Blogs from Tallinn, Estonia, Europe - page 33

HI Today I took the 1.5 hour fast boat to Tallinn.. What a city.. I LOVED it.. it was so amazing.. The weather had been bad and the boats did not go yesterday and wouldn't go today till noon. They couldn't guarantee that I could make it back to Helsinki but I took the chance and went anyways.. and I am SO glad I did.. I now wish I had come sooner and went to Lithuania and Latvia as well.. but what can you do.. The old city is like nothing I have seen so far.. my Favorite place to date. The narrow, and I mean narrow, uneven cobblestone streets that seem to go no where and then you see a tiny alley or stairway that really IS still a street.. the unending church spires and ... read more

Weather: raining, no wait, sunny! no... raining, no, it's sunny! I think they call this unsettled? I emailed this to a friend, then realised it would make a good entry, so thanks to the miracle of cut&paste, here is a summary of my first 3 days on the road: We're in Tallinn now - I arrived in Helsinki on monday evening after 25 hours travelling (it usually takes that long to cross the world, but to cross europe, it seemed a little much), spent 24 hours there, and have spent the last 2 nights in Tallinn. We're still in Tallinn, but have moved from our pleasant but overpriced hostel to a much less pleasant but still overpriced camping ground 10 mins out of the city. It hasn't stopped raining for more than an hour or so ... read more

We arrived in Tallinn at 5.40am morning of the 25th after a nightmarish overnight bus journey from St. Petersburg. It wouldn't have been so bad except for the border crossing, one for exiting Russia and one for entering Estonia. You think leaving a country would be easy crossing the border out of Russia was quite a big ordeal. 2am in the morning we all have to get off the bus, take our rucksacks,bags etc and got through immigration which took ages and then through customs which took another hour or so. After boarding the bus again finally we travelled through no mans land for about 20mins and then hit the Estonia border and had to repeat the process again. After a local bus ride which we thought would take us into the old town but took ... read more

For any city to be compared favourably to Prague must be complementary. However Estonia's delightful capital falls short in two areas; there is no view as spectacularly romantic as the nighttime vista of the Prague Castle and Charles Bridge - the most beautiful view in any European city I have visited.; tthe other area in which Tallin appears lacking is the atmospheric smoking dungeon bars full of old and ond-style locals, drinking beer and eating plates of meat and lard. In contrast Tallin is almost too cool, too chic, maybe perhaps a little too Scandinavian ? The medieval old town, in which we stayed, is World Heritage listed and comprises winding cobbled streets, spired churches, hidden courtyards and the impressive Russian orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral atop the Tomppea Hill. the original castle fortess where Tallin was ... read more

What a nice afternoon! Sitting in the main square having a couple cold 'Sako' beers. Very nice day. Make sure you bring your jacket for when the sun goes down. I stayed at the Domina City Hotel (http://www.dominahotels.com/eng/products/overview.aspx?idmaster=66). What a GRAND PLACE! Outstanding rooms, reasonable price, good food/bar and high speed wireless internet! Just around the corner from Pegasus (http://www.restoranpegasus.ee/), multi-floor establishment. I did most of my report writing for work there ;) over a couple beers. Good club music too!... read more