5 Weeks in Tallinn, Estonia and the Baltic States.

#thelazycampers #kellysinestonia #estonia #travellingthebalticstates #amonthoflivingineurope #tallinn @visittallinn @visitestonia @getawaymagazine

Panaroma of Tallinn, Estonia.

 It is not often that you find yourself in the fortuitous situation of living in another country for a short period of time without actually having to move there. So when we got the chance to spend 5 weeks in Tallinn, Estonia, it was difficult to turn down. Estonia is not somewhere I ever thought I would spend 5 weeks of my life but how glad I am that I got the chance. My husband was sent to work in Estonia for 2 months and so we discussed me joining him for 5 weeks. We realised that there is never an ideal time and so after a little consideration we decided this was a once in a lifetime adventure, an opportunity not to be missed.

Tallinn is a gorgeous, charming city and although we were visiting in the wrong season (summer is far more vibrant, the weather is a lot warmer and the days considerably longer) it was still a stunning place to be. We experienced the first snowfall at the beginning of November so if you are visiting at this time of year make sure that you are well prepared for the cold, and wet.

Estonia is an interesting place with a wealth of fascinating history because they have been under Danish, Swedish, Soviet, German and even Polish rule on and off and back and forth since the 13th century. The Estonian people are very proud people and even in today's fashion driven world you will still find Estonian people wearing clothing with traditional patterns on or even the odd accessory that dates back 100s of years (like the mittens with pointed ends and scarves with traditional Estonian patterns). Estonia also boasts some of the largest cultural singing festivals in the world like The Estonian Song and Dance Festival which is held every 5 years in July, dates back to 1869 and is one of UNESCO’s world cultural heritage events. 2017’s festival boasted 30000 performers and attracted roughly 100000 visitors according to the “Visit Estonia” website.

Our accommodation in Tallinn was great, we found a lovely Air BnB apartment with the perfect location: walking distance to work for my husband; a view of the harbour so we could watch the cruise ships come and go; near to two of the entrances to Old Town; close to many shops and restaurants and a short distance to the start of the Hop-on hop-off bus route. This made the 5 weeks in our new home central to all the action.

Tallinn harbour area.

 The language spoken in Estonia is Estonian as well as quite a bit of Russian due to the fact that 30ish percent of the population is of Russian descent. Although the two languages sounded very similar to us, we were informed that they are in fact very different, especially since Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet whereas Estonian is based on the Latin alphabet. Luckily for us many people in Tallinn speak English and so this made getting around fairly easy, many restaurants even have an English menu. I will be honest though, and feel a little ashamed to say that because so many people speak English, we only learned one word of Estonian on the entire trip: “Terviseks”, which means “Cheers”!

Tallinn is the most connected city I have ever been to. There is free WiFi almost everywhere, in every restaurant, every mall, on the bus, on the ship, even in the streets if you are in the right area. As a traveller this is fantastic because you don't have to wait to get back to your accommodation to get connected. It also makes navigation and fact finding more accessible.

Tallinn has some amazing museums and sights to see and a month in Estonia gives you ample time to really get to see everything. Some of my highlights:
Tallinn Old Town (with its medieval castle walls, underground bastion tunnels and artillery towers) is obviously on the top of the list of things to see in Estonia, especially if you are from a country like South Africa where we do not have an Old Town. Other than all the magnificent buildings and museums in Old Town, the viewpoints are a must. The panoramic view of the city of Tallinn below is something to behold.  Of all the Baltic Old Towns we visited, Tallinn’s was by far the most beautiful and is consider to be one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe.

Tallinn Old Town.

The Sea-Plane Harbour museum with its wonderful display of everything ocean, from exploring a submarine to boarding an Ice-breaker ship, is magnificent. When visiting this museum don’t forget to stop and take a walk around the outside of the old Patarei Sea Fortress Prison, next door, built during the Russian Empire of Nicholas I. 

Sea-Plane Harbour Museum - Tallinn.

The Open Air museum introduces all tourists to the traditional, Estonian, way of life and is nestled in an enchanting ocean-side forest and should not be skipped.

Traditional Estonian housing, windmills and fishing gear - Tallinn.

The underground Bastions at Kiek in de Kok (which translates to “Peep in the Kitchen” from the ability of tower occupants to see into the kitchen of nearby houses) is a must see and you need to explore the tunnels as well as the museum where you will learn about the different times of rule over Estonia as well as all the interesting uses for the Bastion tunnels dating back to 1475 when they were built right up to present day.

Kiek in de Kok museum and Bastion tunnels - Tallinn.

The Energy museum is a great museum for big and little kids to explore, we had an absolute blast in the mirror section and seeing the Tesla coil.

Tesla coil and mirror trick at the Energy museum - Tallinn.

Alternative sights are always intriguing and Tallinn has quite a few of these:

Look out for the #Mextonia murals all over the city. They were painted by artists from all over the world, highlighting the “Freedom of Cultures” and are in celebration of the first centennial of the Republic of Estonia. These paintings can be found on the harbour wall, in the city centre, near to the harbour, in the Telliskivi district as well as other locations around Tallinn. The murals are quite stunning and really something every tourist should look out for.

