Tallinn, Estonia

The Tallink Silja ferry trip from Helsinki to Tallinn was 2 hours. The ferry was more like a cruise ship than a “ferry”. It had restaurants, casino, premier lounges, and room for over 2800 people and many cars and trucks. It is a busy port with 3 different ferry companies, and 5 Baltic routes to Helsinki, Tallinn, Stockholm, Turku, and Aland Islands. We were curious about our fellow passengers, some of whom had suitcases and others didn’t. From what little information I could find, it seems that there are many Estonians who work in Finland during the week and return home on weekends, and many Finns go to Estonia for cheaper costs of alcohol, tobacco, groceries, and a day trip or weekend away. I had seen ads in Helsinki for taking a day trip to Tallinn in a lot of tourist info.

It was pouring rain and high winds when we arrived in Tallinn on Saturday afternoon. I was really happy not to be on a ferry in big weather. We stayed right beside the Old Town in a newer section of buildings, apartments, and shops. Sunday was our full day there to explore; the weather was grey but it didn’t pour on us so we walked miles.

After eating a great brunch, we found our way through the Old Town farther along the harbor to an area called Noblessneri. Will had booked us a sauna (no surprise there) at Iglupark. We had our own little sauna in a row of small and larger saunas; farther down the dock were some ‘iglus” that were hotel rooms. All of the buildings were beautifully done. There was a ladder from the dock to swim in the Baltic Sea. It was wavy but not very cold.

This steel nest with eggs up high was visible from several parts of Noblessneri!

I didn’t take any photos of the cinnamon rolls we found at two different bakeries, but they were both good!

At the end of the day, we went to the Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom. Estonia has so much history that I/we only know pieces of. The museum is incredibly well done and worthy of many visits. The exhibits shared painful individual stories as well as country history, but they emphasize hope too.

The design was intentional with the many windows and light. Estonian Centre for Architecture explains much better than I ever could. We spent over an hour in the museum, with an audio English guide as we walked. Will and I were humbled by how much we didn’t know. I’m not sure we could’ve taken much more in if we’d stayed longer.

We came away with so much to think and read about. It was still grey outside. Everywhere we walked, there was art, sculptures, memorials and green gardens.

Monday morning we boarded a tram for the easy transit to the airport. Outside we saw a few people with bike boxes; when we went inside, the check-in line went all the way to the door! I left Will in line and found my way to the information desk where the woman told me we could go ahead to the self check-in machines, and on to bag drop. The Ironman Tallinn competition had been on the weekend, and all those people in line had bike boxes to check in. Our flight left a little late; the flight captain came on to say congratulations and that we’d be delayed so they could load all the bikes that were on our flight. I learned more from the Northern Irish couple who sat beside me on the plane. He had sent his bike by truck to, and now from, Estonia!