Tallinn, Estonia

I took a trip to Helsinki in June. I couldn't find a reasonable hotel room for the first few days of my trip, so I flew in and a few hours later I was on a boat across the Gulf of Finland to Tallinn, Estonia where rooms were available and reasonably priced. The ferry was a hydrofoil capable of crossing the 70 mile Gulf in about 90 mins...little slower this trip since the seas were a little rough (nice Six Flags ride for a good part of the trip).

Tallinn is the Capital of Estonia and has been around for over 700 years. There is still a wonderfully preserved Old Town area still surrounded with the original city walls and gates and a Castle area overlooking the Old Town on a rise known as Toompea. Toompea is now used as the seat of the Estonian government.

Old Town was wonderful for walking and was filled with shops (from your modern Gap store to shops selling homemade leather-bound journals and other medevial crafts), restaurants, bars, nightclubs and casinos. The main square was surrounded by outside cafes and with sunlight til 11pm at night it stayed busy til the wee hours of morning--I should know. Estonians also enjoy breaking into spontaneous song--I ran across this a number of times. Sadly, the food was pretty bad. Remember when you order a pizza with sausage, hot dogs are a variety of sausage. I also had a meal with a large hunk of Wild Boar on the plate--it was very tender and tasty, but sure could have used some southern BBQ sauce.

Estonia has been independent from Russia since 1994 and there is alot of new construction too. There is a very lively town center with restaurants, bars, and malls.

There is also a wonderful park area just a short tram ride from Old Town (or I actually wound up walking back). Kadroig Park borders the Gulf of Finland and is the site of one of Alexander the Great's Palaces, now a preserved estate and museum, and the Estonian Contemporary Museum, KUMU. There is also a popular memorial dedicated to a vessel and sailors lost at sea in the late 1900s.

The Estonian people were very friendly, helpful and easy to talk to. I also met one American who worked at the US Embassy, some Irish men who were building a conservatory at a nearby estate, and a couple Latvian high school students on a working weekend (no, I didn't do business with them).

Tallinn was beautiful and fun from the minute I stepped on shore until I left. It's probably a well kept secret for most Americans (I'd never heard of the city until last month). If you are in the area, do yourself a favor and plan a few days.

Sorry, there are alot of photos...enjoy!