Pretty old Tallinn town

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The start to our week away was a little shambolic. We went to see Black Eyed Peas at the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park and decided to ‘party’ like we were 26 again with not a great result. Luckily we were packed and once the taxi called for the second time at 4.30am we were out the door in less than 10mins. On arrival at Stanstead Airport we joined the longest queue I have ever seen for our Easyjet flight. It went down the hall so you weren’t even in the area where you line up for the counters. You were lining up to get into the area to line up for a counter. The flight was long (3hrs) and uncomfortable; those cheap flights are just a little too squished for a flight that long. Our hotel (The Telgraaf) in Tallinn was delightful; an oasis of lovely! Our room was ready and we had a great view of the Tallinn’s old town. Later that evening we mused as the various hens and stag do’s kicked off for the evening, bad behaviour was definitely on the cards. We enjoyed a traditional Estonian medieval dinner with the waiters dressed in traditional outfits. Cutlery and cups were all old school. The food here is very meaty but they use lots of lovely herbs and spices, so very tasty. Given we are so far north and the middle of summer the nights never really get dark so it didn’t make for a good night’s sleep the entire time we were there. Even at 2.30am you could see light peaking through the curtains. If there was ever a place screaming for black out curtains this was it.
The next morning we enjoyed a lovely breakfast in the hotels outside terrace area before heading off on a private walking tour of the old town and harbour side. We didn’t realise it was private until we arrived, we were the only ones booked. The start point was right in the middle of where the national song contest parade was kicking off from. The Estonian’s love a song, and in fact when they gained independents from USSR in 1991 it was so peaceful it was called the Singing Revolution. More than 300,000 people went to the national song stadium, sang and raised the blue, black and white Estonian flag. It was great to see all the kids in the national costumes of their particular city or providence. Tallinn although the capital is rather small, only 400k people live here. However the country itself has a smaller population than NZ, there is only 1.3m people and about 26%!o(MISSING)f that population is of Russian heritage. The walk went up to the old town walls and wound its way through the cobbled lanes, past the various churches of the countries that had ruled over this nation at one point or another; Swedish, Danish, Germans, Russians (three times). The old town sits on a hill of lime stone so it was a great position to guard the harbour. We went to a couple of look out points and you could clearly see all the cruise ships in the harbour. You really feel the ‘cruise effect’ of people following little numbers round the city and then late afternoon they are gone. Our tour guide was a very sweet student; she delighted in telling us to watch out for the people in Riga as they have six toes. So that is why you won’t see any of them wearing fip-flops – a normal neighbouring country rivalry at work. They country was badly affected by the second Russia occupation and most of the politicians, scholars and educated were sent away to Siberia. Our guides grandfather was one of them, but was lucky enough to return after 8 or so long years. We left the old city and ventured down to the harbour front. We walked through a very old run down market and past an up and coming part of the city, which had lovely old wooden houses. The harbour had recently had a bike/walk path installed due to Tallinn being the European Cultural capital for 2011. The harbour itself was still being completed, wasn’t quite finished in time for 2011! Our next stop was an old prison which was pretty grim, but they are going to turn it into a cultural/performance centre. Then we visit an old soviet building, concrete everywhere and no style, standard design. It was built for the 80’ Moscow Olympics (Tallinn held the sailing competition), however the concert hall was no longer in use as it is no longer safe – not great craftsmanship and a little embarrassing given the fortress built in the 1300’s is still standing. That evening we sampled some local Mexican food, not great but a fun experience. Tallinn is full of fantastic restaurants. I was rather amazed by the selection of various options (Indian, Thai, French, Russia, Italian, etc). Even later that evening back in the hotels terrace we sampled the local sweet liqueur vodka called ‘Old Tallinn’ - a very good recommendation from our guide.
The next morning we went on a bike tour which we just made by the skin of our teeth. Who knew 11am start meant actually leaving at 11am. Anyways, we were soon zipping along the port and past the HUGE alcohol stores. Like the Brits in Calais, the Finns come across the short 80km waterway and stockpile large volumes of booze before heading back home. On the bike we visited the old summer palace of the Russian empire, the current Presidential Palace, the song stadium, WWII memorial (in a little bit of disrepair), then the beach and Olympic sailing venue before burning back around the harbour to Old Town. We decided to wander around a bit more and discovered a lovely little side road to enjoy lunch on directly opposite some old tomb stones. That afternoon I had a divine massage in the hotels spa and a quick dip in the small pool before we enjoyed a final meal at an organic place and another Old Tallinn.
Photos

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