbled streets are a bit of a challenge.
Given the ferry arrived in Tallinn at 12.30pm and we have been walking around for an hour or so, lunch is calling. There’s a wide selection of traditional Estonian pizza and hamburger places on offer. However in a dark corner we stumble across SchnitzelHaus a traditional Estonian style German restuarant.
All that aside it’s a basement restuarant, vaulted ceilings with a traditional feel. Our waitress is a lovely young woman with good English. Anyway we enjoyed our lunch and a couple of local beers and wine at a reasonable price.
St Nicholas Church in Tallinn, now a museum.
Another street corner in Tallinn. As we wander down toward the market there are more people about.
We find lots of interesting doorways and alleys, many of the renovated buildings we see are foreign embassies.
Pam and some Tallinn street art.
Near the markets, a section of the old city walls and towers remain intact.
It’s getting late and progressively colder as the afternoon passes. We walk through what’s left of another old gate and back to the ferry.
Estonia only has a population of 1.3 million people spread across the mainland and more than 2,200 islands. It would seem however it bats above its weight when it come to alcohol consumption as there are more bottle shops than you can count around the port. In reality Estonia is very popular with the Scandinavians who all visit here regularly buying huge amounts of beer, wine and spirits tax free and taking it home on the various ferries that stop in Tallinn.
So to help the local economy we purchase a few bottle of wine from Chile to add to Pam’s now limited wine celler.
Guess where we are? Tallin. Pity we didn’t know could have caught up. Actually been here for two days and unfortunately on the move tomorrow going to Latvia. Could have spent another day here at least.
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Guess where we are? Tallin. Pity we didn’t know could have caught up. Actually been here for two days and unfortunately on the move tomorrow going to Latvia. Could have spent another day here at least.