Estonia

Old Town, Tallinn

I visited Estonia in March 2009. My main purpose of going there was to meet my friends who live in Tallinn (the capital of Estonia) and other reason was to see the country which is unique and now known much about. I took an EasyJet flight to reach Tallinn which hardly took 3 hours from Gatwick airport. I booked my flights, hotel, and travel insurance all from easyJet it costed me about £300, was rather a good deal for 3 days. However when having reached my destination, I informed my friends in advance to receive me at the airport. And thanks to them I didn’t encounter any problem at the Tallinn Airport. If they were not there I would have been in jeopardy. I rarely saw anyone speaking English.

City Hotel, Tallinn

Estonia is one of the smallest Baltic Country. Well known for its magnificent castles, pristine islands and medieval capital market called by name Old Town. I didn’t the opportunity for me to visit various other locations of the Tallinn city during my stay of 3 days. On the other hand I was encouraged enough to cover minimum Tallinn and Tartu.

Relax Cafe, Tallinn

We took a bus from the airport and went straight for Breakfast cum Lunch at a nearby café named Relax Jazz Lounge. My first impression of the city was how distinguished the city is with mono rails on the road, which passed next to the café, which fascinated me and made me feel excited about the places I will see next. After our breakfast we went for my Hotel City Hotel Tallinn where I freshened up and then we went for sightseeing to nearby places. As I was living in London for the past 2 and a half years, coming to a completely different country in the sense of culture, language, food, weather, people and place was distinctively new experience for me.

I was carrying Euro currency notes with me when I landed Tallinn. After lunch we went to the SEB bank to get the Euro currency exchanged into the Estonian Kroon’s, which recently got obsolete. Estonian currency got replaced by the Euro on 1^st January 2011.

Russian Church, Old Town, Tallinn

Parliament, Tallinn

My friends and I took a tour of the old town walking around and saw some really nice places like the parliament, the Russian church. In the afternoon we had tea and delicious strawberry cheesecake. As I am Indian by origin, I rarely saw any Asians or Africans. But to my surprise when we came out of the café we saw the devotees of lord Krishna humming Hare Krishna, Hare Rama around. And then in front of me I saw the Indian restaurant named “Maharaja India Restoran” which unfortunately I didn’t had a opportunity to go to, As we had to push ourselves and visit other places around the city.

Maharaja India Restoran, Old Town, Tallinn

I did buy some sweet almonds from the Olde Hansa medieval shop named “Magusad mandlid” they were lovely. We moved on to other nice places in the market, ice skating and other medieval shops.

Magusad mandlid, Olde Hansa

Olde Hansa, Tallinn

The second day, we decided to go to Tartu. We hired a car and drove all the way to Tartu which is also known as the spiritual capital of Estonia. I didn’t really got to see the city a lot as we reached Tartu in the evening. We did end up in clubs and bars, having famous Estonian beers, going to the rock bar cafes early mornings. We all had a good time met new people and made friends.

Tartu University, Tartu

A shopping mall from where we bought our Hookah!

Next morning we headed back to Tallinn. However didn’t knew what was planned for this day. As it snowed throughout the night, the views in my perspective were absolutely enthralling. I saw small kids skiing on the road sides. My friends asked me would you go straight to Tallinn or via adventurous way via the jungle. Now that was something surprising, I said go for it, let’s go the adventurous way. And god that decision was worth it. And we crossed small villages we drove past the lake, which was completely frozen. We stopped our car and came out of our cars to enjoy the natural beauty we experienced.


Frozen lake on the left!

The view was absolutely amazing. Sun was shining on the crystal clear snow. It was unbelievably beautiful. We then headed back to the city, then went for a fast food chain and then me and my friends parted as they had their exams and they helped me understand from the place I have to catch the bus for the airport. I must say my trip to Estonia (Reis Eestisse) was absolutely fantastic. I would recommend whoever plans to visit Estonia, they must stay minimum for a week. I have to admit that Estonia is no longer Europe’s Best kept secret.