In Tallinn, Estonia (1)

Just one month apart after Helsinki, we flew back north in the middle of April 2011. To the capital of Estonia, Tallinn. Estonia was our 23th european country we've visted. While this continent lists 46 countries, that meant that we've still long half way to go to reach all of it.



Helsinki - Tallinn actually was just 80 kilometers apart by the Gulf of Finland. But due to its freezing winter, plus we did not have forever in the finnish capital, we could not come here directly. Return ferry fare Helsinki - Tallinn was also not that cheap, maybe it cost as much our flight ticket from Ryanair. We flew from Bremen, We thought three days were enough to stroll around the estonian capital in the Baltic.

In the middle pf April, the temperature in Tallinn was much more cooler than in Germany. We're prepared ourselves with thick jacket and coat. But of course there's always something to forget. This time, I forgot my winter gloves and bonnet. A reason to suffer.

According to a guidebook, Tallinn is a relative small city. It has less tourist attractions, compare to say, Riga in Latvia. We stroll around in no hurry. The airport is just 4 kilometers away from the city center. From the bus, we enjoyed some view of it. A first encounter is always interesting to me. Similar to other places in the Baltic, we saw many houses with wood facade.

Our accommodation was in Raekoja plats in the heart of the old town, on Rataskaevu. Some hours we got some sleep before leaving for the town in the afternoon. Sighseeing and were looking for a supermarket. We cooked most of the meal by ourselves. Through the Viru Street, we shot ancient gate of Viru. Due to its far location from the two world wars, the medieval city of Tallinn was quite intact.

We did not epect that Tallinn was packed with tourists. Some crowds chatted, listened their guides, were taking pictures around the Viru Gate. The gate to me was like a divider from older part of Tallinn with the modern one, with its shpping mall and skycrappers. We stopped a second, took a picture than left for Müürivahe, Munga, Vene, Pikk to Big Sea Gate and Big Fat Margareta. This city really looked like another Baltic cities we've visited : Riga and Kaunas.

The more we walked the more we felt the freezing air. Plus the blustery winds, we could not take a risk to suffer more. Found a Rimi supermarket on a corner, purchased some food, we made our way back to the hostel.

(to be continued)

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