Pirita Beach, Tallinn, Estonia

Another part of Tallinn that I wanted to visit was the Pirita beach and the old Olympic village. We took a bus out to the east of Tallinn, where we wandered through a beautiful pine forest, before emerging onto an empty beach. In the distance stood a desolute looking, white soviet building, which formed part of the 1980 Olympic village. The whole area was incredibly quiet and peaceful.



There are many cycling and walking trails nearby, so we followed a path through woodland for a few miles. We were considering walking to the TV Tower, but it is a long walk from the main road (many miles), so we turned back and returned to Tallinn.

I wanted to see some of the new town, so we wandered through the modern city, with it's glass fronted department stores and high rise buildings. It felt like consumerism is really alive here. I missed the character of the old town and felt glad that we weren't staying here, as it would give such a different impression of Tallinn. Visually, it was an interesting place to be, with old soviet buildings in between ultra modern department stores.



In the morning, a medieval fair was being set up in the main square, and upon our return it was in full swing with stalls selling bags of spiced nuts and interesting crafts, such as pointy felt hats and traditional clothes. We found out that at the weekend, there would be many more stalls all over Tallinn, as part of a Medieval Festival and we had just caught the edge of it.



We had been admiring the menu of the Olde Hansa all week and decided that since it was our last night in Tallinn, we should go. So in the evening we headed to the old town hall, with its atmospheric lanterns at the entrance. It was a grand affair and we were greeted by the lady of the house wearing traditional costume, who led us into a magnificent banquetting hall with flickering candles and string musicians. The food was wonderful, with an incredible selection of hearty feasts from the middle ages, from wild bore to quail eggs and everything in between. The evening contained many surprises, including jesters and viking ships covered in sparklers. We both enjoyed our meals. I chose a meat dish accompanied with berries and a 'bean bag'. The waitors played the perfect hosts, as everything arrived with compliments and best wishes from the chef. The atmosphere was great too, with large parties of diners celebrating, it was easy to have a good time.

Eco Museum, Tallinn, Estonia

Having explored much of old Tallinn, we decided to take a trip out of town to the open air Eco Museum. With a collection of rescued buildings from the 17th - 19th century in a large parkland. It was a cold and windy day, but the musuem was beautiful, situated along a rugged coastline, looking back towards Tallinn. One of the ground staff was keen to have someone to chat to and seemed curious as to why we would visit Estonia, with so many larger countries to could go to. We tried to explain that we thought it was interesting and we liked Estonia because it was somewhere different. The man took our photo infront of a blacksmith's house.



I love architecture, especially old wooden buildings and I really enjoyed a day of walking around and photographing different styles of windmills and farmhouses. I also liked how quiet it was, with only a handful of tourists in the time that we were there. We had lunch within the park and enjoyed the hearty rustic food. The open air museum is quite large, so in the afternoon we explored another part of it.

Architecture in Tallinn, Estonia

After a breakfast of cake and hot chocolate at the Anneli Viik Cafe, we walked to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral with its domes and ice cream coloured exterior. We continued to explore the surrounding streets with narrow alley ways and pastel coloured buildings.



In the afternoon we headed to Kalamaja, on the other side of the river. Its known for being quite a creative district, with the city's remaining wooden houses.



One of the restaurants that had been recommended to us was the Troika, a Russian themed restaurant in the heart of the old town. Curious as to what we would be served, we booked a table. The restaurant was quite beautiful and the vodka plentiful. However, our table was placed directly under a podium which an Opera singer would wail from. I've never appreciated opera and it was almost comical, but we were quite glad when she finished! The food was interesting and I was impressed with the presentation, as my beef hot pot arrived, baked in bread, which the waitress cut open infront of me. We also ordered dumplings, which came in a rustic bowl with a hand painted, wooden serving spoon. I wasn't keen on the slightly sour taste, but in general the food was good and definately flavoursome.

The Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia

We took a bus from the airport, into Tallinn and found ourselves confronted by a beautiful walled city, with an arched entrance, that led us into the old town. There are so many medieval buildings and tall merchant houses as well as a gorgeous town square. I didn't expect it to be so stunning. We found the Alur Hostel, which is a few minutes walk from the main square, with fairly cheap but basic double rooms.



We wandered around the old city, with it's wonderful architecture, finding an old church tower to take photographs from. The spiral staircase was very claustrophobic and I hated every moment, but thankfully I had Robin behind me, persuading me to keep going. When we got to the top, the view was fantastic and I saw the domes of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in the distance, which we are hoping to see tomorrow.



We also discovered a great place to go for cake and hot chocolate, Anneli Viik Handmade Chocolates Cafe, on Pikk 30, has the most delicious cakes and a selection of hand made chocolates to die for. I ended up eating some while we were in the cafe and then buying more to take away. Madame Butterfly was my favourite, with its smooth Baileys truffle center. They also did a good selection of dark chocolates.



On our first night we ventured to Turg restaurant, an outdoor market themed restaurant, with simply cooked dishes from around the world. Unpretentious and friendly, the food was both inexpensive and enjoyable. We had a nice evening and decided to try the Depeche Mode bar that had been recommended by a friend. I love Depeche Mode, so we went into the bar, which played a continual loop of DM videos on a screen. The atmosphere was relaxed as an alternative crowd gathered on bright red sofas, enjoying the strong cocktails that were served.