For previous posts about our trip, start here and go forward.
Day 1 and 2: St Louis to Gothenburg
We decided to take an weekend trip to Tallinn, Estonia, just across the Gulf of Finland from Helsinki. It ended up making the most sense to keep our airbnb in Helsinki and just double book accommodation for one night, and then we didn’t have to check out/check in anywhere and we could travel exceedingly light.
We woke up very early after our fantastic evening meal at Grön, grabbed our backpacks, had a quick cup of coffee and caught the tram to the ferry terminal. Did I mention how amazing it was that there was a tram stop right outside of the airbnb we stayed at? It was a ten minute ride to the terminal and we got there around 6:30 am for our 7:30 am ferry. We didn’t have to wait long until boarding began.
The ferry wasn’t as large or fancy as the one from Stockholm to Turku, but it was still perfectly nice. We quickly grabbed some comfortable enough looking seats by a window and then settled in for the two hour boat ride.
We got some breakfast, coffee (which was pretty terrible!) and just relaxed for the ride. We were both tired but excited to see a new country!
The ferry landed at 9:30 am and we headed into the old town, just a 10 minute walk from the terminal. Old Town Tallinn is one of the best preserved and most intact medieval towns in existence today. The city itself is the capital of Estonia, and has a fascinating history–read a bit of it on Wikipedia if you like!
We arrived earlier than the cruise ship crowds, so we walked through the town a bit without all the crowds–we were headed to drop our bags off at our hotel and then to meet a bike tour to, oddly enough, get OUT of the city first and get some biking in and learn a bit about Estonia from a guide.
In Estonia they speak, obviously, Estonian. Many people we interacted with spoke excellent English as well, lucky for us! They use the Euro, just like Finland, though things were cheaper, especially outside of the Old Town (which is super touristy and has the corresponding prices, though it is amazing and beautiful and worth seeing!). Estonia is the first country I have been to that used to be part of the Soviet Union.
We started the bike tour near one the town walls. Back then towns had really high walls to keep out intruders. It sometimes worked too.
Our guide was named Marcus and was a young Estonian man. He was very knowledgeable and friendly, and did a good job. We learned many things about Tallinn and Estonia from him, most especially that Estonians really hate Russia and Putin. They are (understandably) still mad about having been part of the USSR and they are worried about the future, and they really value their independence.
We biked outside of the Olde town, mostly along the sea, which was a lovely route. We visited the Olympic Stadium from the 1980 Moscow Olympics, built by the Soviets and now crumbling and overgrown. We learned that it cannot be torn down because it is “historical” but yet the government won’t approve the money for renovations.
Next we biked to an area with shops, where Marcus told us the Finns would take the ferry over and fill up their trunks with cheap booze to take back. It seems that Estonians think Finns look down on them (and Finns think Swedes look down on them!)–though Marcus was clear to point out he liked the Finnish people he knew, so it was more of a country stereotype than a real feeling of animosity.
We continued along the water to visit the Monument to the Victims of Communism. This was a somber yet gorgeous space.
We enjoyed views looking back at Tallinn, as the road had curved around.
Next we biked to Kadriog Park, which was built by Peter the Great. It is really beautiful, though hard to get a photo without people in it! I guess we were all saying that, haha.
After that, we biked back to the place we started. It was a nice bike trip, though not exceptional. I was glad we did it for the opportunity to learn more from a native Estonian and to get outside of the old town a bit, but it wasn’t a “must do”.
We were starving then, and had trouble deciding where to eat that wasn’t too touristy or too crowded…we ended up at an Indian Restaurant with nice patio seating called Elevant Resto, and enjoyed some nice Indian food (not so different than what we get here).
After lunch we walked around the Old Town more, just wandering and taking pictures and looking at things.
We headed back to the hotel then. We were staying one night at the Merchant’s House Hotel, and it seemed like a nice place. They had a sauna as well, and we signed up to use it for an hour (included with the stay).
The courtyard view from outside our room.
I ended up not staying in the sauna very long at all: I probably did things all wrong, I was already feeling tired and head-ache-y and then I didn’t know what to do and ended up sitting up high away from the steam and immediately felt not good, so I left Louie to it on his own (he didn’t mind) but I learned I should sat lower (duh, heat rises!). (Spoiler alert, we will have another sauna experience that is better). Anyway, I went back to the room to clean up and relax, I think I took a nap as well. Louie came back an hour later having enjoyed himself thoroughly so it all worked out, though I felt like a sauna failure.
