Tallin, Estonia

Monday, Sept 10, 2007--Copenhagen to Tallinn

My flight wasn't until 11:30, so I had plenty of time to get to the airport. I left the apartment around 9:30. At the central station downtown where I changed trains, I met a nice young couple from Poland. They were on their way to Turkey for a holiday there. We visited while we waited for the train, then we sat together on the way to the airport. They were excited about their trip. I'm sure that traveling throughout Europe is still rather special for people from Poland, since they were so poor for so long and then had to wait so much longer for their economy to meet the standards for admission to the EU. This was a thoroughly modern couple, however, with their own car they drove to Copenhagen and then with a paid holiday of two weeks in Alanya.

It was raining in Copenhagen, so many flights (including mine) were delayed. But I still made it to Stockholm to make my connecting flight. Stockholm's airport was almost like a ghost town--even more empty than the one in Munich which I considered to be very quiet for its size.

I was lucky to find sunshine when I arrived in Tallinn. The airport here is very small. Going through immigration and customs was fast and simple. The money machine only gave me large bills (each worth about $40), so I was afraid to try to pay on the bus for that. Also, I had read it was only 3 km to the center of town. With the good weather and the fact I had been sitting all day, I decided to walk into town. Along the way I was able to see the sights I would miss otherwise. One of the first things I noticed was all the Scandinavian brand names (Hansa Bank, Nordea Bank, Stat Oil, etc.) that are here. The city is clean with new streets and sidewalks (probably thanks to the EU).

I had no problem finding the office that had reserved me a room. I paid and got directions to walk there. It, too, was not far. I was a little worried as I approached the building, because it was one of several Soviet-style apartment buildings that were falling apart (as they usually did from Day 1 of completion). But when I got a good view of mine, it had been remodeled. The end of the building had smooth concrete painted green instead of the old rusting concrete panels that were coming loose on the other buildings. It also had new window frames throughout. Then when I entered the apartment, I got a pleasant surprise; the entire interior was remodeled with wooden floors, new doors, completely new bath and kitchen facilities, etc. It is owned by a woman who is apparently a widow. She rents out the room to supplement her pension, I imagine. She doesn't speak much English, so we haven't really communicated beyond the basics. My room is clean and nice with a big bed, a sofa, a tv with cable, a table and chair, a window looking out to trees, and a small balcony. The toilet and bath (separate rooms) are both entered from just outside my room. I feel I have almost complete privacy.

It was only about 18:00, so I walked to the Old Town. It is as fantastic as I had heard. Most of it was built in the 1300s and 1400s. It has cobblestone streets and it has both lower, flat sections and one up on a hillside with winding streets leading to it. Old churches are everywhere with either tall, straight spires or collections of large onion domes. There are fancy shops, quaint restaurants, etc. And it is so quiet. Few cars venture through the area making it as close to a pedestrian zone as a center of town can be without being specifically designated as one.

I had read there were inexpensive restaurants that serve local food (vs. more international food) near the train station, so I walked there. I found some of the places, but I also found a supermarket. I decided to buy items and eat in my room in the evenings and to eat out for lunch each day. I bought sliced ham, sliced cheese, sliced brown bread, a bottle of wine, and a package of mixed peanuts, raisins, and currents.

Back at the room, I watched BBC and ate a couple of small sandwiches in my room. The meal was fine and enjoyable. I scanned the other channels. There are many Russian ones along with ones from Finland and other former Soviet states. Only a few channels have English with Estonian subtitles. Most have overlaid dubbing (where you can hear the English in the background as they speak the Estonian over it). It's not possible to really hear the English, so those channels do not work for me.

Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007--Tallinn

I went back to the Old Town. I stopped at two tourist offices trying to get an answer to my most important question: Can I go from Tartu here in Estonia to Cesis in Latvia via a bus that will cross the border where I can process through as an international tourist. So far, I have no answer. I will have to wait again until I get to Tartu. The only thing my guidebook says is that international tourists must go 5 km outside the border towns to go across. And in terms of buses, it only talks about going from Tallinn to Riga.

It was another sunny day. That made it easy for me to explore. I took quite a few photos, too. But it isn't easy getting photos in the Old Town. The streets are so narrow and twist and wind while the buildings can be so large. Often, it is impossible to be far enough from the building to get a good photo of it. And the shadows cast by the nearby buildings also create problems with getting a good photo. The best thing to do is to come here in person and walk the streets. It is a real delight. Although Tallinn is smaller than Prague, it seems to me that there is much more to see here in terms of the Old Town being more complete and larger.

I went to a place with a soup buffet for lunch. Although the sun is out, it is rather cool, so soup sounded good when I read about this place in my guidebook. They had six kinds of soup. It was a serve-yourself place. I tried the Cuban (beans, pork, vegetables), the pea, the red beat (a form of borscht with onions, carrots, beats, and sausages), and the apple-currant which was cold and sweet. I had two bowls of the red beet. It was my favorite. Along with the soup, there were warm, multi-grain rolls with butter and sour cream and parsley to add to the soup. It was good and filling.

The luncheon spot was near the port which is very active with ferries and cruise ships. Many people come here for day trips from Finland. Near the port are many liquor stores, so I guess alcohol is much cheaper here than it is in Finland. I saw most people coming and going from the ferries with rolling carts which they apparently bring with them for making their purchases.

Later, I found a big market just beside my apartment building. I was surprised to find it, since I had read nothing about it and had not seen it when I arrived. It is back behind buildings and does not face any major street. It was probably the main shopping area in Soviet times for all those things that could not be bought in communist shops. Today, it has cheaper and fresher items than can be found in the supermarkets. Many of the root vegetables (such as carrots and potatoes) still had moist dirt sticking to them.

I returned to my room about 14:30 feeling very tired. I fell into a deep sleep for about 1 1/2 hours! I forced myself up and out of the apartment again around 17:00. I wandered some of the fringes of downtown--around the old walls of the city. I found many interesting Soviet buildings. If they can be brought up to modern standards, I think the dramatic styles (verticle entrances several stories high, turreted entrances with spires on top, etc.) can be a further attraction for the city. Some have already been restored because of being taken over by international concerns.

I bought a big cinnamon pastry to take back to my room. For dinner, I finished the ham, cheese, wine, and bread that I bought the night before. The cinnamon pastry made a great finish for the night.