A day in Tallinn.

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Another early morning and it is really starting to grind on the old CF scale, especially when we could have slept in. Alex decided that 4.30am was a totally acceptable time to get up, however Jo and I did not see eye to eye with him, especially as we had a long day visiting the old city of Tallinn on the cards.

By 9am he was still full of beans so we decided the hour walk to the port to catch the ferry was in order. With not far to go we got hit by a fairly large shower of rain with no protection anywhere near us. Unfortunately as it was peak hour the numerous taxis that went past were already full. The kids took it with good hunour at we made it to the ferry by 10am. I must admit that as we were pretty wet I did have visions of all 4 of us returning with identical "I love Tallinn" shirts. As you are already aware the Finns have a CF of 10 when it comes to getting things done on time. Most of the rest of the family went to the other port in Helsinki that was about 10km away. They did manage to make it just as the doors were closing. Literally another 30 seconds and they would not have been allowed on board. Still it was happy reuinions all round.

Now our trip to Tallinn was to serve 2 purposes. For Phil and Sarita it was about purchasing cheap alcohol for the wedding (I will get back to this later) and for the rest us us it was about visiting an ancient city with an unbelievable amount of history. It was to be a 2 hour trip from Helsinki to Tallinn and Phi and Sarita bought Alex a present for his birthday that was last week. So to Uncle Phil and aunty Chi Chi a big CF of 10 (with a wedding on Friday it was great that they took time out to think about Alex). Now depending on who you are the CF for the presents slightly differs. The lego rates very high as which kid doesn't love lego and parents love the educational factor. The woopy cushion however does pose a totally different question. For Alex it definately gets a CF way above 10. He spent the whole boat trip (there and back) blowing it up and putting it on peoples chairs. In Tallinn it took us a far bit of convincing to stop him from bringing it out everytime we sat down. Considering the last time he learnt something off his Uncle (arm farts) we had to put up with 3 months of constant use of his new trick. So hopefully it breaks before the rest of our ourseas jaunt is finished.

After the ferry docked (dead on time of course) we made our way to the old walled city. And it was brilliant. Row and row of ancient buildings and housing. Many of them has been maintained or redtored to their formal glory. Considering many of them date back more than a thousand years it is pretty impressive. There was much to look at, to start with the town square with its town hall. A beautiful rectangle to sit, eat and have a drink as the thousands of tourists went by. There are basically no cars allowed with the ancient walls except early in the morning or very late in the afternoon. As far as a tourist destination goes I must confess that they do it very well. They know their market. Mainly older people and tour groups. So people just eat up the fact that all the workers are in traditional dress and there are jugglers and musicians etc. They are also extremely friendly. So to the Tallinnites a big CF of 8 for taking full advantage of what they have to make a buck.

Of course with so much history on offer it is not hard to find something for everyone and a museum dedicated to it. There were museums for children, dentistry, medicine, numerous crafts and medievel times. There were many others but way too many to remember or visit in a half day. There were a trillion cafe and resturants with many of them set in cellars of the ancient buildings. Many of these cellars are below street level and have very steep, narrow and small entries. Yet there is something to be said about eating in a place that was built 1300 years ago. If all of this did not take your fancy you could visits the city's chemist that has been in operation at the same sight since about 1422. Hopefully it has updated its medicines if not the building. Can just envisage you getting a bags of leeches or some other form of blood letting to make you all better. You could also visit one of the old churches that was used by the KGB during the cold war years. The bottom windows were all sealed up so you could not see or here the prisoners and there was a special spot in the tower for the agents to keep an eye on everyone. If none of that was to your fansy you could scale the ancient walls and walk where archers used to be or wander around taking photos of the many fantastic buildigs. Really a CF of 8 as there is something for everyone.

Now back to the alcohol. Apparently alcohol is very cheap in Estonia, and as Tallin is the main port people like to take advantage of that. You do not need a passport to get in and you can avoid the alcohol taxes if you are not a resident. The savings you can make are significant. Most of the people who travelled on our ferry (and there were hundreds) basically all had suit case on wheels or trolleys of some description. Those who did not have bags or trolleys came over in there cars or vans. Now I don't know for sure but there did not seem to be any limited on how much you could get, and there definately was no customs when we went back to Helsinki. On the return trip you couldn't avoid falling over the trolleys or suit cases of alcohol. There were cars entering the ferry so full that only the driver could fit in a seat. If this wasn't enough people kept buying at the supermarket on the boat (basically all you could buy was alcohol, cool drinks, chocolate and cigarettes). Then if you have all you could buy it was off to the bar and down a drink or ten. It is very common for people to travel over, buy heaps of grog and then get plastered on the way back. I can tell you there were many people with their wobbly legs on as they left the ferry. I can tell you that our cab driver was very surprised when we did not have any suit cases to put in the boot after returning from Tallinn. So if you have got a party or wedding on, or you are just a terrible drunk, then travelling from Helsinki to Tallinn is for you. Have no doubts that come Friday, when I am drinking all of Phil's alcohol (after all it is the right thing to do when you travell half way around the world for a wedding) I will be giving the Tallinn grog run (sorry trip) a very high CF in deed.

My only regret is that we did not stay for longer. You could definately spend a couple of days in Tallinn, and maybe more if you want to see other parts of Estonia. All around it was a great day, lots to see and do, and fun to spend time with the family.

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Photos

Old city centre
The town hall and square was, and still is the heart of the old city.

Ancient streets
There was much to see in the old city, for both young and old.

Getting down to a meal
Many resturants were in old cellars below the street level.

Town defence
Much of the old wall is still in place for all to see and admire.

A drink in the sun
There was always somewhere to enjoy a coffee or ale and just sit and watch the world go by.

On the ferry
The trip to Tallinn and back was very enjoyable.