24 Hours in Tallinn Estonia

After a two and a half hour cruise we arrived in the port of Tallinn, Estonia and checked in to the Merchant Hotel in Old Town. It's a funny hotel with big rooms of irregular size and the location is absolutely perfect to explore the entire ancient area on foot.

As the Christmas Market was going on we dropped our bags and headed out to do a little shopping and sightseeing. It was chilly and drizzly as we walked around the walled medieval town. The stone walls, streets, and buildings hadn't seemed to change much since the 11th century.

We were able to climb up to parts of the town wall for glimpses of red tiled roofs and church spires. For such a small town there are a lot of churches!

We stopped into the popular bar Hell Hunt for a few beers and snacks and then headed back to the hotel for a nap. We'd been up very early!

It was my birthday so we had a nice dinner planned at Restoran Ö. We started with cocktails from our hotel's "Ice Bar" which had a lot of flash but never had any customers except for us. They were quite intrigued by Forest & mine gin martini requests, obviously serving mainly vodka.

It was a quick cab ride to the restaurant which sat just outside the walls of the Old Town. The decor was a bit Scandinavian, minimalistic and beautiful. Our server was absolutely wonderful and even presented us with a few things compliments of the kitchen. And at the end of dinner when I asked for a cheese plate instead of dessert she stuck a candle in it! Very fun!

 
The next morning after breakfast, which was included in our hotel price, we walked to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the beautiful onion dome church.

We continued walking to the Hill of the Harju grounds where we came across archery lessons. Random. Forest and I had a little competition in which she won. Barely.

The town, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, is really charming and it is easy and relaxing just to stroll around. We headed back to Old Town and had lunch at the touristy medieval restaurant Olde Hansa.  Sometimes you just have to play the tourist that you are.

The place is lit entirely by candlelight, the only utensils are makeshift wooden spreaders and spoons, the cocktails were thematic and very herbal, and our waitress was dressed like a wench. We had a great time!

We just had just enough time after lunch to walk back through the Christmas Market and grab a hot Calvados before catching a cab and our ferry to Helsinki.

All photos of Tallinn here

Booze Cruising to Estonia

We arrived in Helsinki late, after 17+ hours of travel, then easily grabbed the airport shuttle (no reservations required and only 6€ each) for the 30 minute ride into town, and walked the short distance after being dropped off at the central train station, to the Omena Hotel.

The Omena Hotels are a comfortable chain where you take care of yourself without the assistance of a front desk staff, room service, etc. They text you a door code and room number 24 hours before arrival, and you use that for the front door, elevator, and room door code.



Our room was large and slightly resembled a cabin on a ship, complete with table and booth seating. It was clean and comfortable also, and the perfect place to crash since we went to bed at 1am and got up at 7am to catch an early ferry to Tallinn. After meeting Forest & Thibault for a quick nightcap at the nearby American Bar we called it a night.

We boarded our ship around 8am for a 9am sailing and the common areas were already full, mainly of octogenarians drinking and dancing to a very loud live band. Did I mention it was 8am?



The crossing was quite rough which made it hard to walk around, but these grannies were waltzing and fox trotting all over the place. Most tables were crowded with pint glasses of beer, some of these with folks looking a bit green around the gills. Besides partying it up as the big draw of the sailing to Estonia, there is the opportunity to do some duty free booze shopping, as the price of liquor in Finland is very high. The shops were busy with folks snatching up cases of beer and 10-bottle packs of vodka. We focused our efforts on gin & rum- nothing unusual to be found but larger & cheaper options than in the Alko stores in Helsinki & in Lapland.



The ship serves a pretty decent buffet breakfast, there are two seatings, one at 8:30 and one at 10:30, but We hadn't booked in advance and the first seating was full. We grabbed a quick snack in a small cafe and then watched the dancing until our reservation was ready in the main dining room.



2 1/2 hours later we docked for an overnight in Estonia, my 34th country on my 45th birthday.

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Location:Tallinn, Estonia