Estonia and Helsinki

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting – but internet access isn’t always easy… Hope you enjoy this next post – Riga to Tallinn then on to Helsinki. Will post one more from London before we head home – incorporating St Petersburg!

Sunday 17th – Riga to Tallinn

Fortunately the bus station is just on the outskirts of Riga’s old town and not far from our hotel, so we had an easy start to the day. And – surprise, surprise – an easy bus journey! No issues over seat allocation this time. Perhaps we’re learning… Actually, we did invest an extra couple of dollars this journey (literally only a couple of dollars – bus travel is very cheap here) to upgrade to first class. That means we didn’t travel at the front of the bus, but when boarding we walked down the aisle – through a little frosted glass door – and down to the back. Here we found 16 big, leather seats – all with tables. We also received a complimentary bottle of water and block of chocolate! So maybe that’s why there were no issues with seating this time. Also, there was just us plus one other person in this area – and she got off half way through the journey – so it was like our own private area and no-one to fight with!

It’s approximately a five and a half hour bus journey from Riga to Tallinn. As with the journey from Lithuania to Latvia, we passed through lots of different scenes – forest, farming, small villages. It was really interesting. And once again we witnessed a beautiful sunset.

First class!

Arrived in Tallinn after dark and successfully negotiated yet another taxi system (like buses – they’re all different!) to get to our hotel – a 14th century building which was once a merchant’s house.

Tallinn was once a walled city – much of the city wall and many of the wall’s towers are still standing. Inside the city wall is the ‘old town’ – and we’re sure it’s no surprise to you (given our love of cobbled lanes and medieval architecture) that our hotel is right in the middle of the old town.

Even though our introduction to Tallinn happened after dark, we saw enough to know we would love it here… despite the fact that it’s freezing!!

Monday 18th – Tallinn

Our hotel is just a few meters from the old town square, which has been the central focus of life in Tallinn since the 11th century.

We visited the Town Hall (built between 1371 and 1404). You can wander through the council chambers and then visit the cellar which houses an excellent museum about the fortifications of Tallinn.

The old town square

We acquired a map of a ‘walking tour’ of Tallinn, so spent the rest of the day following the map, visiting all the sights along the way.

The city walls and towers

You can climb around some of the towers and walk parts of the city wall - we had lots of fun here




View from one of the lookouts - you can see the Gulf of Finland in the background

Above the old town wall and some towers

This building was the KGB headquarters during the Soviet occupation. Note the bricked up basement windows - apparently to stop passers by overhearing whatever was happening inside.

We had heard that every Monday night there was a classical music concert in the Holy Spirit Church so decided to spend the evening there. We enjoyed a beautiful performance – a soprano, pianist and violinist entertained us for over an hour. The highlight of the evening was when they performed Ave Maria.

It was about -12 degrees today! It’s also getting quite windy and apparently more wind is coming our way over the next couple of days – from Siberia! Locals are telling us they haven't experienced a winter like this in years.


Tuesday 19th – Tallinn

Spent the morning at the fascinating Museum of Occupation and Fight for Freedom. The exhibits in this museum outline the events that occurred over a 50 year period when Tallinn was occupied by either the Nazis or the Soviets. It’s a fantastic, well thought out museum. Even the building itself has meaning – it’s a new building with floor to ceiling glass walls. This is to signify transparency.

The museum - inside and out. Carmen - thought you'd appreciate the photo of the Soviet hairdresser's chair!

Spent the rest of the day getting off the beaten tourist track (we try to do this in every city) and exploring the ‘new town’. Actually managed to get lost in the new town!

Where are we???

But everything happens for a reason. We decided to check our map and warm up in a little bar down a side street. There was only one other man in there – a local man born and bred in Tallinn. He was about our age and spoke excellent English. His stories of how he has spent his life were really interesting – particularly after we’d just visited the museum of occupation.

Finished the night at a lovely little restaurant with an open fireplace. A very much needed open fireplace – today it was about -14 degrees! Those Siberian winds are icy.

Now that's a pizza - don't you think, Ryan?

Wednesday 20th – Tallinn

Today we walked, and walked, and walked to the beautiful Kadriorg Park. Kadriorg means Catherine’s Valley. In this park, Peter the Great built a palace for Catherine I. The palace was built between 1718 and 1736. Apparently Peter himself even helped with the construction – laying three bricks!

Entering the park - swan pond(??) in the background

Peter's palace

There's always time for a snowball fight!

