Tallinn, Estonia

Wednesday began with a steady rain and a LONG trek to find the ferry terminal would need to get to Estonia. The ferry was a 3-hour ride across the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea. I stayed up the night before so with my 5a start my first thoughts on the boat were to find a nice place to curl up and sleep. I went to the empty bar on the far end of the ship and found the perfect spot. Well, 45 minutes later the bar was completely full with a live band and drinks flowing and people dancing. And here I was with this HUGE backpacking and wet gear and I'm sitting there out-of-place with the partying locals.

I made it to Tallinn in one piece and was greeted by yet another thunderstorm. The rain is certainly following me around on this trip. It clears up at places after I leave. I checked in at my hostel and then hurried over to the Old Town...no time to waste as all of these stops are so brief.

Tallinn's Old City is visually stunning.



I had positive expectations but this stop far exceeded them. Americans don't travel to the Baltics so there is so little material to base an itinerary or expectations. Estonia has only been under it's own control in recent history. They have been controlled and dominated by the Danes, Germans, Swedes and finally Russians influences until they finally could break away in 1991. The city has blossomed since and has undergone a radical transformation for such a short period. The city tries to theme itself as medieval, Old World and does a fantastic job with the theme matching it with it's 12th - 14th century buildings and costumed employees at shops and restaurants.

I finally could afford a meal and settled on one of these Old World places and had wild boar for the first time...really good. I took a 3 hour bike tour that afternoon and we Saw a number of spots on the outskirts that are more work to reach...like the Soviet "liberation" monument, Peter the Great's summer residence and the city's less transformed areas.

Estonia is still 40% Russians as the Soviets shipped in workers for their great factories. The Russians do not assimilate and there are underlying problems.