Blogs from Tallinn, Estonia, Europe - page 8

So, I've been a little bit busy over the last few days once arriving in my home country (well not home, but I am now a citizen here). The flight over from London was one of little space, although it all went very smoothly and I was able to get to the airport in time etc. So I got into Tallinn at about 330 and luckily for myself, a friendly face was there to meet me at the gate. Krisi Pungas (a distant relative) was there to take me to where I was to be staying. Helen and Olaf, extremely kindly offered to have me stay while in Estonia. They have two young children, Rasmus and Robert, who are both confused as to why an Estonian looking man is simply unable to respond in turn. So ... read more

Tartu is about 4 hours from Riga through country similar to what I have seen since Minsk, the very comfortable bus continued on to St Petersburg after I disembarked. First task was to buy my last bus ticket to Tallin, which I did before popping into Mcdonalds for a Royale with cheese (a very tasty burger). A taxi was next, it had a meter so no rip off for once, my hotel is a fair way from the centre but cheap in comparison to what I would pay in the old town. My room has no aircon and as usual I am cooking, I have decided to do nothing this afternoon as there probably isnt enough here to keep me busy for two days, so tomorrow I will go explore. I caught a local bus in ... read more

Tallinn, on the north coast of Estonia was one of the stops that was planned for the OCC Baltic Rally. We had heard it was an interesting town to visit so joined the group there. We had a nice dinner together in town with all the rally participants. The next day we found out at the visitor center that there would be a free city tour given in English that day so we joined it to find out more about this city. The first fortress was built in this location in 1050. The city became a very important port for trade between Russia and the Scandinavian countries therefore it became a target of the Teutonic Knights as well as Denmark during the 13th century. It became the northernmost member of the Hanseatic League in 1285, but ... read more

So on Day 2, after losing an hours sleep due to time zone on the ferry, we said hello to Estonia and its capital city, Tallinn! It was a beautiful medieval town, with cobbled streets and its old 16th century gates and walls remaining. We started the tour in the Freedom Square, representing Estonian history in its story to eventual independence after aiming to rid itself from Russian, German and Swedish influences. Today Estonia is a country now independently run and has its own parliament, (but remaining part of the EU). We had a really cool hostel, it had air hockey and pool tables and a nice lounge area to socialise in, but the games got competitive! We socialised with other people on the tour, too, meeting people from New Zealand, Germany and Czech Republic. Obviously, ... read more

Tallinn, Estonia for two days, Saturday, May 24th and Sunday, May 25th Sunny and very warm (read hot) We caught the shuttle from the port into town. If we were walkers and Valerie not hurt, the distance could have been walked. Several other cruise ships were in port and huge car ferries were going back and forth between here and Helsinki, less than 100 miles away. As we got off the shuttle, right in front of us were parked the red double-decker buses for the hop-on hop-off tours. We both hopped on. The tour skirted as close to the old walled city as it could and we could see some of the old churches, gates, and walls as we rode on the top deck—unfortunately in the full sun. The bus also drove along some of the ... read more