Blogs from Estonia, Europe - page 47

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

I'm jet-setting around Europe now, (is it jet-setting if you've got the middle seat? I'm not sure) and I've landed outside of Russia again. HISTORY ALERT! Tallinn is the capital of Estonia and was founded in 2000 BC. It hosted the 1980 Olympics and is the home of a popular candy known as the "curd snack", which I can assure you I didn't partake in. Curd snack, heh heh.... read more

After the craziness that is Russia, Tallinn (Estonia) was a wonderful relief! We were not able to get visas as we were hoping for Belarus but the Baltic's so far have exceeded expectations to make up for it! We arrived in Tallinn early morning after the worst overnight bus I have ever experienced- the heater was on me all night and the icy road made for an uncomfortable bumpy night! None of the luxuries of south American semi-cama just rock hard seats and leg room for midgets. Tallinn old town is a beautifully preserved medieval maze of cobbled streets and squares. There are plenty of tacky taverns with waiters/waitresses dressed in ye olde clothes which is unfortunate but that's what happens when easyjet start flying somewhere! The best thing (or worst depending on how you look ... read more

Nice. icy. cold. see tallin fade away... ... read more