A new country for us today and a trip well worth the effort. We were up at a relatively early hour, though not of course beating the sun, as this far north sunrise is 4:05am. We had a quick breakfast, then a swift walk down to the ferry terminal for our Eckero ferry to Tallinn. Still part of the Schengen border control area, so no passport checks. It was a nice big ferry but very popular, and therefore quite full. A lot of people on board with little wheelie cases or trollies, the reason for which became clear on the return trip.
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| Strange flat seascape with low islands |
The initial part of the trip was through dozens of low-lying islands, presumably shaved smooth through millennia of being ground under an icecap. We sat outside for a little, until the breeze got too cool and strong, then moved back in and read our e-readers, as there was little to see outside. Two hours later, and a little early, we arrived in Tallinn where there was a 15-minute walk to the old town. Tallinn city is obviously quite large, but the old town is a small discrete area.
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| Tallinn is quite flat, with the old town being set around a small hill |
Up through a stone gate in a stone wall, and we headed for the main square. First stop as always was for a coffee. We aimed for Maiasmokk, the oldest cafe in Tallinn and indeed Estonia, founded in 1864. Fabulous! All old-style and very classy. The coffees and pastries were equally good. Interestingly the coffee was the first we have had with the drier flavour that we know well from France, Spain and Italy. It was like meeting an old friend.
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| Maiasmokk Cafe 1864 |
We spent the rest of the morning wandering through the Old Town. Cathedrals, city walls, various museums and a few artisan and souvenir shops. It is totally a tourist area. There was only one grocery shop, and everything else was tourist-based - shops, cafes, restaurants, museums and so on. There was no sign of the presumably thousands of people who actually live in the attractive buildings above street level. We has a pleasant lunch of pork and salmon at a local restaurant. Food and particularly drink here is half the cost of Helsinki.
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| A street |
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| The main square |
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| Town Wall and the Danish King's Garden |
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| Main Square panorama |
After lunch we had a bit of spare time as the gap between out and back ferries was a full 6 hours. We wandered about in the more moderate 24 degrees, had a second coffee at the cafe because it was so nice, then made our way back to the port. We struggled to find some food to take back for dinner on the ferry, as the emphasis is on tourists and cheap booze.
Heading back into the terminal, it was clear what the bags and trollies were for. Huge numbers of daytrippers now had 3 or more slabs of beer or spritzes stacked on their trollies. I didn't say before that the ferry has a real party atmosphere. Party music, lots of smokers, many bars with the trippers into beer from boarding at 8:30am until disembarking at 9pm. It was really rather fun, and no excess that we noticed.
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| Beach on island just out of Helsinki |
Disembarked back in Helsinki at 9pm and a half hour walk back to our apartment. We've only walked 11km yesterday (a quiet day) but were surprised by the 19km we racked up today. It didn't seem like it, but we were pretty tired walking home. We showered and finished packing up and we rolled into bed at 10:30pm, dreading the 4am alarm in the morning. We thoroughly enjoyed our day in Tallinn, it's a magical place.
