Blogs from Estonia, Europe - page 5

The tour met at 10 in front of the tourist information centre. I totally scored on this tour as there were only two of us. Two more people were meant to join but they never turned up. I was rather happy that there were only two of us, as it would feel like a private tour but without the price tag of one. Our guide was really nice and told us a few things about the itinerary before we set off. We left the city and drove for a while into the suburbs. It kind of reminded me a little of my trip to North Korea, the soviet era apartment blocks, however there was a lot more traffic on the roads and advertisements for products that were familiar. We headed further away from the towns on ... read more

I was going to take the tram from a stop that was apparently nearer to the hostel, but after speaking to the receptionist, I decided to head to the central station as there would be no ticket machine at the other stop. I trudge up to the station and when I tried to use the ticket machine I found out that it was card only, great! Then my card wouldn't work on the machine. Seriously, could anything else go wrong this morning. I headed into the station and found a convenience store that sold tickets, 2.90 euros, and then made my way back outside. I only had to wait couple of minutes for the tram and it was heaving when I got on. Monday morning rush hour in Helsinki. The journey to the ferry terminal took ... read more

We arrived in Tallinn as we were breakfasting in La Travazza - our favourite breakfast spot. We were off on a tour at 9am. After walking down the long pier we were directed to the old beaten up green bus, incongruous with the sleek modern white coaches. This was our Soviet Flashback tour with a local tour guide, Comrade Jerjomin, dressed as a Russian military man. The bus was kept locked until all of us had assembled (about 14 of us, in the early morning drizzle - thank heavens for waterproof jackets) and we were told to form one line, tell him which country we were from, for he was “looking for a spy amongst us, comrades” and then marched around the outside of the bus. We then filed inside the 1991 bus (1960s model) and ... read more

We started our second day in Tallinn with a 2 hour free walking tour around the Old Town which started in Independence Square where we received a rundown on Estonian Customs and history which was very relevant to where we were standing as it is the centenary of Estonian Independence (1918-2018) even though that first independence would only last 1 day. Estonia has however enjoyed 27 years of independence since the fall of the iron curtain in 1991 however we were left with the impression that the multiple conquests over the last 600 years by the Fins, Swedes, Russians, Germans etc have left their mark on the country’s 1.3 million inhabitants in 2018. From independence square, we walked up into the Toone area of Tallin visiting the old town wall and towers and hearing about the ... read more

Today was Seth's 12th country and a new one for us as well, we woke up in glorious sun for Estonia. Being an hour ahead none of us were entirely sure when we should have breakfast but we did all at least manage it in the correct dress (we'll forget Seth trying to pull his t shirt over his head in the restaurant.....) and headed out. The shuttle bus took us to Tallinn and its safe to say we all loved it. Seth was mesmerised by yet more public transport (if you have a child who likes things that have engine si think a cruise is the very best holiday) and we loved the cross between prague and bruges as well as the much cheaper prices. Seth caught up with some much needed pigeon chasing, he ... read more