Blogs from Tallinn, Estonia, Europe - page 17

The only thing more beautiful than the city of Tallinn is the women. I mean I didn't talk to any of them , but if you are able to talk to beautiful women, like techno music, and can handle seizure inducing lights then Tallinn is the place for you. I was propositioned twice. The first time I said that I didn't pay money for women I preferred to pay in emotional heart ache. I don't think she got it. The second time I asked if it lasted under a minute was it free. I laughed, she walked away. I don't think she got it. But the city really was a great place. I couldn't find the first couple hostels that I tried but eventually ran into one and booked a couple nights that I would later ... read more

We flew in on the red-eye from Almaty to Riga, and as the sun came up over the Russian Steppe I gazed out of the window onto parts of the world that hadn’t previously existed even in my imagination. We’d planned months before to cross Kazakhstan to Russia to Europe, overland. But time had caught up with us. China will do that to you. I had one overriding wish driving into Riga on that overcast morning on the airport bus, and it appeared it had been granted. Europe in all its autumnal glory, that beautiful bittersweet season marking the end of summer and nature’s retreat; its glorious decay merging poetically with some of the abandoned buildings of a now increasingly distant Soviet past. The past is something we carry around with us, just waiting, it seems, ... read more

Tallin, Estonia, a 15 de octubre del 2008. Saludes: Mando saludos a todo mundo en este mi ultimo dia en Estonia, que para variar durante toda mi estancia estuvo nublado y ventoso y ahora que me voy amanecio el sol brillando a todo lo que da... Ni modo... En la noche salgo en autobus para Lituania y asi me ahorrare una noche de hospedaje (con las puntadas de los banqueros y politicos en el D.F. pues ya me devaluaron el peso en plena primer semana vacacional, asi que a ahorrar)... Fueron 4 dias en Tallin, y puedo comentarles lo siguiente: * La gente me trato mucho mas amable, abierta, facil de socializar y hasta en la calle me saludaron para preguntarme de donde era. * La gente es mas platicadora, hablan, se rien. * Esta ciudad ... read more

Arriving in to Prague quite late at night we wandered around the streets trying to find a place to stay. After some confusion on directions, we found a hostel with a very strange owner but with a great location. We settled into our room where we met a strange Ukranian guy who obviously wanted to practise his english on us. We spent the next day walking through the old town of Prague. Words like "fairy tale city" are thrown around in guide books but it really is rather breathtaking. It's a very picturesqe city with a castle and lots of medievil architecture. We were also lucky enough for some festival to be going on in the main square, with traditional food and drinks tents - not wanting to miss out on any cultural activities, Garry of ... read more

We are determined to see one national park in every country we visit, so today we headed off to Lahemaa National Park. Looking at the guide, it seemed we could use any of three towns as a base, all of which were on the same busline: Käsmu, an old captains’ village; Võsu, a popular beach town; and Altja, a tiny fishing village at the end of the line that has a swing on a hill. (Apparently swings are a thing of high sport in Estonia.) Turned off by beachgoers and intrigued by swings, we checked the schedule for Altja. Five hours between drop-off and pickup; sounded reasonable for a couple of short hikes. We approached the ticket counter. “Kaks pileetid Altjasse. Edasi-tagasi,” we said in broken Estonian. (“Two tickets to Altja. Round trip.”) “Ei edasi-tagasi. One ... read more