One of our favourite things about Europe is how close together all the countries are. And so when we found ourselves living in Finland, we decided to take the short boat trip to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The ferry from Helsinki takes just over two hours, so we boarded an early-morning ferry. That meant we’d be there in time for lunch (not that we plan everything around food.) The ferry itself was big, with places for cars and lorries below and people above. On board we found four restaurants, two bars, two duty-free shops, and gambling (machines only; no actual dealers). There was live entertainment in one bar and one restaurant. Impressively, many people had already purchased and started drinking bottles of champagne before we left the dock! We suspected we were out of our league, and we were right.
Arriving in Tallin by boat puts you about fifteen minutes’ walk from the the old city. It’s a beautiful area, with amazingly picturesque streets and with much of the medieval city wall still intact. The central square has a beautiful town hall (closed for the season) and, like many in Europe, cafés and eateries surround it. In fact, the whole old city is simply stunning, loved to pieces by its many visitors. We missed cruise ship season, which is all to the good.
One of the first things we noticed as we were walking was the prevalence of Russian everywhere. Signs were often in Estonian, English, Finnish, and Russian (in that order). In more than one place we saw anti-Putin and pro-Ukraine displays. Given Estonia’s location and history (see below), this was not surprising.
For lunch we opted for Olde Hansa, a ‘medieval’ dining experience right off the town square in a 15th century house. It was just as cheesy as we’d expected, but the staff played their roles thoroughly and the food was very good. Plus, we’d been hankering for some archaic elk sausage – and their honey beer and cinnamon beer were excellent. After that we walked around the city walls of Tallinn, and then up and down the streets. We stopped off in several churches, including the impressive 19th century Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Like most Russian Orthodox churches, it was crammed from floor to ceiling with icons – if you like gold, this is your place! We also really enjoyed the 13th century Toompea Castle and fortress, with great views of the city old and new.
One of the highlights was a visit to the Estonian History Museum in the Great Guild Hall, a wonderful 14th-century building. It has some excellent displays and rotating exhibitions. There is an impressive collection of coins; we especially liked the oldest one, that of the Roman emperor Domitian (reigned 81–96 CE). There is also an excellent short film giving the highlights of Estonian history.
We were glad to see this, especially because we could not get to the Museum of Occupations. This commemorates both the German occupation during World War II (1941–44) and the Soviet occupation after the war, which ended only in 1991. (And before that, there were the Danes and the Swedes.) Aside from the Russian signs everywhere and the occasional grim building, present-day Tallinn is surprisingly free of Soviet influence.
On the ferry back, we saw for ourselves something we had heard about. Some Finns and Scandinavians take the ferry so they can buy duty-free alcohol onboard (also cheaper in Tallinn than in Finland). Sure enough, as we were disembarking in Helsinki, we saw people taking their purchases with them. Some had just a bottle or two, but a fair number had grocery carts – yes, the big metal carts you find at the supermarket – full of alcohol. Probably they, like us, spent more of their time in museums and other worthy pursuits. We admired their efficiency in taking care of business as well!
