Weekend in Tallinn And Why I love This City

We’ve been living in Latvia for about three months now…

Bad news:

– People rarely smile on the streets.

-It is cold and windy 265 days out of 365.

– The delicacies of the Latvian cuisine are herring with curd, patties with lard and marinated lamprey (aaaaaargh!)…

Good news:

– Despite they rarely smile, people here are friendly and most of them speak Russian or English.

– It is relatively warm 100 days in a year.

– You can travel to Estonia, Lithuania, Sweden, Finland and Norway for a comparatively reasonable price.

We didn’t fail to take advantage of the last point and recently spent a weekend in Tallinn. This city remains for me one of the most favourite places to go and I will explain you why further in this post. However, before advising you to go to Estonia, you need to know that it is cold over there almost 300 days in a year. Also be prepared that the weather might be changing all of a sudden and you can experience sun, wind and rain all in one day.  This leads to serious planning of you travelling outfit. I was wearing: gumboots in case it rains, wool sweater in case it is cold, winter jacket in case it is very cold and knitted hat in case it is windy. At the end it was very sunny and quite warm (plus ten degrees) so it was very pleasant to walk around this amazing city.

The most beautiful and the most interesting part of Tallinn is the Old Town, Unesco World Heritage Site. Its authentic Hanseatic architecture remained practically unchanged  since medieval times. Town Hall Square is one of the spots not to be missed:

In the corner of the square, behind this grey little building you will find one of the oldest pharmacies in Europe. You will be able to see there vintage pharmaceutical scales with weights, antique microscope, various potions which were used as medicine in medieval times (from dried hedgehogs and frogs to powdered deer antlers).

On the weekend Tallinn is flooded with tourists: Finns, British, Russians, Americans, etc.

There is no surprise as Tallinn offers plenty of things to do: sightseeing, art galleries, souvenir shops, cafes and restaurants. Being in Estonia, you shouldn’t forget to try Estonian cuisine: don’t expect something sophisticated though, most dishes are very simple and rustic, such as roasted potatoes, pork knuckle and stewed sauerkraut.

Rambling through narrow ancient streets is such a pleasure: every building is so unique and different from the others, although altogether they create a very complete and authentic look:

Occasionally coming across old unrenovated buildings, I was even more fascinated, than by its new-minted, just plastered neighbours – for me they have even more character and charm.

Antique doors is another treasure of Old Tallinn – I don’t remember in which other city I could found so many of them concentrated in one place:

Excursion on the old fashioned and very cute locomotive is so much fun – if you have kids, they would just love it!

The last thing: walking around Tallinn, don’t forget to look up: otherwise you will miss so many interesting details!