Blogs from Tallinn, Estonia, Europe - page 29

Tallinn in Twenty Photos Europe » Estonia » Tallinn By AirMailJune 19th 2007Josh & AliciaPhotos from our day trip to Tallinn's Old City. We had never previously planned to come here, until we saw the ferry trip advertised in a Finnish tourist brochure. In many ways this was the Europe we had been searching for over the last 3 months. The place was so original, untarnished, and just plain beautiful we almost felt as though had traveled back in time. It was also ironic (and a great surprise) that we ended up here on our last day in Europe. We can't think of a better way to have ended our trip to Europe!... read more

Today our tour started in the medieval town of Tallinn. We walk up tooompea hill to the palace square where we viewed Toompa castle, now the Estonian Parliament. We were able to peek into a lovely Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky cathedral. Since this was sunday, no pictures were allowed but the clergy were all dressed in their religious robes, very ornate. We continued over the cobble stone streets for an overview of the lower city. The city is on a hill with city walls protecting the lower city and larger walls protecting the upper city. There is a Catholic St Mary's Cathedral but we could not enter on Sunday. As we drove through the new city we were should where the Russian monument was removed by the Estonians and where the riots occurred just recently. ... read more

I figured if I was coming all the way to Finland, I might as well go to Estonia. For many, its an easy day trip that takes anywhere from 1 1/2 hours on a hydrofoil boat or 3 hours on a cruise type ferry. I think there are a fair number of Finnish people who enjoy making this trip for the cheap cigarettes and well, duty-free alcohol available here. I was relieved to find that the prices are similar to canadian standards. A good bench mark is always Mcdonalds and five dollars cdn will get you an extra value meal here in Tallinn. After a rainy and grey welcome to Estonia, I spent most of the day wandering around the very touristy old town. This is a unesco heritage site recognizing the well preserved medieval ... read more

Sal was right about the Lonely Planet's "Europe on a Shoestring": 'Well, that is unless you call over a thousand bucks a week "shoestring"'. Nonetheless, as we hit the end of Adventure no. 1: Europe, we thought we'd give a bit of a summary. This computer is cool, we have just realised, because you can change the nationality of the keyboard (except it keeps defaulting to hungarian). So: Happz Euro travel blog )HungarianÖ Hqppy Euro trqvel blog 9French0 So the run down.... 1. Portugal Best food: That take away chicken shop in Lagos. We would have taken away the shop too if we had been allowed. Best food 2: Those custard tarts with cinnamon and icing sugar. Hostel: Carlos House in Lagos had the most eccentric owner, and the best terrace for drinking the local ale. ... read more

Who'd have believed I'd use that joke?? Okay, so I didn't believe it either. Estonia. How do I describe it? It's.....odd. It's an Eastern European country trying desperately to haul itself out of the post-Communist malaise and into Scandinavia. Tallinn is a city that is obviously developing quickly and there is clearly a great deal of wealth making it's way into the pockets of the locals. Despite this and the removal of most of the obvious monuments to Communism some parts of the city still feel as if they are still within the border of the Soviet nation. I think some of the people think they're still there too. I took a great deal of pleasure in seeing more than a couple of Trabants still cruising around the city! Brilliant! Estonia has really had something ... read more