When we entered the airplane on Friday around noon, we were so happy to say Bye-bye to a very rainy Gothenburg. It must have been the smallest plane I ever flew with, but it was fast and only 1,5 hours later we landed in a bitter cold and slightly snow-covered Tallinn.
People on the Internet had warned about using the taxi to get into town, as even the very mayor of Tallinn had been cheated by the taxi-drivers. Luckily there was a direct bus going every 20 minutes, so no problem. While many of the young Estonians speak English very well and language is no barrier at the airport and in hotels etc., you can’t expect the bus-drivers or staff in kiosks to speak English. But we could still make us understood with hands and feet, when we needed help in finding our hotel, as the people were very nice and helpful, even if you don’t speak their language. We just took a quick shower at our very nice hotel and then left again to explore the town a little and find a place to have dinner.
Tallinns Old-town, a cosy medieval center with cobblestone streets and wonderfully restored, old houses (the center is on the UNESCO list of world heritage since 1997), offers the full array of international cuisine…at very high end prices. Most restaurants offered main dishes starting at 25-30 Euros and as much as I love to try out local foods, I just didn’t feel like paying that for a sauerkraut and sausage dish or marinated eel. To make it short, we ended up at TGIFs, where I had a nice cocktail and Fajitas. Please forgive me, but if something is missing in Gothenburg, it’s Texmex and yummy and affordable cocktails, so I just HAD to take advantage of that. After a little stroll through town we returned to hour hotel, slipped into the complimentary bathing robe and spa slippers to make extensive use of the saunas, the pool and the jacuzzi. Lovely!
Saturday morning started very classy with a breakfast consisting of a warm full English, nice Estonian pastries, croissants and champagne. Strengthened by that we set off and explored beautiful Tallinn in daylight. We went up to Toompea hill, from which you have a wonderful view over the Old-town,
visited the Russian orthodox Nevsky cathedral,
strolled over the Christmas marked, where we enjoyed our first mulled wine of the year and went shopping.
It was icy cold but still much better than the continuous rain we are having here at the moment. We also listened to a choir Christmas concert that was held at one of the many churches. After dinner we enjoyed the spa at our hotel again for a few hours.
On Sunday we had the same nice champagne breakfast again and after that we already had to pack together and check out. We still had four hours to spend before we had to head to the airport, and used that time to explore the town a bit further and visit the historical museum. Most impressive I actually found the cellar of the occupational museum, that I found by accident, because I had to use the bathroom there.
It is in that very cellar, where all the statues from Soviet times ended up. Very straightforward and emotionally appealing.
Tallinn’s historical old town has a very western feel, where you can still clearly see the influences of a Swedish and hanseatic past and only the orthodox cathedral gives the town a Russian touch. But behind the scenes there is a deep crack going through the society. 25% of the country’s 1,3 Million population is Russians and many of them don’t know the Estonian language and don’t (want to) integrate. I first noticed how deeply rooted that crack must be when asking a shop owner about the huge line of Russian speaking people queuing up for something in the middle of the city.
(Brought back memories of the bread-queues during soviet times). But all these people were Russian citizens queuing in front of the Russian embassy because it was election day. And between the lines you could really hear the hatred and fear in this woman’s voice, on how they don’t want to integrate and that they are the rests of the occupational powers. On the other hand it is obvious that the Russian population is poorer and after what I read up on before the trip also discriminated. That on the other hand comes hand in hand if you live in another country of which you don’t (want to) speak the language. It’s a very tough subject, that will keep on evoking strong feelings for a long time in the future.
After some long queuing on our side due to reconstruction at the airport, we boarded our plane to Riga at 5 pm. We had only 50 mins to transfer in Riga, which gave us just enough time to do some tax-free shopping and 2 hours later we already landed in rainy Gothenburg.
All in all we had a super relaxing, wonderful weekend. Tallinn is a beautiful city that has kept it’s historic charm and feels authentic.
It’s small enough to be discovered during a few days and thereby well worth a weekend trip!