There are many beautiful buildings (from Peter’s time) in this enormous park – each housing some sort of museum. The focus of our trip, however, was a visit to KUMU (aka the Art Museum of Estonia). This is a very new art gallery (below) which opened in 2006. In 2008 it was awarded the title of ‘European Museum of the Year’. The works on display here range from pieces completed in the early 18th century right up to very contemporary pieces – a great collection of Estonian art.

This room was amazing - completely filled with busts - some people known to us, some unknown (note Lenin in the top left hand corner). For each one mounted on the wall there was a tiny hidden speaker and all the busts were speaking at once. Just softly - and all saying something different - telling a story. It was really eerie.

Phil has a thing for pop art - and fancies himself as a hot shot photographer!!

Spent the evening at the Estonian National Opera – My Fair Lady – performed in Estonian! For some reason we had thought there was going to be English surtitles – but no! It was very helpful to know the stories and the songs – and interesting to hear them performed in another language. It’s very obvious that ‘rain’, ‘Spain’ and ‘plain’ don’t rhyme in Estonian – but it was also very obvious what Eliza said at the races! Great fun.

Oh wouldn't it be lovely...

Another chilly -14 degree day! Let’s just say we don’t stroll home from our evening outings!

This is our last night in Tallinn – tomorrow we journey to Helsinki.

Thursday 21st – Tallinn to Helsinki

Good-bye Tallinn. You'd love it here, Mum!

Had to be organised reasonably early today to catch a boat across the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki. Louise decided she desperately had to have that top she saw in the shop in Tallinn’s old town yesterday – but the shop didn’t open until 10am. ‘We can do it, Phil! We can be there when the shop opens, and still make it to the ferry terminal for 10:30 check-in!’ Well – we were there when the shop opened – despite having to rush through the bitterly cold old town of Tallinn. This was like no other morning we’ve had to date – it was -19 degrees! However, where there’s a will there’s a way. We managed to buy the top, get back to the hotel, call a cab and journey to the terminal – just in time to be the last people on the boat! (I’m not really sure if I like the top now, but Phil says I have to wear it every day for a month! L.)

Wow – what a journey. We were on a huge ferry, and yet we could actually feel it scraping its way through the icy seas. The photos tell the story…

Leaving Tallinn by ferry...

...and the water gets icy...

...and icier...

...until it's so thick and white! Is this a boat or a sleigh??

Arriving in Helsinki

After a couple of hours, we reached Finland. Spent the afternoon and evening exploring Helsinki. We’re only here for a couple of days so want to enjoy every minute.

As the day wore on, it just got colder and colder. Every time we exited a warm building and went out into the cold again it got more and more intense. When it reached -20 degrees we decided to call it a night! This is unbelievably cold! We know we won’t get much sympathy from you all at home – we see the weather reports and know it’s really hot there – and to be honest, we’re glad to be here! It seems easier to get warm than it does to get cool…


Friday 22nd – Helsinki

Armed with our trusty map we ventured off to find out how to get to Suomenlinna
(fortress of Finland) – two small islands connected by a little bridge in the Gulf of Finland. Negotiated the Helsinki tram system and then found the departure point for the little ferry that cuts through the ice on the hour, every hour, ferrying people to and from Suomenlinna. Another exciting journey!

A fortress was built on the islands in 1748. A community of people now lives there and there are many little shops and cafes – although hardly anything opens at this time of year! The purpose of our visit, though, was to wander around the ruins of the fort. It was just beautiful – really desolate. Freezing cold and just so windy! In summer it’s probably packed with people, but at this time of the year there’s hardly anyone around.

Our little ferry - and the journey across the water(?) ahead!

The fortress

A jetty at a remote part of the island - don't think we'll wait for the boat to arrive next summer!

Leaving the island - you can see how the boat is leaving a trail through the ice as it ploughs its way back to Helsinki

Made our way back to the mainland and spent the afternoon hopping on and off trams around the city, exploring lots of different neighbourhoods – some tourist spots and some out of the way areas – essentially admiring the diverse architecture (and shoe shops!) of Helsinki.

Exploring Helsinki

Our evening was spent at Kiasma (the Museum of Contemporary Art). This was a really fun art gallery – very relaxed and interactive – and it’s open at night time! We really enjoyed ourselves here.

Helsinki has been great – we’re really glad we visited.

Next stop – Russia!