#Mextoina Murals - Tallinn.

Linnahall is a concert and sports venue that was built in 1980 and closed in 2010 that is now covered in the most stunning graffiti as well as one of the #Mextonia murals. Situated right next to the sea this is a must-see sight and is a great place for photographs.

Linnahall graffiti - Tallinn.

Tallinn’s TV tower, originally built for better telecommunications for the sailing summer Olympics of 1980, at 314m is the tallest free-standing building in Estonia. The observation deck on top offers a great panoramic view of Tallinn. For those who are a little more daring, you can do the 20-minute edge walk on top of the tower where you get harnessed up and do a panoramic walking tour along a 175m dropoff.

Edge walk and Tallinn TV tower.

The food in Tallinn was delicious and diverse. If I had to begin naming great restaurants the list would go on and on. In general, on the whole trip, in almost every place we visited, the food was fantastic. Unlike in South Africa, a lot of the restaurants brew their own beers and so brewery restaurants are very common and not a novelty. A few places, however, that are a must would be Kochi Aid situated in an old building near the harbour, Beer House where you can enjoy their home brewed beer in a old city scene, Washoku Story which is a small Japanese restaurant that had just opened when we got there and serves fabulous Ramen and Edamame. Finally, a must-do-stop is to have coffee and cake on the Old Town wall at Kohvik Dannebrog (Tower Cafe) where you can enjoy the view of Old Town while listening to traditional Estonia music.

The beauty of being located in Estonia was that there were so many opportunities to travel Estonia’s surrounding countries with ease. Of the 5 weekends we spent in the Baltics we spent 3 in Estonia and the other 2 visiting the neighbouring countries.
We took a 4 hour bus ride to Riga, Latvia for a weekend where we tasted hot Balzam (Riga’s equivalent of hot wine) and experienced a medieval themed restaurant for the first time, and loved them both.

Bridge over the Daugava River, Old Town, Lasite medieval restaurant - Riga, Latvia.

We boarded a ship and cruised to Stockholm, Sweden in the middle of the week for a whirlwind 36 hour trip to Stockholm and back to Tallinn, just long enough for a taste of what Sweden has to offer.

Old Town Square, Mural, Cruise ship - Stockholm, Sweden.

On another weekend we climbed on a train and sped to Tartu, Estonia where we ate deer and drank beer in a bar under the Bastions and behaved like children in an upside down house.

Old Town square and the Upside down house - Tartu, Estonia.

On our final weekend in the Baltics we embarked on a 7-hour bus ride to St Petersburg, Russia where we were wowed by two of the biggest museums we have ever seen (the Russian Artillery museum and The Winter Palace of Catherine the Great) and were completely overwhelmed by the amount to see and how the royals (Tsars) over time just squandered their country's money on fancy buildings that they never even got to live in because they died before their completion.

Artillery museum, Church on Spilled Blood and a bridge with Christmas lights - St Petersburg, Russia

We really enjoyed how effortlessly we were able to travel the Baltic area. Buses, trains and ships are so easy to book, board and travel and once in the EU you can get between countries without any extra visas. As South Africans we did not require visas for Russia either and so travel was simple. You still have to show your Schengen visa at all stops but no other visas were required, that being said though, when you do show your South African passport the authorities page back and forth and back and forth scrutinising every empty and filled page.

One of the best parts of spending an extended period time in one place is the small observations that you make: everyone walks everywhere really quickly, maybe it’s because they have an urgent purpose or maybe it’s just to keep warm. At some stage I noticed this little tag hanging from a lot of people’s clothing and found out that you are required to wear a reflector on your clothing when walking on the streets to ensure that you are seen by cars. This is because in the winter there are so many hours of darkness. Tallinn is spotless, almost no litter lying around and it is quite refreshing to see. Many people in Estonia speak 2 or 3 or even 4 languages fluently, unlike a lot of English speaking South Africans who speak English and dabble in another language: Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa. We were told that in order to work in Old Town you are required to speak Estonian, Russian, English and preferably some Finnish because it is a tourist hub. The landscape in Tallinn is so flat that the clouds seem almost animated and stand out like tufts of cotton wool - it is really beautiful and makes for great photos.

Our last night in Tallinn was magical, just spectacular and picturesque! We made our way into Old Town for the last time and as we arrived in the centre of Old Town in the main square there was a huge Christmas tree lit up with twinkling lights and sparkling decorations surrounded by a traditional Christmas Market. An already perfect setting was then topped off with a downpour of snow which coated the entire square in white and turned Tallinn Old Town into an enchanted, winter, Christmas wonderland. What a fantastic end to a wonderful adventure.

Winter wonderland Christmas scene in Tallinn Old Town Square.

If I had to pick my favour spot of all the places that we visited in the Baltic sea, it would have to be Tallinn. It is a gorgeous city with friendly people, it is easy to get around, festive in all seasons, has amazing museums and architecture and a wealth of very interesting and challenging history. Tallinn is a place that many South Africans have never even heard of but should most certainly put near the top of the places in the world to visit.