We were going to a short opera next, called the Emperor of Atlantis, put on by the Estonian National Opera. We had to walk about 15-20 minutes to the venue, which was in the Telliskivi Creative City part of Tallinn. It was a really nice walk.
It was confusing when we arrived, because the opera apparently started in the main lobby, so we got drinks (very inexpensive, like $5 for a glass of wine) and a snack (olives in a jar!) and sat at a table. The show began with live music and singing in German, and we had no idea what was going on–I had verified before purchasing tickets that there would be English subtitles, but for the pre-show there was nothing. However it was nice, and then we all walked into the main hall, where the rest of the orchestra was set up and the opera began.
Again, I’ll refer you to Wikipedia for more information, but the opera was fascinating and intense. It was written in a concentration camp and definitely was making fun of Hitler and it was just amazing and so upsetting to think of. Upsetting being not even the right word to describe the despair I sometimes feel thinking of how much death the Nazis caused and how much art and music was STILL being made, even while people were being killed. Human beings are amazing and human beings are absolutely horrific.
We would have gone again to catch things we missed, but we weren’t staying in Tallinn another night. But I am so happy we caught the show!
After that, we had 9 pm reservations at Rataskaevu 16, a highly rated restaurant in Tallinn (very near our hotel too).
I was quite surprised when I used the bathroom to see there was a window to the earth below!
Our dinner was fantastic and the perfect end to a very long and exciting day. After dinner we were exhausted and slept well.
Day 15:
We had planned to get up early to “beat the crowds” and do Rick Steves’s walking tour, but we were too tired. We did get up early enough to get the tour in before check out, but not to really beat the crowds.
First, hotel breakfast. It was in the basement of the hotel, a fascinating almost dungeon like place. They had a cold buffet and you could order hot foods as well: I was happy with the cold stuff.
The walking tour covered the lower old town where we were staying and headed up into the upper old town as well. There was so much to explore, but we did hit the highlights.
We saw the Russian Orthodox Church, some important government buildings, and had a great overlook of the lower old town. It was a lovely morning to walk around, and it wasn’t overly crowded in any case. After that, we checked out of the hotel (stored our bags there though) and caught a Bolt (Estonian’s version of Uber) to the Estonian Open Air Museum, which was a few miles out of town. Bolt is the only company that can drive into the Old Town, and they have a few places set for pick up and drop off, one was the well near the hotel (and outside of last night’s restaurant.)
The drive to the museum took us through what I would consider the more “normal” parts of Tallinn, which just looked like you would think a city where people lived and worked would look like. The driver was very quiet, perhaps he didn’t speak English or didn’t speak well, but he got us where we needed to go.
Like all of the open air museums we’d seen, there was more than we could take in in an afternoon, but we had a terrific time learning about the history of Estonia, how people lived, and enjoying the outdoors. The thatched roofs were a highlight and were truly fascinating.
We had lunch at their cafe which offered “authentic Estonian food”.
Brown bread, soup, potatoes, and something else…I sadly can’t recall.
Mashed potatoes with groat and pickles.
After eating, more exploring!
As you can see, there were a wide variety of homes and variety of eras. Some were more decorated inside, others had different displays inside. Some had people in them to answer questions, though we did run into some language barriers.
We met this cat: he seemed friendly and Louie was petting him but then he scratched Louie! We learned later his name was Vasso and we bought a magnet with a picture of him on it, haha.
One of the bathrooms had a lot of information about bathroom use historically, which was super interesting.
We really enjoyed the afternoon at the Museum, and not pictured was an apartment building with various apartments showing the way people lived during the Soviet era. I just didn’t get good pictures of it, not that you couldn’t take pictures.
Anyway, we finally left, took a Bolt back to the hotel and then walked down to the terminal to catch our ferry back to Helsinki.
We had the “Delight Buffet” for dinner, which was a nice buffet with unlimited food and drink. They had wine or beer you could serve yourself–the choices were beer, white wine, or red wine! As well as a nice variety of fish, cooked entrees including meatballs, salad bar, breads, vegetarian caviar (did you even know that is a thing? yes, it is!), and more. We enjoyed a table right by a window as well, and spent most of the time there, even after we finished eating.
We landed in Helsinki around 9:30 pm, and squeezed into a tram to get back to the Airbnb. I mean really squeezed: more and more people kept getting on and it really seemed like nobody else would fit and then more people did! We luckily were near a door as we got off the tram before most people (they were likely mostly going to Central Station which was a few stops further.) We got back to the Airbnb without incident, and felt like we were arriving home!
