Tallinn has been in my traveling list for a looonngg time. As a matter of fact, it is the main destination of this Baltic trip! I've heard a lot about this city, they said that it's very digital, lots of startups are here, but at the same time you can still see traces of its history well preserved. So, after 5 hours on a morning bus ride from Riga, I arrived in Tallinn, quickly try to find my hostel (yes, #cheapaccomodation). Now if you've never experienced carrying a carryon luggage throughout a european cobble stone street, this is one of the perfect city to do it! I intentionally had to carry it slower so that it won't damage my luggage. Oh well... after finding my hostel and dropping my luggage, I went exploring the city.
So just like any other most European city, Tallinn also has the Old Town part where all the lives are centered on. This time, it's definitely more touristy than Riga, and therefore more people. The old town is also quite big with a castle in the middle that you'd need to 'hike' towards. It's a charming old town nevertheless. What makes me quite curious is that it somehow feels German... and this suspicions become stronger as I saw many German writings on these old houses. This made me even more confused, because we're pretty far from Germany and already neighbouring to Russia! But.. how..? So I turn myself to Wikipedia for infos 😂. It turns out the town was indeed founded/built by the Germans (apparently part of the Hanseatic towns) and then sold to the Danish kingdom, then the Swedish kingdom, then the Russian took over before the Estonian independence. What an interesting piece of historical infos. :)
Most of the houses looks pretty well preserved as I observed. I walked out a bit also outside of the old town towards a local 'hipster' market nearby (of course after feeling that I've 'finished' exploring the old town). The food however has left me rather disappointed. :( In the end I just end up going to Lido's which is Latvian food, and just keep eating there until I left the city. I loooooooveeee Lido's, the food there are SO tastyyyy and SO CHEAP! It's a chain restaurant, but with all the options provided there, all those fishes, baltic dishes, me like it soooo much!
Overall, Tallinn for me is rather disappointing mainly because I was expecting too much 😅, but the city is beautiful regardless, riding the public transport all I need to do is tap with my phone to pay, everything is very digitally connected though. (*cough* Germany) A city with a German looking old town, but at the same time look rather Scandinavian, with its modern architecture outside its old town, located near Russia.
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| Look at them ceilings!! Those detailsssss <3 |
The inside of the cafe!
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| I loveeee this salty pancake! I end up eating lots of these throughout the trip. |
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| First time eating Elk soup in a medieval looking restaurant |
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| Can you spot the pancake? hahha, the square thingy on the corner is a fish salad, and the stuff in the pot is Pelmeni, Russian dumplings but eaten in these region too. I love them! Also, I find it interesting that Pierogi is kinda in between an Italian tortelini and Chinese dumpling, also when you consider its geographical location. hmmmm... Anybody has a data behind this? |
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| See the pancake again? hahha, the rye bread is a must still, and of course the beetroot salad but this time not in a soup form. |
On the way back from Talinn to Riga, the Baltic sea looks gorgeous!
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