Tallinn (Estonia)

Fortunately, I knew in advance that Tallinn wasn’t going to be the way it looked as we came in to land, or I might have been depressed. The plane’s flightpath brought us in from the east, flying over the dreary sprawl of apartment blocks that disfigures so many cities scarred by a Soviet past. And quite a few without a Soviet past, of course. I knew that amid the sprawl I would find an attractive historic centre – a World Heritage Site, no less – with other monuments and places of interest scattered around the outskirts. And so it proved. I also found a clean and prosperous-feeling city, very ... more

I was a little disappointed not have got to Tallinn before the stag parties but its proximity to Finland where I was holidaying last September coupled with the touristic worth of Estonia's capital city meant I would have been foolish to let a few drunken Brits put me off. As it turned out, the irritations came from another group altogether.... Some geography.... Tallinn is situated on the Baltic Sea a couple of hours across the water from Helsinki. The Russian city of St Petersburg is a couple of hours north east along the coast and Estonia is the most northerly of the three former Soviet ... more

I'm currently staying in Helsinki, Finland with my boyfriend because of a summer job. As something to do, it was recommended to us that we take a day trip to Tallinn in Estonia. This we did yesterday and had a great day out. There were a huge number of museums and galleries that we didn't look at, a huge number of shops we didn't go in and a vast number of traditional Estonian restaurants that we didn't have the space in our stomach to try. This is just a brief description of our trip; there is plenty more in the city that we didn't see. ~~~ Getting There ~~~ There are plenty of boats that go ... more

A train of thought clattered through my head and came to a halt at anxiety station. It was seven o'clock on Sunday evening. I was on the dockside in a very foreign country. A very bleak, foreign country. All I could see was crumbling Soviet architecture looming in the approaching dusk. I had no local currency and the guide book said "booking ahead is advisable". Oh dear. >> Here, is a further instalment of my vacation-related escapades, the "Scruffy Shoe Diaries". Think of me as David Duchovny if it’ll help you relax (for those of you who have never seen late night tv on Channel 5, you ... more

I have visited Tallinn in July for the last two years with a friend predominantly to take in the Ollesummer Beer Festival, but there are also many other attractions to this well-preserved town. The Town Tallinn consists of two parts, the old town with its cobbled streets and beautiful architecture and the new 'Soviet Era' town with its masses of concrete and ugly buildings, including a strangely mesmeric TV tower, which is the tallest building in Tallinn. The Old Town is where the majority of the tourists go as it is the most tourist friendly, with a wide variety of bars and restaurants. A ... more